Commentary

COMMENTARY: The 2019 Legislative Session is Over. What Bills Did Gov. Abbott Sign into Law that YOU Must Know About?

HOUSTON FORWARD TIMES — Every two years, the Texas State Legislature convenes to introduce bills that they hope will eventually come out of their respective committees, get argued on both the House and Senate floor, gain passage by both chambers, and then come before the Governor of Texas to be signed into law. Every biennial session, tons of bills get introduced, but a select few get signed into law.

Published

7 years ago

June 21, 2019

Chelsea Lenora White

By Jeffery L. Bones

Hey, Texans!

Every two years, the Texas State Legislature convenes to introduce bills that they hope will eventually come out of their respective committees, get argued on both the House and Senate floor, gain passage by both chambers, and then come before the Governor of Texas to be signed into law. Every biennial session, tons of bills get introduced, but a select few get signed into law.

Although 2019 was no exception, there were several important bills that were signed into law and were vetoed by the governor that everyone in Texas should be keenly aware of, especially members of the African American community.

The Forward Times wants to share some of the key bills that Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) signed into law that will affect everyone in Texas related to education, flooding, school safety and other important areas, as well as some of the bills that were vetoed by the governor.

Let’s first talk about some of the key bills that were signed into law and will take effect soon.

One of the much-talked about issues coming into this year’s legislative session was the desire of Gov. Abbott to be able to sign into law a major property tax reform bill to deal with rising property taxes that have significantly impacted residents all across the state of Texas.

Senate Bill 2, or the Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act as it has been called, was signed into law by Gov. Abbott on June 12th. This bill will require school districts, cities, counties and all other taxing entities to go to their respective voters to gain approval before they can raise taxes above a certain percentage more than it was the previous year. As the current law stands, if any taxing entity wants to raise property taxes by 8%, residents can petition that entity to hold an election to roll back the increase, often referred to as the “roll back rate.”

Now, as a result of this bill being signed into law, voter approval will be required when any taxing entity wants to increase their property tax revenues by more than 3.5%, and for select taxing entities, the increase is limited to 2.5% before voter approval is required. The taxing entities impacted by this bill include cities, counties, school districts, community colleges and all other types of local entities that collect property taxes from residents and set a local tax rate.

Gov. Abbott released a statement prior to signing the bill into law, saying:

“For far too long, Texans have seen their property taxes skyrocket as they are reduced to tenants of their own land…The Texas legislature took a meaningful step in reinforcing private property rights by reining in the power of local taxing entities, providing more transparency to the property tax process, and enacting long awaited appraisal reforms.”

It is important to note that this new bill does not cut or reduce property taxes in any way. It does, however, make it extremely challenging for these taxing entities to raise taxes above a certain percentage for any reason without getting voter approval first.

House Bill 3 was signed into law that and the members of the state legislature, as well as the governor, finally decided to address the problematic issue known as Texas public school finance.

As a result of this new bill being signed into law on June 11th, per-student base funding will be increased by roughly 20%; school districts will be allowed to give pay raises to veteran teachers, between $3,000 to $12,000; school districts like Houston Independent School District (HISD) and other wealthy districts across the state, had the amount of money they were required to give back to the state because of the recapture legislation, also known as the “Robin Hood” tax that was passed by the state legislature in 1993 in order to subsidize poorer districts throughout the state, significantly lowered; and money was allotted to provide free full-day pre-K for eligible 4-year-olds across the state.

One bill that has been signed into law, is sure to have a positive impact on many members of the African American community who have suffered the negative impacts of the controversial and systemically oppressive Driver Responsibility Program in Texas.

For those who were unaware, groups like the ACLU of Texas, Equal Justice Under Law and others, have fought for years to end the Driver Responsibility Program, which was particularly impactful on poor and low-to-moderate income people, mostly who were people of color.

As a result of this bill now becoming law, the ACLU of Texas states that more than 630,000 people will immediately be eligible to have their driver’s licenses reinstated, because they have no fees or suspensions that stem from something other than the DRP. They also state that approximately 350,000 people will be able to get their licenses back after paying a reinstatement fee and roughly 400,000 will be able to drive legally if they can resolve their non-DRP-related suspensions. According to the ACLU of Texas, any remaining surcharges that are owed by Texas drivers that were forced to enroll in the program will be wiped out on September 1, 2019, which is the effective date the bill becomes the law in Texas.

Another fee-related bill has been signed into law and it has many Texans relieved. The use of red-light cameras as a means of traffic control and monitoring across the state of Texas is no more, effective immediately, although entities who currently have contracts with red-light camera companies must honor those contracts, but are unable to renew those contracts.

