AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Senate unanimously passed its first bills of the 88th Texas Legislature on Wednesday.
Both bills are the work of State Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston). The first bill to pass was Senate Bill 728 (SB 728), which deals with background checks for gun purchases.
Last year, President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan "Safer Communities Act" into law. Among other things, the bill enhanced background checks to include juvenile mental health records and intellectual disability information.
Currently, Texas does not have a centralized database for court clerks to input that information. SB 728 requires clerks to report the information for Texans ages 16 and older to the Department of Public Safety (DPS), which reports to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
During the debate on the Senate floor, State Sen. Roland Gutierrez (D-San Antonio), who represents Uvalde, pointed out the Robb Elementary School and Santa Fe High School shooters didn't have juvenile records, so this bill would not have stopped them from acquiring guns.
While he didn't offer an amendment, State Sen. Jose Menendez (D-San Antonio) suggested Huffman add a waiting period for gun purchases for Texans under the age of 21 to ensure all the records are checked.
Huffman politely rejected the idea, noting she wanted to craft a bill that would pass this session.
"It complies with federal law. It'll require DPS to do what they need to do, make it clear to the clerks they have to comply, but yet still fit in a way and work in a way that I felt like I could pass it out of the Legislature, which is very important," Huffman said. "We can have good ideas, but if we can't get it passed, then it's not going to make a difference. I wanted this bill to make a difference and I think it will."
While taking questions from State Sen. Bob Hall (R-Edgewood), Huffman clarified that SB 728 is not a red flag law and noted the juvenile records can be removed from the NICS system if the person has a court ruling that they've reached full mental capacity.
Senators also passed Senate Bill 372, which makes it a Class A misdemeanor for anyone other than a judge or justice to release or leak a court decision. This is in response to the leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v Wade.
Close observers of Texas politics may be wondering if the Senate's actions violate the 60-day no voting rule. Huffman said on the floor that SB 728 indirectly – and in some cases directly – impacts school safety, which is one of Gov. Greg Abbott's emergency items. Any bills that are on the governor's emergency call can be voted on before the 60th day of the Legislature.
However, the passage of SB 372 just shows the power of the Senate to suspend the rules, including the constitutional 60-day rule, and pass bills.
Both of the Senate bills now head to the Texas House, where the legislative process starts over with the bills being assigned to committees.