Business, Commerce, and Transportation

• Smart Meters: The Republican Party of Texas supports a no-cost opt-out for all Texas electric utility customers, including electric, water, and gas utilities, and the phaseout of smart meters (aka Advanced Meter Infrastructure), to be replaced with mechanical, non-transmitting analog meters when software upgrades are required or the computer smart meters require replacement due to mechanical failure or model upgrade requirements.
• Toll collection and decriminalization-We urge the Texas Legislature to end the abuse of taxpayers and pass a uniform toll collection and billing procedure law that prohibits excessive fines and fees along with other pro-taxpayer notification reforms. We further urge the Texas Legislature to decriminalize unpaid tolls and fines and remove the ability of toll agencies to block vehicle registrations or impound vehicles over unpaid tolls. We urge this to be a legislative priority.

 Constitutional Issues

• Right to Self-Defense: We affirm that lawful gun ownership and carry by the people protects us from those who wish to do harm and guards against tyranny by our own government. We call upon our elected officials to resist the narrative that the solution to every problem is less freedom and more regulation, and instead pursue policies that respect freedom while also increasing safety, such as civil litigation protection for lawfully armed citizens acting in self-defense.
• LTC review-We request that the Texas Legislature review the requirements to obtain an LTC with a view to eliminating ones not required of out-of-state licenses which Texas gives reciprocal recognition.
• Dual-Use Facilities-Until such time as legal firearm owners are allowed to carry firearms in schools, that religious institutions which host schools on their property and any other dual-use facilities only be treated as a school on scheduled school days while allowing legally carried firearms on weekends and school holidays.
• Protecting the constitutional rights regarding age- Be it resolved that the Republican Party opposes all efforts to deny rights and privileges to adult citizens based solely upon their age. We further state that all rights and duties of citizenship which are granted based on age, including, but not limited to: voting, involuntary military service, signing legal contracts, owning or possessing firearms, consenting to medical treatment, being charged as an adult with a crime, using of alcohol or tobacco, getting married and paying income taxes should be conferred when a citizen is an adult, at the same age, whatever that age may be, and that, conferring the duties of citizenship at one age while conferring the privileges of citizenship at another age is an unconstitutional practice in violation of the 14th amendment.

 Criminal and Civil Justice

• Protection from Arbitrary Stops-We request that the Texas Legislature to enact legislation with such language as to protect Texans from arbitrary stops, detentions or arrests without evidence of actual criminal conduct separate and apart from the fact that they were openly carrying a firearm.
• Independent grand jury review of civilian deaths resulting from law enforcement-Be it resolved that in every incident involving the death of a citizen which was directly caused by a law enforcement officer the relatives of the deceased should be given the right to have a Grand Jury convened within a reasonable time and that the Grand Jury should be tasked with examining the facts of the incident and determining if the actions of the officer(s) involved were lawful and necessary. Furthermore, relatives of the deceased citizen should be allowed to present evidence to the Grand Jury pertinent to the incident.

 Education

• School Health Advisory Councils: Until the legislature removes sex education from the curriculum of public schools, the State of Texas should adopt changes to Texas Education Code 28.004 to require every member of the School Health Advisory Council (SHAC) to be appointed by the Board of Trustees; require at least 50% of SHAC membership be parents of students within the district; require at least 50% of the attendees of a SHAC meeting be parents of students in the district for business to be conducted; require every school district to post SHAC meeting minutes, full and fair disclosure of the contents of the human sexuality instruction, and proposed changes to health education; close loopholes and prohibit contraception distribution and demonstration; and expand the grievance process to cover the entire section of Texas Education Code 28.004.
• Healthcare in Public Schools: Legislators shall prohibit reproductive healthcare services, including counseling, referrals, and distribution of condoms and contraception through public schools. We support parents’ right to their prior informed consent to choose, without penalty, which medications and mental health assessments are administered to their minor children. We reaffirm that the age of consent in Texas is 17 years old. We support abolishing the “Texas Child Mental Healthcare Consortium”, “the Trauma-Informed Care policy”, “school-based mental health providers”, “School-based or school-connected mental health interventions”, and other public school programs which serve to expand access to minor children for development and training of 13 university colleges of psychiatry and their residents.
• Fairness and Integrity in sports according to biological sex-The Republican Party of Texas holds that based on biological sex, males should compete exclusively against other males and females shall compete exclusively against other females in intrastate and interstate athletic competitions at all levels where public and private school institutions participate.
• Inappropriate content– We request that the Texas Legislature pass legislation that requires Texas schools and libraries to filter inappropriate content, such as pornography, for minors.

