www.thecentersquare.com – By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor – (The Center Square – ) 2025-05-22 17:02:00
The Texas House advanced two abortion-related bills previously passed by the Senate. SB 33, authored by Sen. Donna Campbell, bans taxpayer funds from supporting out-of-state abortion travel, targeting entities that provide logistical support for abortions. It allows lawsuits against violators to recover misused funds. SB 31, the Life of the Mother Act filed by Sen. Bryan Hughes, clarifies medical emergency exceptions to abortion bans, requiring uniformity and education on the topic. Texas bans elective abortions except to save the mother’s life. Since the Roe overturn, 157 medically necessary abortions occurred with no prosecutions of doctors, while illegal abortion facility operators face prosecution. The bans have reduced elective abortions by nearly 80,000 over two years.
(The Center Square) – The Texas House has advanced two abortion-related bills that already passed the Senate.
On Thursday, the House passed SB 33, filed by state Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, which bans taxpayer money from being used to assist with travel outside of Texas to have an abortion. The bill passed the House by a vote of 87-57. It passed the Senate in April by a vote of 22-9.
Campbell filed the bill after officials in Austin and San Antonio allocated millions of taxpayer funds for “abortion travel” in violation of state law, The Center Square reported.
“Currently, ‘abortion providers’ may no longer commit legal abortion within the state. Even if they did, cities would be prohibited from engaging in business with them. However, cities have found a way to use taxpayer money to support abortion while skirting the law. Instead, they are giving money to entities that aid or abet abortions in some form but are not directly abortion providers themselves. So far, Austin has directly spent money to this end while the San Antonio city council has repeatedly attempted this blatant misuse of Texan taxpayer funds. Other cities are likely to follow suit without legislation that prohibits such actions explicitly,” Campbell’s bill analysis explains.
The bill explicitly prohibits governmental transactions with abortion assistance entities to ensure that taxpayer funds aren’t used to indirectly support or facilitate out-of-state abortion services. It amends state to law to expand the definition of “abortion assistance entities” to include any organization or individual that “provides financial support, travel arrangements, childcare, or other logistical services that facilitate access to abortions.”
It also empowers the Office of the Attorney General, state residents, or individuals within a political subdivision to sue “any entity engaging in prohibited transactions, with provisions for recovering misused funds, court costs, and attorney’s fees.”
The author of Texas’ Heartbeat Act, state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, filed the Life of the Mother Act, SB 31, which unanimously passed the Senate in late April. State Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, filed companion legislation, HB 44, in the Texas House.
It passed the House Wednesday by a vote of 89-57 after a heated debate.
Despite Gov. Greg Abbott saying earlier this year that there was no need to amend the state’s Human Life Protection Act, state lawmakers advanced the bill.
Abbott signed the Human Life Protection Act into law in June 2021, which became effective after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022. Texas law prohibits all elective abortions of preborn children with the exception of saving the life of the mother. The law and other Texas abortion bans were challenged in court and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court and Texas Supreme Court. Last May, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that doctors could use “reasonable medical judgment” when determining when a medical necessity justified performing an abortion. The Texas Medical Board also established rules and guidelines.
SB 31 “seeks to clarify existing medical emergency exceptions to otherwise prohibited abortions, which are spread throughout or implicated by multiple provisions in different codes, and provide uniformity among them.” It also establishes continuing medical education and continuing legal education courses about state abortion laws and the bill’s medical emergency exceptions, the bill analysis explains.
It revises state law “relating to exceptions to otherwise prohibited abortions based on a physician’s reasonable medical judgment,” which several Republicans argue creates a loophole to allow elective abortions.
SB 31 passed by a vote of 134-4 after heated debate. Four Republicans voting against it: Harrison; Hopper; Lowe; Pierson, according to an unofficial vote tally.
Seven Republicans voted “Present, not voting:” Holt; Money; Mr. Speaker; Olcott; Swanson; Tinderholt; Toth. Five members were absent and didn’t vote.
Democrats overwhelmingly voted for it.
