Texas SJR 2 hearing
A hearing before the Texas State Affairs Committee in the Senate chamber on SJR2 was held on the morning of February 16, 2017, in Austin. The video is available online.[1]
A list of the initial witnesses who testified were:[2]
- Barbara Harless (against)
- Robert Carter (against)
- Bob Green (for)
- Rayford Brown (against)
- Mr. Dunquell (for) - spoke mostly about the original Constitutional Convention in 1787
- Sondra Lapsly (for) - claimed to have 4,498 signers on a petition to support SJR 2 in Sen. Estes district
- Sharon Currell
- Steven Duvall
- Michael Openshaw
- Christopher Lewis
- Ruth York
- Arthur Medford
- Kimberly Burlington
- Leslie Key
- Kelly Gordon
(more)
The Texas Tribune reported that SJR2 was passed favorably out of the Senate committee.[3]
Senate Bill 21, a so-called "faithful delegate bill," would be preempted by federal law and have no effect, but it was passed out of the committee also. SJR 2 and SB 21 both have counterpart legislation in the House.
In recognition of the strong grassroots opposition to SJR2, the committee also passed SJR38 (sponsored by Sen. Estes), which rescinded all prior calls by Texas for a constitutional convention. A floor amendment to invoke a sunset of SJR2 after 12 years was also favorably discussed.
References
- ↑ http://tlcsenate.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=42&clip_id=11720
- ↑ Testimony begins around 1:06 into the hearing.
- ↑ https://www.texastribune.org/2017/02/16/convention-states/
