Sen. Springer discusses bills for 2023 session

State Sen. Drew Springer has filed 11 bills for the 88th Texas legislative session beginning on Jan. 10. Sen. Springer, R-Olney, says he will file additional legislation before the March 10 filing deadline. The Enterprise talked with Sen. Springer about how some of his proposed legislation would affect Olney.

Senate Bill 154 “Wind setback” background/ purpose:

At least 41 states have installed utility-scale wind— and all have accompanying regulations and statutes that establish setback requirements, siting processes, and siting authorities. The various states imposed these setbacks to protect people and property from such things as turbine blade failure, ice shedding, and ice throw. If one of these events should occur, the blades’ mechanical forces can throw pieces of the turbine’s blade or ice beyond the turbine’s immediate area and into neighboring property, structures, and livestock. Turbines can cause more than physical damage. They can lower neighboring property values. One case study in Michigan showed a 23% value reduction in properties adjacent to a Wind Project, with no other inappropriate considerations, from an appraisal perspective. Therefore, to protect neighboring property rights, the legislation requires a wind turbine to be a distance of 3,000 feet from a non-participating property owner. The bill allows the non-participating property owner the right to waive the requirement.

Enterprise: Why is this proposal important? Sen. Springer: People who live near towers and don’t have them on their property, therefore having no say in the placement, find that they are very often placed near their property line where they are noisy above OSHA standards to a minimum of 3,000 feet as well as dominating their view. The bill allows for the tower company to buy the rights that cross over a property line. The goal is to make a workable solution for both parties rather than an outright ban.

Senate Bill 149 “The Texas Commerce Act” background/purpose:

Concerns have been expressed that a patchwork of differing local government ordinances, rules, and regulations has impaired the free flow of statewide commerce and has resulted in regulatory barriers and inefficient regulatory burdens on certain commercial activity conducted in more than one municipality. The Texas Commerce Act seeks to address these concerns by prohibiting municipalities from adopting or enforcing regulatory requirements on the purchase or sale of goods or services by a person who engages in such commercial activity in more than one municipality, subject to certain exceptions to preserve municipalities’ authority to regulate inherently local concerns.

Q: What prompted the Texas Commerce Act?

A: General law cities like Olney can pass mandatory sick leave or ban [drinking] straws like cities over 5,000 population can. Commerce is between the business and the individual and regulations on businesses should be standard statewide. Some large cities have begun to pass liberal east coast union policies that not only affect businesses in their city but bleed over to affecting them at their locations across the state. We have statewide regulations on sexually explicit businesses and if other activities need to be regulated it should be done for the whole state.

Senate Bill 128 “Feminine hygiene products” background/purpose: Many women were paying a tax on menstrual products, unaware that these necessities are treated like other untaxable medicinal and hygiene products. Additionally, neither Viagra nor condoms are taxed on a federal or state level, items that are not medically necessary or relate to an involuntary biological function. Only upon learning that states such as Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, and Maryland were making feminine hygiene products tax-exempt did Texas women realize they were being treated unequally.

Q: Where did the idea for this bill come from?

A: I filed this bill three sessions ago when it was brought to my attention. These products are a necessity and not a luxury item and should be exempt from taxation. Period poverty is real in Texas and for school-age girls, it is a cause of absenteeism. Lowering the cost will help make them more affordable.

Senate Bill 143 “Use of school as polling place” background/purpose:

All students and educators have a right to attend safe schools that are conducive to learning and achievement. Concerned parties point out that K-12 schools face various threats, including acts of violence, natural disasters, and emergencies. Specifically, school violence remains a problem across Texas. One step Texas can take to protect the physical security of school campuses is not opening schools to random intruders to either cause immediate harm or to familiarize oneself with its workings in preparation for future criminal activity. Therefore, SB 143 prevents a public school campus from being a designated polling place, thereby limiting public access to school campuses in Texas by random members of the public.

Q: Who requested this bill?

A: We work all year to harden our schools and keep our kids safe then we open them up to the public to come and go. There are community centers, libraries, churches, etcetera, that can be used rather than schools. I’ve had multiple parents ask that we ban schools from being polling locations.

Senate Bill 142 “Volunteer campus security” background/purpose: Concerns have been raised about the declining availability of qualified school security personnel and the consequential effects of a shortage of such personnel on emergency response times for incidents involving schools, particularly in rural areas of Texas. SB 142 seeks to address these concerns by allowing a public school district and an open-enrollment charter school in a county with a population of less than 150,000 to design a plan for veterans or qualified law enforcement officers who have undergone criminal history background checks to volunteer to provide campus security.

Q: Which constituents asked for this bill?

A: There are many former military and law enforcement individuals that would like to volunteer to help their schools but we need a process to add structure to what that would look like. If the [school resource officer] is out sick for the day this can be a way of filling that void with a volunteer.