Good morning,
As the old saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. But I close out the week reflecting on the good things that can arise from the worst of intentions.
This is the Texas Minute for Friday, April 25, 2025.
– Michael Quinn Sullivan
House Leadership Accused of Holding Pro-Life Bill Hostage to Islamic Holiday Push
- A group of Texas lawmakers is raising alarms after House leadership has so far declined to give a hearing to legislation that would establish June 24 as "Celebration of Life Day," a holiday marking the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Brandon Waltens reports the legislation has been stalled because the chamber's leaders want to pair it with a measure designating Islamic holidays as optional observances for state employees.
- At issue is House Bill 911 by State Rep. Briscoe Cain (R–Deer Park) creating the "Celebration of Life Day." Inexplicably, Speaker Dustin Burrows sent it to the House Committee on Delivery of Government Efficiency—a counterintuitive place for it. The committee's vice-chair is Salman Bhojani (D-Euless), a far-left activist and outspoken Muslim.
- The committee is chaired by Giovanni Capriglione (R–Southlake). According to Cain, Capriglione told him that "it would be unfair if he didn’t set the vice-chairman’s bill celebrating Muslim holidays."
- A letter signed by 33 lawmakers was sent to Capriglione earlier this week requesting a hearing, emphasizing that Cain's legislation affirms Texas’ pro-life values and deserves public consideration.
MORE HOUSE NEWS
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows sided with Democrats to kill a Republican amendment that would have ensured taxpayer-funded scholarships only go to U.S. citizens.
Texas Senator Would Tie Occupational Licenses to Registry Managed by Speech Police
- A proposal in the Texas Senate is drawing fire from First Amendment advocates who say it could turn Texas into a political police state. Authored by Donna Campbell (R-Bulverde), the legislation would create a statewide “Ethics Violations Registry” managed by the Texas Ethics Commission.
- Anyone targeted by the TEC would be denied a state occupational license—including the ability to drive, practice medicine, law, real estate, plumbing, or any other licensed trade—until they pay off fines or fulfill other TEC-imposed penalties. Campbell said she could not understand opposition to the legislation.
- Critics have said her legislation would give the TEC dangerous power to destroy the livelihoods of Texans engaged in political speech. First Amendment attorney Tony McDonald likened the bill “to bringing the Chinese social credit system to Texas.”
- McDonald described current TEC enforcement as abusive and warned the bill would give the agency unilateral power to blacklist citizens from working.
- The Texas "Ethics" Commission routinely denies people their due-process rights, violates the Constitution, and brazenly ignores court rulings. So, sure, give them more power to ruin lives!
RELATED SPEECH NEWS
Lawmakers Consider Advantaging Entities Seeking to Silence Citizens
- Legislation filed by State Rep. Mano DeAyala (R-Houston) would remove the automatic recovery of attorney’s fees that citizens are entitled to if a court deems certain lawsuits pursued against them were unfounded or burdensome. Luca Cacciatore has the details.
- The lawsuits in question are known as strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPP. SLAPP suits can come about when an individual or entity with greater resources seeks to silence criticism. Texas' anti-SLAPP law was designed to protect citizens from being silenced through legal action.
- Ironically, the loudest proponent of DeAyala's legislation has been Texans for Lawsuit Reform. While they want to limit their own exposure to lawsuits, TLR is advocating for individuals to be subject to burdensome—even financially ruinous—lawsuits because the plaintiffs don't like what the person is saying.
Texas Education Agency (Finally) Releases 2023 School Report Cards
- Erin Anderson reports that Texans can now see school accountability reports that districts fought to keep hidden from the public. The accountability ratings are treated like a “report card” on how well Texas schools serve students and taxpayers.
- The ratings are based on student achievement, student progress, and how well districts are closing gaps in academic performance for certain groups of students. State law requires the rating metrics to be “refreshed” every five years.
- More than 100 school districts sued the TEA in 2023 to block the release of that year’s ratings. A separate unresolved lawsuit is blocking the release of the 2024 ratings.
- Texas school report cards for 2022-23 can be found at txschools.gov.
MORE EDUCATION NEWS
A North Texas high school teacher, Ryan Hedges, is in jail following allegations that he sexually groomed a student. At the time of his arrest, Hedges taught at Kemp High School. School officials now say he is no longer employed by Kemp ISD. State records indicate the man does not hold a Texas teaching certificate.
