According to Governor Greg Abbott (R), the reason for the special session was to address concerns with the July 4th floods that devastated Texas. In response to House Bill 265, a bill designed to address some of those flood concerns, state Rep. Brian Harrison (R) voted against it, citing that all it does is strengthen the government.
State Rep. Harrison has a history of breaking with the GOP. Most notably he’s taken issue with the Texas House, accusing it of being infiltrated by Texas House Democrats.
To address issues stemming from the July 4th floods, the Texas House passed a sweeping package of youth-camp safety bills, including measures to ban cabins in floodplains, mandate emergency plans, and bolster training and background checks.
While Texas Republicans were on board, state Rep. Harrison was not impressed.
In a statement, the Texas Republican shared his grievances with the bill, citing that “government solutions can often be worse than the problems they’re intended to solve.” He lamented that the original “good bill” was “ruined” by floor amendments from Democrats, amendments he believed would “harm or shut down countless camps where safety has not been an issue.”
He also believed it would empower “very liberal, unelected bureaucrats” to unilaterally shut down safe camps “on grounds unrelated to safety.”
State Rep. Harrison is alone in his dissenting voice as Texas Policy Research suggested that lawmakers vote against the bill, expressing that “it remains incompatible with Texas’s longstanding tradition of community-based responsibility and limited government oversight.”
Despite the calls for Republicans to vote against the bill, the Texas House approved the bill this week, which pushes the bill that much closer towards Governor Abbotts’ desk.
State Rep. Lacey Hull (R), who also serves as the House Human Services Chair, praised the bill, saying that “this bill further addresses camp health and safety issues, beyond just disaster planning, to help promote a culture of safety for children attending camps in Texas.”
