The Veto

If you live in the City of Pasadena or the San Jacinto College service area, you have two days to vote early. Today and tomorrow. The featured photo is the entrance to the Bay Area Community Center early voting location on East Nasa Parkway

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Commentary said this last week about the possibility of Gov. Greg Abbott vetoing the THC ban:

Abbott is a bully. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is a bigger bully. We know Patrick won’t back down. We kind of get the feeling that Abbott would back down. He doesn’t want to be bullied by Patrick.

I wonder if there is a betting line on an Abbott veto. Stay tuned.

I have been observing Texas legislative sessions for over 50 years now. I have also worked in a few. I can’t recall seeing a lobbying effort for a veto get this intense. It is a broad spectrum of folks and organizations including farmers, veterans’ groups, business owners and employees, and users.  I have never seen anything like this.  I am starting to rethink what I said last week. This lobbying might work.

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From the Chron:

With less than three hours left until its preliminary approval deadline and just days left in what would have been Landon Payton’s eighth grade year, Texas lawmakers passed a bill honoring the fallen Houston ISD student.

Landon, 14, died suddenly after suffering a medical emergency in the Marshall Middle School gym on Aug. 14. Nine months later, the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences officially ruled Landon’s death as undetermined. Representatives of his family and the local teacher’s unions have said the gym’s automated external defibrillator was not working at the time of his death.

Senate Bill 865 would require more staff members at public and open-enrollment charter schools to be AED and CPR certified. It would also require schools to develop a cardiac emergency response plan to better prepare staff members for medical emergencies, said state Rep. Christina Morales, D-Houston.

Senate Bill 865 is authored by State Sen. Carol Alvarado. Marshall Middle School is in Sen. Alvarado’s Senate District 6 and State Rep. Morales’ House District 145.

On a related note, today is the last day of the legislative session. Good.

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We split the series with the Rays. Yordan Alvarez has a fracture in his right hand. We have today off and then visit the Pirates at PNC Park tomorrow.