#TXLEGE: Straus uses Uber bill floor debate to send a message

"Perversity is in his heart,
He devises evil continually,
He sows discord."
Proverbs 6:14

The House just voted out their version of the Uber bill.  We said our piece on it yesterday; we're glad it passed.  But notice something interesting about the floor debate:

19 amendments...with 12 by Democrats?!?

At 10 minutes per amendment, that's 190 minutes.  That's more than three hours.  And several of the amendments took closer to 20.

All afternoon long, we've been wondering why the Democrats were spending so much time on this bill.  This is even more true once you consider that the House is also holding floor debate today on a major school finance bill (Note: We don't want to get sidetracked on school finance, but that bill is a whole separate hot mess).  Considering that most of the Democrat amendments came from the Austin delegation, we assumed they were attempting to protect the city and the broader local government mafia.

Making matters weirder, the debate morphed into a discussion of "discrimination."

Then we remembered a bill that's up in the House state affairs committee after today's floor session:

HB 2899       Simmons | et al.        
Relating to the regulation of discrimination by political subdivisions.

That's the House equivalent of the privacy act.

Bingo.

They're debating two major bills on the floor today, both of which are accompanied by lots of amendments.  And they're taking their sweet time with those amendments.  They're doing this to delay the start of tonight's state affairs hearing.

Consider further that Austin Democrat Celia Israel offered five of those amendments...and wasn't Celia Israel also the one who introduced the phrase "Operation Slowdown" in the first place?!?

This isn't about ridesharing, it's about telegraphing what they're going to do with the privacy act.

And we doubt they get off the floor before 9 pm tonight...which means the hearing begins around 10...and there are 10 total bills being heard.

Bottom Line: Tonight is going to be a late night, and that late night was pre-planned.

What Trump's Administration means for Austin Tech....

"Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,"
1 Timothy 2:1-3

[Author's Note: The discussion starts at the 17:10 mark on the video; the period between 58:15 and 59:55 is the transition between the first speaker and the panel.]

We did not attend this event, and we certainly do not agree with everything that was said, but nevertheless the discussion is all sorts of interesting:



Highlights:

• Matthew Dowd:
• Founded four companies.
• Presidential Election: "Unprecedented but predictable."
• Shifting of cultural, economic, political tectonic plates.
• Doesn't use the phrase, but explains the Kondratiev wave pretty much perfectly.
• Acceleration of everything.
• Last 15 years = Third industrial revolution.
• In less than a decade, we've completely redefined marriage and sexuality.
• Technological change is a double edged sword.
• Growth in knowledge accompanied by a decrease in wisdom.
• Social media has increased tribalism; confirmation bias.
• Bernie Sanders and Trump: "Were basically independents."
• Entrepreneurs have tremendous opportunity in an environment with this much uncertainty.
• Government is the last place in the U.S. that has resisted innovation.
• Founding fathers were entrepreneurs; early U.S. was a startup.
• "To get to the promised land, it's going to be on the backs of entrepreneurs."
• No matter what else you think of him, Trump has revealed brokenness of status quo.
• Trump will neither destroy nor fix the U.S.; either one of those actions can only come about by the actions of its citizens.
• Author's Note: We fully support Ted Cruz's re-election to the United States Senate and would VIGOROUSLY oppose a potential Dowd candidacy, but we nevertheless found his discussion of the opportunities available to entrepreneurs in the current climate illuminating.

• Panel:
• Basically a bunch of SJW's constructing straw man arguments via half-truths.
• Unpredictability is the only thing you can predict.
• Blah, blah "climate change."
• Stupid comparison between 'green' energy and fast internet; compares Oil and Gas to dial-up.
• Neglects to mention that windmills are 14th century technology.
• Green energy will miss Obama's "vision" (ie. crony subsidies)
• The chick talking about immigration willfully misrepresents executive orders and regulations as laws passed by Congress on multiple occasions.
• Author's Note: This is a textbook example of why so many Americans felt like no one was listening to them in the first place...which created the climate that ultimately allowed Trump to be successful.