Flooding continues to be a huge issue across certain parts of Texas, especially across the Greater Houston area. On June 13th, Gov. Abbott signed Senate Bill 7 into law, which establishes two funds that will provide grants and loans for flood control and mitigation projects in areas that are impacted by flooding across the state and will draw $1.7 billion from the state’s “rainy day fund” to help pay for it.

In the wake of the shooting at Santa Fe High School last year, Gov. Abbott signed Senate Bill 11 into law, which will strengthen mental health initiatives in schools, and will require classrooms to have access to a telephone or other electronic communication, as well as create teams that identify potentially dangerous students.

There are many other bills that have been signed into law, such as raising the legal age to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21, except for military personnel; increasing the amount of time that victims of certain types of sexual abuse are given to sue abusers or entities, from 15 years to 30 years after a victim turns 18; a prohibition on state and local governments from partnering with agencies that perform abortions, even if they contract for services not related to the procedure; and many more.

Now that we have heard about several of the bills that were signed into law, it is important to note that 58 other bills that passed the House and Senate this legislative session were vetoed by Gov. Abbott. Those 58 bills are is the most he has vetoed since being first elected to the governor’s office in 2015 (44 vetoes in 2015 and 51 vetoes in 2017, respectively).

Two bills vetoed by Gov. Abbott that received a lot of bipartisan support on both sides of the aisle were House Bill 448, which was authored by state Rep. Chris Turner (D-Grand Prairie) and House Bill 3490, which was authored by freshman state Rep. Sheryl Cole (D-Austin).

H.B. 448, which would have required children under the age of 2 to be secured in a rear-facing car seat while traveling in any moving vehicle, as strongly recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. According to Gov. Abbott, signing this bill into law would have been “an unnecessary invasion of parental rights and an unfortunate example of over-criminalization.”

Gov. Abbott went on to say that “Texas already compels drivers to use a car seat for a child under eight years of age…It is not necessary to micromanage the parenting process to such a great extent, much less to criminalize different parenting decisions by Texans.”

Relative to H.B. 3490, which would have made it a criminal act to use any form of social media to harass and torment someone. The bill would have made the people convicted of this form of harassment, also known as “cyber-bullying” for those who have been following this issue, subjected to higher penalties if they caused someone underage to commit suicide or physically harm themselves. According to Gov. Abbot, he felt that while “cyber-bullying is a very real problem,” he felt that “the language used in the bill was overbroad and would sweep in conduct that legislators did not intend to criminalize, such as repeated criticisms of elected officials on Internet websites.” Gov. Abbott did appear to be interested to working on this issue during the next legislative session, as he stated that he wanted “to forcefully counter cyberbullying in ways that can be upheld constitutionally.”

It is extremely important that all Texas residents and businesses know and understand the various bills that impact them on a day-to-day basis, including the ones that will have gone into effect already or will go into effect on Sept. 1st or at the beginning of next year.

The Forward Times will delve deeper into some of the key bills introduced by many of our local lawmakers that came through during this year’s Legislative Session and see what success stories came as a result of their hard work and legislative efforts this year.

In the meantime, if you are interested in finding out more about the 86th Legislative Session and what occurred, please visit Gov. Abbott’s Legislative news page at https://gov.texas.gov/news/category/legislative.

This article originally appeared in the Houston Forward Times.

Chelsea Lenora White

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Commentary

Doctors Seeing More Cases of Preventable Childhood Illnesses

OAKLAND POST — Physicians have said vaccine skepticism has expanded beyond childhood immunizations. Doctors also reported growing resistance to other preventive treatments.

Published

1 day ago

June 17, 2026

bpusa-syndication

By Stacy M. Brown

Doctors across the United States say they are treating children for illnesses that routine vaccinations once made increasingly uncommon, raising concerns that years of declining immunization rates are beginning to reverse decades of public health progress.

Pediatricians have described seeing more cases of whooping cough, rotavirus infections, bacterial pneumonia and other potentially life-threatening illnesses that vaccines have long helped suppress. Some physicians reported treating conditions they had rarely encountered during their careers, while others said that growing vaccine hesitancy is changing how emergency rooms and hospitals care for children.

The reports come as measles outbreaks continue to spread across multiple states and vaccination coverage remains below federal public health targets.

Johns Hopkins University’s International Vaccine Access Center reported 2,077 confirmed measles cases nationwide as of May 29. Researchers warned that outbreaks reported across the country have raised concerns about continued transmission, additional hospitalizations and deaths, and the possible loss of the nation’s measles elimination status.

