Good morning –

With the blessing yesterday of Gov. Greg Abbott, local governments in Texas are now free to fine businesses out of business. Are you ready for what will be a confusing patchwork of enforcement orders dealing with the rules, regulations, and even “recommendations” of face mask mandates? And what will be next?

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, June 18, 2020
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• Texas’ local governments were given the go-ahead yesterday by Gov. Greg Abbott to compel businesses to enforce the shifting landscape of orders, mandates, and recommendations dealing with wearing face coverings. Good luck keeping up.
           
• The governor specifically endorsed as a model the actions of Democrat Nelson Wolff, the Bexar County Judge, who signed an executive order requiring businesses to require customers and employees to wear masks. Failure to do so would result in the business being fined $1,000 for each incident. Brandon Waltens has all the details.
       
• In an interview with KWTX News in Waco, Abbott said there had been “a plan in place all along” and that “the county judge in Bexar County had finally figured that out.”
       
• “Government cannot require individuals to wear masks. However, pursuant to my plan, local governments can require stores and business to require masks.” – Gov. Greg Abbott, 6/17/2020
        
• “Abbott’s words make sense coming from the governor of California, not Texas. ENOUGH! We don’t need a king in the governor’s mansion or in city hall. Let Texans decide. No more parenting from Austin.” – State Rep. Matt Schaefer (R-Tyler)
       
• “Beyond the unconstitutionality of it all, [Gov. Abbott’s] decrees seem designed to intentionally confuse citizens, and to allow him to deny responsibility for the consequences.” – Tony McDonald
       
• Does your state representative  know what you think about this? Have you called? Use the number below or call the Capitol switchboard at 512-463-4630.
     
• This is but another reminder that those mayoral and city council elections most conservative Texans ignore really are important.

• Meanwhile, several current and former conservative legislators – along with some 1,500 co-plaintiffs – have filed a federal lawsuit against Gov. Abbott over the $295 million contract he awarded to MTX Group for contact tracing. Brandon Waltens reports the lawsuit argues that the shutdown orders, strict reopening guidelines, and contact tracing program violate Texans’ constitutional rights under the First and Fourth Amendments, as well as their right to due process and equal protection.
       
• In the open-seat GOP primary runoff, former lobbyist Josh Winegarner has unleashed a barrage of attacks against the Trump-endorsed candidate, retired Admiral Ronny Jackson. Thomas Warren has the details. 
     
• Tarrant County commissioners voted along party lines to continue participating with the federal government in checking the immigration status of those brought to the county jail. As Robert Montoya reports, left-wing organizers and Democrat officials unsuccessfully tried to end the county’s cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
   
• Midland County District Clerk Alex Archuleta (R) was arrested last week on charges of driving while intoxicated. Matt Stringer has the story.

• Yesterday’s Texas Minute asked a very specifically worded question: “Some politicians and pundits around the nation are wanting states to go ahead and mandate another wave of shutdowns because of the Chinese coronavirus. If that were to happen, would you comply?” The same question was asked on our social media platforms.
     
• Texas Minute readers responded overwhelmingly – 95.6 percent indicated they would “not comply” with another shutdown, compared to just over 4 percent who would. Facebook participants responded similarly, at a 95-to-5 percent ratio. On Twitter, 81 percent indicated they would not comply.
      
• A few people wrote to say they objected to the use of the word comply, saying that they may not “approve” of the shutdown orders but would nonetheless comply. So the answer, of course, is that they would comply with the shutdown of the economy.
       
• On the other hand, we received a fair number of responses noting that our binary choice did not provide enough emotion – as in “heck no I won’t” or “they better #@%&* not try it.”
      
• Others simply said they were done with layers of executive mandates and shutdowns. My dad, Stephen Sullivan, wrote: “The first shutdown wasn’t legal - no reason to think the second would be. Let the entire legislative body make laws, not individual power-mongers.” (Now you see where I get it.)

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