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Gov. Greg Abbott has asked the Texas Legislature to increase the penalty for illegal voting, adding the item to the third special session now underway. However, House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, quickly rejected the proposal, according to the Austin American-Statesman. During the second special session, Senate Bill 1 was amended to decrease the penalty. House Democrats twice broke quorum in failed attempts to stop the elections bill from passing. “Now is not the time to relitigate,” Phelan said. “Instead, the House will remain focused on its constitutional obligation to pass redistricting maps, and members look forward to fulfilling this critical task.” The measure has moved forward in the Senate. It would make the penalty for voting illegally a seconddegree felony, with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. SB 1 reduced the penalty to a Class A misdemeanor, with up to one year in jail. However, Phelan’s opposition means it is unlikely to move forward.
Read moreCoordinating CouncilIf you’re interested in issues related to preparedness, training, planning, communications and emergency response to public health and medical emergencies, you may want to apply to be a member of the Preparedness Coordinating Council. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission executive commissioner will appoint members to the council to serve a term expiring Dec. 31, 2022, unless otherwise noted.Applications are due by 11:59 p.m., Oct. 8.
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Over the past month, as most of you are now well aware, a rash of shootings, arrests and murders have occurred in Colorado County, namely Columbus and Eagle Lake.
Read moreAustin – SB 1, a priority of Lt. Governor Dan Patrick in the third Legislative Special Session, was passed out of the Senate Finance Committee once again (14-0), and provides at least $2 billion (and up to $4 billion) towards lowering school district maintenance property tax rates for taxpayers in the 22-23 school tax year. The Texas A&M Real Estate Center has found that the median home price in Texas is $310,000 as of June 2021, and after the 25,000 homestead exemption, homeowners would save a minimum of $188 this year and nearly
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In a two-sentence press release, the secretary of state’s office announced an audit of four Texas counties — Dallas, Harris, Tarrant and Collin — for the 2020 election. The announcement came hours after former President Donald Trump called on Gov. Greg Abbott to add an election audit bill to the current special session of the Texas Legislature. Abbott has not responded thus far. A similar audit in Arizona’s Maricopa County recently ended and concluded Biden won that state’s most populous county, which provided him the winning margin there. Trump won Texas by 5.6 percentage points in the 2020 election, although three of the four counties to be audited — Dallas, Tarrant and Harris — went for Biden. Officials from those counties told the Texas Tribune that “the development is an unnecessary partisan move aimed at sowing doubt in the results.” The position of secretary of state has been vacant since the end of May, when Ruth Hughs resigned after the Texas Senate declined to take up her nomination.
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Seventeen Southeast Texas counties have been declared disaster areas after Hurricane Nicholas came ashore, dumping more than a foot of rain and cutting off power to a half-million customers in Texas, according to poweroutage. us. That number had been reduced to about 4,200 as of Sunday. Counties included in Gov. Greg Abbott’s declaration are Aransas, Brazoria, Calhoun, Chambers, Galveston, Harris, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Matagorda, Montgomery, Newton, Nueces, Orange, Refugio, San Patricio, and Victoria. The Texas Department of Insurance has a number of tips for those affected by the storm:
Read moreAUSTIN – Governor Greg Abbott on Sept. 14 announced that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) is receiving up to $5 million in federal funding from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as part of an innovative program to help serve underserved Texans in rural hospitals throughout the state.
Read moreHi, my name is Isacc Vega and I’ve gladly taken the position of typesetter here at the Colorado County Citizen.
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