 Finance

• Bailouts and Subsidies: We encourage government to divest its ownership of all businesses that should be run in the private sector, and allow the free market to prevail; this includes all businesses run by school boards and Texas Educational Service Centers. We oppose all bailouts of and subsidies to domestic and foreign government entities, states, and all businesses, public and private.

Government and Foreign Affairs

• Fair Election Procedures: We support modifications to and the strengthening of election laws to ensure ballot integrity and fair elections. We support the Secretary of State strictly enforcing printing of results tapes for electronic voting for early voting and Election Day at polling locations after the polls close for all counties. We support increased scrutiny and security in balloting by mail; prohibition of internet voting and any electronic voting lacking a verifiable paper trail; prohibition of “rolling polling” for bond and tax rate increase elections; prosecution for election fraud with jail sentences; repeal of the unconstitutional Help America Vote Act; and assurance that each polling place has distinctly marked, where possible, separate locations for Republican and Democrat primary voting. We support all means of protecting the integrity of our elections, including the optional use of paper ballots. We support and call for mandated paper ballot backups and risk-limiting audits. We support only certifying elections that have been run, counted and/or recounted without clear deficiencies. We oppose countywide polling locations due to heightened potential for fraud.
• Voter Registration: We support restoring integrity to the voter registration rolls and reducing voter fraud. We support repealing all motor voter laws, re-registering voters every four years, requiring photo ID of all registrants, requiring proof of residency and citizenship along with the voter registration application, retaining the 30-day registration deadline, and requiring that a list of certified deaths be provided to the Secretary of State in order that the names of deceased voters be removed from the list of registered voters. We should give the Secretary of State enforcement authority to ensure county registrar compliance with Secretary of State directives. We support and call for immediate enrollment in an interstate cross-check program by the Secretary of State. We also support revising Title 19 funding to avoid incentivizing retention of ineligible voters.
• Drug Testing of Congress-We support the independent random drug testing of members of Congress to ensure the public confidence and trust of their elected leaders. While Congress is in session, members must be randomly tested at least twice a year. Results of Congressional drug testing will be made public within 30 days of the test.
• Accountability of Republican Leaders to Pro-Life Values-Elected leaders of the Republican Party of Texas and SREC members should not provide support in any form, including but not limited to contributions, endorsements, fundraising, or advertising for candidates or Republican elected officials who act directly in opposition to the Right-To-Life Planks and Pro-Life Principles of the Platform; When no legislation that directly bans abortion is passed during a regular legislative session, the Chair, SREC members, and other leaders of the Republican Party of Texas shall publicly request the Governor of the State of Texas to call a special session, reconvening the Texas Legislature in order to directly ban abortions.

Health and Human Services

• Caring for Our Mentally Disabled Citizens: We urge the Legislature to continue funding and operating all state-supported living centers for mentally disabled legal Texas residents, to continually seek common sense improvements to increase efficiency, and to evaluate and consider as the first priority the benefit of medical care over incarceration for criminal offenses and to continually seek common sense improvements partnering with families and private organizations to increase efficiency and provide long term secure and safe housing resources for mentally disabled Texas citizens.
• Mental Health: We request that the Texas Legislature provide appropriate funding for the improvement of mental health services for children and adolescents. This does not include mental health or behavioral assessments conducted without prior informed-parental consent. This includes funding for training everyone who touches the life of a child in the foster care system in trauma and trauma-informed care.
• Healthcare Decisions: Healthcare decisions, including routine preventative care such as immunizations, should be between a patient and healthcare professional and should be protected from government intrusion. Texas public schools have a duty to inform parents they can opt out of CDC recommended vaccinations for their children. Abortion is not healthcare. Government has no right to mandate specific medical procedures or methods of healthcare, including mental health or behavioral assessments.
• Parental Notification and Consent
  We support informed-parental or legal guardian consent for all medical care, counseling, etc., for all minors. No school, public or private or medical practitioners and counselors shall withhold from a parent or legal guardian information that is relevant to the physical or mental health of a minor, including information related to a minor’s perception that his or her gender or sex is inconsistent with his or her biological sex.