Brian D. Schultz was arrested this week and charged with online solicitation of a minor, which is a second-degree felony. Officials in the Conroe Independent School District said his arrest “was not related” to the elementary school where he worked as a kindergarten teacher.
High-Ranking Tren de Aragua Member Indicted in Houston
- A high-ranking member of the terrorist organization Tren de Aragua has been arrested in Colombia after being indicted in Houston for terrorism and international drug distribution charges. Joseph Trimmer has the story.
- Jose Enrique Martinez Flores is the first TdA member to be charged with terrorism-related crimes.
- Prosecutors have alleged TdA, the notoriously brutal gang designated a terrorist organization by both President Donald Trump and Gov. Greg Abbott, has expanded its criminal network into the U.S., coordinating drug trafficking and violent operations.
- “TdA is a direct threat to our national security, to our communities, and to Americans.” – FBI Director Kash Patel
This Sunday on REAL TEXANS
In this week’s REAL TEXANS, I visit with Chase Davis—a Texas pastor who has taken the Gospel to Colorado and become a leading voice in apologetics.
Among other things, the conversation includes a look at the cultural costs of rejecting Christianity.
Friday Reflection
Intended For Evil
by Michael Quinn Sullivan
When Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, they did not try to hide from themselves their evil intentions. To cover their crime, though, they told their father the boy had been killed and eaten by wild animals.
Yet, as we learn in the Book of Genesis, their evil intentions resulted in a regional good: Joseph rose from a slave to one of the most powerful men in Egypt. From that position, Joseph saved millions of lives, including those of his brothers and their families.
I could not help but think of those evil brothers as I pondered the actions of the Texas House leadership in the opening moves of their budget negotiations.
Reform-minded lawmakers had prepared a series of amendments that would draw money from the scandal-plagued money laundering enterprise known as the Texas Lottery to property tax relief and other notable causes.
The Lottery was never intended to be a social good. Advocates told bald-faced lies promoting it in the late 1980s and early 1990s with claims that it would fund public education. A chief proponent of the Lottery was Democrat Gov. Ann Richards, who never intended the cash to go to the schools. After she was booted from office, and the citizenry realized they had been hoodwinked, lawmakers finally pointed a mere pittance of the revenues into the schools. Since then, the lottery’s annual contribution to education is a rounding error in the state’s $330 billion budget.
The Lottery has quite successfully become a sophisticated money-laundering operation, just like the early 20th-century mobs created with their casinos in the Nevada desert. The only difference is that, with the Texas Lottery, our state government has been a willing co-conspirator.
The money laundering has been achieved by dangling the mathematically impossible hope of a jackpot in front of financially illiterate Texans. Then, when the jackpot gets big enough, the laundering occurs with shadowy enterprises allowed to game the system and walk off with money cleaned by the State of Texas.
So, with the prospect of lawmakers having to choose between funding an illicit operation of state government and more worthwhile causes, the House leadership made a gamble. They didn’t want lawmakers voting for good things, so a leftwing Democrat was enlisted by the lead budget writer, Republican Greg Bonnen of Friendswood, to offer a hastily drawn amendment at the outset of the debate. The Bonnen-approved amendment simply defunded the Lottery.
How could that be bad? There was no intention by the House leadership to actually defund the agency. Remember, the Senate’s version of the state budget had fully funded the Lottery. The House honchos wanted to deny reformers the chance to put anything good on the record. They knew they could quietly add the money back in later.
Yet, what was intended for evil has quickly become a very public good. Rather than sulk after being outfoxed by Bonnen, the reformers simply reset the narrative. They leaned into the curve thrown at them and forced their fellow House members to go on the record with a vote. Overwhelmingly, members affirmed the zero-dollar budget for the corrupt Texas Lottery.
In the official voice of the House itself, the Republican majority has said the Texas Lottery should not be funded. If the funding reappears in the coming weeks, it will be because Gov. Greg Abbott or the Senate put their fingers on the scales behind the closed doors of the state’s budget reconciliation process.
If so, they will personally own the next set of scandals at the agency that are already starting to break. The House has said they want no part of it.
Texans should no longer be forced to subsidize a corrupt money laundering scheme. Regardless of the bad intentions that got us here, it is good and right that the Texas Lottery should now die.
Quote-Unquote
“The truth is that the lottery is a rip-off instituted by our government. This is not a moral position; it is a mathematical, statistical fact.”
– Dave Ramsey