Public health experts have long viewed measles as a warning sign because of its ability to spread rapidly through communities with lower vaccination coverage. The New York Times reported that physicians increasingly fear the resurgence of measles may be followed by the return of other vaccine-preventable diseases.

Doctors say that is already happening.

Dr. Meghan Hofto, a pediatric hospitalist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said she has already treated roughly as many children with rotavirus this year as she saw during the previous decade. Rotavirus once caused tens of thousands of hospitalizations annually before vaccines sharply reduced its spread. None of the children she treated this year had been vaccinated.

Hofto also described caring for infants with pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough.

“It’s hard to know when they’re safe to go home,” Hofto told The Times.

The rise in whooping cough cases has been particularly striking. More than 28,000 cases were reported nationwide last year, compared with approximately 7,000 in 2023, according to figures cited by The Times. Many of the affected infants were too young to receive vaccinations themselves and relied on broader community protection to reduce their exposure.

Other doctors described similarly troubling cases.

Dr. Jessica Kirk, a pediatric hospitalist in Alabama, recently treated an unvaccinated toddler hospitalized with pneumonia caused by simultaneous infections of Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Vaccines exist to protect against both illnesses. The child required oxygen and antibiotics to recover.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have been tracking vaccination trends nationwide and found continuing signs of vulnerability.

At the same time, vaccine policy has become increasingly contentious in state legislatures.

Johns Hopkins researchers reported that lawmakers across the country continue to introduce bills affecting childhood vaccination requirements, vaccine access and non-medical exemptions. Researchers also noted that state policies governing exemptions remain a significant factor in vaccination coverage and disease transmission risks.

Physicians have said vaccine skepticism has expanded beyond childhood immunizations. Doctors also reported growing resistance to other preventive treatments.

For doctors confronting the return of illnesses that vaccines once pushed to the margins of American medicine, the challenge is becoming increasingly personal.

“It just feels like you’re a tiny little boat with a giant tidal wave coming at you,” Dr. Erin Charles, a regional pediatric hospitalist at Seattle Children’s Hospital, told reporters. “And you might convince one family here and there.”

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Books

Book Review: Something We Said: Richard Pryor, A Notorious Word, and Me

Though sticks and stones and words are weapons, as in the new memoir, “Something We Said” by Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor, they can also hold people together.

Published

1 day ago

June 17, 2026

bpusa-syndication

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Author: Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor, Copyright: c.2026, Publisher: Simon & Schuster, SRP: $29.00, Page Count: 304 pages

Sticks and stones may break my bones.

You know the rest of that childhood rhyme, and you know it’s not true: words have meaning, and they can cut like a knife. And yet, though sticks and stones and words are weapons, as in the new memoir, “Something We Said” by Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor, they can also hold people together.

The college lecture was supposed to have been about the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act.

It was supposed to be a lively discussion, but unintentionally it quickly veered off course. When a White student quoted a movie line featuring the “n-word,” the room went quiet, and Professor Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor panicked.

She’d grown up hearing that word, and seeing it, and she’d experienced the painful feelings attached to it. She knew who wrote that movie line. It was her father, Richard Pryor.

In her first few years, Pryor spent most of her time in a White world, hearing her mother’s tales of her larger-than-life father, and trying to grasp meaning in her father’s albums, peppered as they were with a word that was off-limits to her.

When she was six, she met her father for the first time. She began to visit him regularly.

It was fun at her Dad’s house; though he was sometimes moody, he taught her to fish and play dominoes. She became close with her siblings, fearful of her great-grandmother, and confused about a word that her father’s uncles threw around like a beach ball. It was a forbidden word at her mother’s house, but her father used it. Differently. Often.

The word hurt. She knew first-hand that it did.

“The word became a degrading slur that shackled all Black people together into a single, inescapable tribe,” she says.

So why was it okay for certain people to say it?

Knowing that, in the years since Richard Pryor’s accident and his death from multiple sclerosis, he’s become somewhat of a legend. It is a very satisfying thing, isn’t it? So is reading about him, especially from the viewpoint of one of his seven children. But his is not the only story you get inside “Something We Said.”

Wrapped around the life of Richard Pryor is the life of a word that straddles a line between danger and provocation, a word that author Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor refuses to say or even print. As she tells readers about her father and her loving-but-difficult relationship with him, she warily circles that word, as if it might bite. You may cringe, but she weighs it carefully, helping readers see it as a chameleon before always bringing us back to her father, his work, and his life before and after her and that word.