  State Affairs

• 315: Historical Monuments: We believe all historical war memorials, including Confederate monuments and cemeteries, in Texas should be protected from future removal or defacement and that those monuments that have been removed should be restored to their historical locations.
• Pro-life – Abortion Abolition Strategy: Until the abolition of abortion is achieved, we support laws as legislative priorities that restrict and regulate abortion including, but not limited to:

1. Parental and informed consent.
2. Prohibition of abortion for gender selection.
3. Prohibition of abortion due to the results of genetic diagnosis.
4. Prohibition of licensing, liability, and malpractice insurance for abortionists and abortion facilities.
5. Prohibition of financial kickbacks for abortion referrals.
6. Prohibition of partial-birth, late-term abortions.
7. Prohibition of abortions after the time an unborn child’s heartbeat is detected.
8. Prohibition of the manufacturing and sale of abortifacients (e.g., morning after pill).
9. Elimination of causes of action for “wrongful birth.”
10. Enactment of any other laws that will advance the right to life for unborn children.
11. Health insurance coverage for abortion services and abortifacients, which under Texas law should be considered supplemental coverage and billed to the beneficiary.
12. Prohibition of discriminatory abortions.
13. Prohibition of dismemberment abortions.

May 23, 2020

1. 9:00 AM Call to order by the Temporary Convention Chairman, Mark Dorazio
2. Invocation
3. Pledges
4. Address by U.S. Congressman Chip Roy, District 21
5. Agenda
6. Roll Call of the Temporary Roll of Delegates—Temporary Secretary Marilyn Jowdy
7. Report of the Temporary Credentials Committee—Temporary Chairman Judge Rene Diaz
8. Report of the Temporary Rules Committee—Temporary Chairman Curt Nelson
9. Report of the Permanent Organization Committee—Chairman Lani Popp

• • Election of Permanent Convention Officers

6. Appointment of Permanent Nominations, Permanent Resolutions Committees and Appointment of the Parliamentarian
7. Recess (Precinct Caucuses take place, if applicable)
8. Report of the Permanent Nominations Committee
9. Report of the Permanent Resolutions Committee
10. Other Business and Announcements
11. Adjournment

**Subject to appointment after election of permanent convention officers

Arrangements:

Chair — Krissy Coons

Sylvia Gartner

Monica Dorazio

Charlotte Canaday

Charlene Vander Poorten

Susan Solcher

Credentials:

Chairman — Judge O. Rene Diaz

Joe Leatherwood

RJ Cotter

Shirley Cooper

Brenda Slatton

Nancy Palmer

Curt Andrews

Nominations:

Chair — Laura Koerner

Devora Griggs

Cheri Creekmore

Yvonne Clouser

Carol Van De Walle

Ashley Montemayor

Trish Fagan

Gary Fagan

Linda Bulger

Resolutions:

Chairman — Grant Moody

Phil Sevilla

Jennifer Mery

Melynda Gulley Bracken

Charlotte Folson

David Winney

Robert Cantu

Lisa Nilsson

Steven Jordan

Richard Briscoe

Permanent Organization:

Chair — Lani Popp

Nathan Morgan

Julie Ahr

Charlie Bush

Charlotte Williamson Eisenhauer

Suzie Bayne

Rules:

Chairman — Curt Nelson

Vickie Durst

Tracy Hibberd

Chris Rockett

Wade Shelton

Jeff McManus

Sue Beasey

VOLUNTEER APPLICATION

Members of the Senatorial District 25 Convention Committees will meet several times in the weeks leading up to our District Convention on Saturday, March 21, 2020, at 9:00 a.m., in the auditorium of Alamo Heights High School, 6900 Broadway St, San Antonio, TX, 78209.

We need volunteers to fill temporary committees which make the Senatorial District Convention a success.  Please indicate three preferences of committees on which you would like to serve.  “1” indicates your first choice, “2” your second, and “3” your third.

Temporary Committees 

 The committees which can still use more volunteers are:

Arrangements:  This committee sets up and breaks down the signage and decorations, makes the delegate badges and forms, organizes the meeting and registration areas, the dais and seating.  Volunteers help with delegate registration starting at 8:00 a.m. Members of this committee need not be delegates to the convention.

Credentials:  This committee hears any disputes concerning contested delegates and recommends the permanent roll of the Convention.

Rules:  This committee recommends supplemental rules of running the Convention.

Permanent Organization:  This committee recommends the permanent officers of the Convention, and meets for a very short time early on during the convention.