Texas GOP Priorities & Gerdes Vote Record
Key to the success of the 89th Legislative Session is getting good bills passed that reflect the TexasGOP Legislative Priorities as approved by the delegates at the last Convention. It doesn’t do any good to pass watered-down bills, or bills that have a subject we like but the body of the bill is garbage. We need bills with teeth, bills that protect our rights as citizens, bills that make our government smaller and increase our freedoms.
More and more bills are introduced each session. It can make your head swim to try to figure out what’s what. We use the best resources we can find. Here are a few:
- Republican Party of Texas’ 89th Session Bill List. This includes a list, by Legislative Priority, of good bills and bad bills.
- Click on the Legislative Priority that most interests you. Start working your way down the list. Click the bill number and you’ll connect with a screen that looks like this. Click on text and you can read the bill. You’ll see the author and subject matter. At the bottom, you’ll see the last action.
- Also using Texas Legislature Online, from the Home page, you can search on the name of a legislator in either the House or Senate. We’ll click in the left column on Texas House, Members, Gerdes. At the bottom of that page, you’ll see Legislative Information. Click on “Bills Authored“. You’ll see all the bills, with numbers and subjects, that have been authored by Stan Gerdes.
Check also “Bills Coauthored“. In Gerdes’ case, there is a bill supporting an Article V Convention of States that he did not author, but has added his name as a co-author. Thus, it shows up on the co-author list, but not the author list. - There is an actual website for the Texas House which includes different information: office address in district and in the TX House building, a profile of the district, committee appointments and a photo of the member.
- It’s tedious to find out how a legislator voted. The minutes of full Texas House sessions are called Journals. Journals are by date. If you’re looking for Stan Gerdes’ votes on particular legislation, go to How To View Votes . Key in the bill number. Be sure you’re on the 89th Legislature and click Go. If there have been votes, you’ll see a screen like this. Votes are highlighted in yellow. You can click on Record Vote to see how members voted. The key is knowing the legislation number.
If you’re looking for committee votes, you must go to either House or Senate Committees, choose the committee and there you’ll find links to minutes, witnesses and their testimony, as well as votes. Gerdes is on Calendars, Energy Resources and Licensing & Administrative Procedures.