It’s a push-pull balance that holds readers fast, and keeps them there. It’s perfect for fans of this genre, or Richard Pryor, or of language – and it’s going to make you think. If you want a good memoir this week, one that may send you to your old album collection, “Something We Said” is rock-solid.

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Bay Area

IN MEMORIAM: Longtime OUSD Employee Debra King-Cooper, 73

Longtime OUSD Employee Debra King-Cooper, 73 Caption: Debra King-Cooper. Courtesy photo. Special to The Post Debra King-Cooper, a beloved mother, grandmother, queen, sister, church member, caregiver, and matriarch, transitioned peacefully on May 20 surrounded by family and love i

Published

1 day ago

June 17, 2026

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Debra King-Cooper. Courtesy photo.

Special to The Post

Debra King-Cooper, a beloved mother, grandmother, queen, sister, church member, caregiver, and matriarch, transitioned peacefully on May 20 surrounded by family and love in the comfort of her home. To her children, she was royalty, grace, strength, and unconditional love embodied.

Debra Diane Edgar was born on May 28, 1952, in San Francisco, California, to Charles Edgar Sr. and Mamie Arthur Edgar. She was raised alongside her younger brother, Charles Edgar Jr., affectionately known as “Little Brother” or “Lil Bruh.” She also shared close bonds with her older siblings Carol Edgar-Lang, Maryann Edgar Calloway, and Lonnie Lewis Sr.

A proud product of San Francisco’s historic Fillmore District, Debra attended Andrew Jackson Elementary School, where she met her lifelong best friend and adopted sister, Lynn Green, in the fifth grade. She later attended Robert Louis Stevenson Elementary School, Roosevelt Junior High School and Thomas Jefferson High School.

Debra’s mother transitioned when she was only 17 years old, and her father transitioned when she was 23. Despite these profound losses, Debra remained grounded through the love and support of extended family and lifelong family friends,

In 1971, she married Harold King. On Sept. 24, 1972, they welcomed their first son, Dajuan Artese King, affectionately called “Pop” or “Poppa.” On Aug. 5, 1976, they welcomed their second son, Dante Dupree King, affectionately called “Tay” or “Taboocoo the Baby.”

After her divorce in 1982, Debra assumed full responsibility for raising her sons.

She supported Dajuan’s passion for football by purchasing sports equipment and attending games faithfully. She supported Dante’s love of music by enrolling him in the San Francisco Boys Choir, Oakland Boys Choir, and the Castlemont Castleers.

Professionally, Debra built an exceptional career. She worked at Blue Shield of California from 1973 until 1994, earning multiple promotions.

She later joined the Oakland Unified School District, initially in a temporary role before being promoted into management within the Labor Relations Department. She retired from OUSD in 2015 after years of distinguished service. During her years at OUSD, she built meaningful friendships with her colleagues.

Faith was central to Debra’s life. During the 1980s, following personal hardship, she joined Love Center Church under the leadership of Bishop Walter Hawkins, where she brought her children regularly. She later became a member of Triumphant: A Church Without Walls Ministries under Pastor Dr. Larry Short, who became a beloved spiritual mentor.

After Triumphant closed in 1992, Debra joined Cosmopolitan Baptist Church in Oakland under the leadership of Pastor Larry Ashley, where she remained for the rest of her life.

At Cosmopolitan, she worked in numerous ministries. She served on the usher board, sang in the choir, participated in the AIDS ministry during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, helped feed and support unhoused community members, and mentored and supported a group of young girls.

After retirement, she cared for older adults in her church community, driving them to appointments, cleaning their homes, managing finances, preparing meals, and helping families navigate funeral arrangements after loved ones transitioned.

Even while battling Stage 4 cancer herself, she continued caring for others.

Debra was preceded in death by her parents, Charles Edgar Sr. and Mamie Arthur Edgar; her brothers, Lonnie Lewis Sr. and Charles Edgar Jr.; her sisters, Maryann Edgar Calloway and Victoria Stephenson Knight; and her adopted mother, Clara Oliver.

She leaves to cherish her memory her beloved sons, Dajuan King and Dante King; grandson, Tiyler Dajuan Artese King; sister, Carol Edgar-Lang; goddaughters Monique Belle and Ricketa Matthews Jones (Leonard); daughter-in-love Quiona Sullivan; son-in-love Marcel Walker; sister-in-law Delores Lewis; adopted sisters and lifelong friends Lynn Green, Barbara Stephenson Hill, and Sarah Fine; a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, great-nieces, great-nephews, extended family members, her church family and dear friends.