HB2414 HB12

Can we ever trust the legislative process in Texas? I'm afraid that the answer is "no". This legislative session, the House Committee on Parks, Recreation, and Tourism introduced or had introduced a variety of bills aimed at changing the way that Texas Parks and Wildlife operates. Among them were two very different bills - HB 12, a much needed Parks Reform bill, and HB 2414, an unnecessary bill pertaining to Hunting from a public right-of-way. HB 2414 was a bad piece of legislation aimed at prohibiting NOT traditional "hunting" for game animals from public right-of-ways (which is already illegal) but collecting reptiles and amphibians BY HAND from public right-of-ways. HB 2414 met with many objections from the thousands of Texans who are interested in collecting such reptiles and amphibians. As a result, Representative Tracy King (Eagle Pass) proposed an amendment to HB 2414 that exempted the collection of reptiles and amphibians from HB 2414. The amended version of HB 2414 was then passed unanimously by the House. Due to time constraints at the end of the session, HB 2414 then died in the Senate without a vote. HB 12, the sweeping and needed Parks Reform Bill, passed the House and Senate but had to go to a conference committee to resolve differences between the House and Senate version. Neither version had any of the HB 2414 text. According to the Guide to Texas Legislative Information: “A conference committee’s charge is limited to reconciling differences between the two chambers, and the committee, unless so directed, may not alter, amend, or omit text that is not in disagreement. Nor may the committee add text on any matter that is not in disagreement or that is not included in either version of the bill in question.” Chairman of the House Committee of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Harvey Hilderbran (Kerrville) got around this limitation by authoring, introducing and passing HR 2912 in the House and getting Senator Estes (Wichita Falls) to author, introduce, and pass SR 1195 in the Senate. HR 2912 and SR 1195 gave the Conference Committee on HB 12 permission to add the pre-amendment version of HB 2414 (despite the fact that this text was defeated via amendment in the House and was never voted on in the Senate) by stating the following: “(9) House Rule 13, Section 9, is suspended to permit the committee to amend Subchapter A, Chapter 62, Parks and Wildlife Code, by adding Section 62.0031 to read as follows: The Conference Committee on HB 12, chaired by Hilderbran and Estes then drafted the Conference Committee Report that drastically changed HB 12. The revised bill was then pushed through the House and Senate in the end of session rush. The end result is that a ban on the safe, non lethal collecting of reptiles and amphibians along public right of ways that was defeated in the House by the amending HB 2414 (which the House passed unanimously!) and killed in the Senate (by committee delays) was attached as a rider onto another bill and passed into law (assuming signature by the Governor). These actions by Hilderbran and Estes thwarted the intent the Texas House, ignored the inaction of the Senate, and blindsided thousands of Texas hobbyists and sportsmen who are interested in Texas reptiles and amphibians. Sorry this is so long there just is no other way to let people know what these legislators have done. West Texas wil be a little bit poorer when these reptile hobbyists quit coming out here because they can no longer hunt legally along the roads, which by the way is the only safe place they can hunt. Thanks for reading my rant. If you agree with me please calll the governers office and request he veto HB12 because of the "riders" put in by Hilderbran. Thanks