According to the latest data published by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, zero elective abortions and 157 medically necessary abortions have been performed in Texas since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade and Texas’ abortion ban went into effect in August 2022. This is up from 145 medically necessary abortions performed that were reported in March, The Center Square reported.
If an average of 2,852 abortions performed per month in the first six months of 2022 were to have continued, an estimated 79,856 elective abortions would have been reported by October 2024, based on the data. Meaning, Texas abortion bans reduced elective abortion by nearly 80,000 in a roughly two-year time span.
No doctor has been prosecuted, sued, or sanctioned for performing any of the medically necessary abortions reported to the state. Several people have been arrested and are being prosecuted for operating illegal abortion facilities, The Center Square reported. Elective abortions performed at these facilities were not reported to the state.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Right
The article primarily reports on Texas state legislation related to abortion restrictions, focusing on bills proposed and passed by Republican lawmakers. The tone and language tend to emphasize the legal and procedural aspects of the legislation while framing certain actions, such as the use of taxpayer funds for abortion travel, in a negative light by highlighting terms like “blatant misuse.” It presents legislative outcomes and voting splits, noting Democratic and Republican positions, but the selection of details—such as underscoring the reduction in elective abortions and citing prosecutions of illegal abortion facilities—aligns with a perspective favoring abortion restrictions. While it does not use overtly partisan language, the framing highlights Republican efforts to restrict abortion access and portrays these efforts as effective and justified, which suggests a Center-Right bias rather than neutral reporting on the ideological stances of the involved parties alone.
SUMMARY: On July 4, Krista Parker’s 6-year-old son, DJ, nearly drowned at Paragon Casino Resort in Louisiana. Despite DJ’s fear of water, he suddenly went lifeless by the pool. Krista and her husband performed CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, eventually reviving him as water was expelled from his lungs. DJ was taken to Rapides Women’s and Children’s Hospital, where he recounted a near-death experience of seeing angels and God, strengthening his family’s faith. He now wants to be named Avir, meaning “air” in Hebrew, reflecting his experience. DJ suffered no lasting physical harm, emphasizing the importance of CPR training and water safety.
SUMMARY: The LSU Tigers have landed Lamar Brown, the top 2026 recruit and five-star defensive tackle from Baton Rouge, choosing LSU over Texas A&M, Miami, and Texas. In MLB, the Houston Astros swept the Dodgers in LA but were then swept at home by the Guardians, who had lost 10 straight games. Despite challenges, the Astros emphasize teamwork. College football returns as Houston Cougars aim for a Big 12 bounce-back under coach Willie Fritz, focusing on depth and competition. In tennis, Amanda Eissimova shocked the world by defeating the No. 1 player, Sebalana, to reach her first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon after overcoming burnout.
Here’s the latest on sports of interest for the Houston area. LSU signs Lamar Brown. Astros are swept. Cougars under Fritz.
feeds.texastribune.org – By Terri Langford, Dan Keemahill and Hayden Betts – 2025-07-10 17:52:00
Following devastating July 4 flooding in Kerr County that killed nearly 100, officials blamed taxpayer resistance for the lack of flood warning sirens along the Guadalupe River. Despite awareness since 2016 of flood risks and the need for a $1 million warning system, political conservatism and a tight tax base stalled progress. An application for FEMA funding was denied due to the absence of a hazard mitigation plan, and the county’s $10.2 million American Rescue Plan Act funds were largely spent on public safety radio systems, not flood warnings. Local leaders and residents now push to install sirens for future safety.
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In the week after the tragic July 4 flooding in Kerr County, several officials have blamed taxpayer pressure as the reason flood warning sirens were never installed along the Guadalupe River.
“The public reeled at the cost,” Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly told reporters one day after the rain pushed Guadalupe River levels more than 32 feet, resulting in nearly 100 deaths in the county, as of Thursday.
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly speaks during a press conference at the Hill Country Youth Event Center in Kerrville on Saturday July 5, 2025. Credit: Ronaldo Bolaños/The Texas Tribune
A community that overwhelmingly voted for President Donald Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024, Kerr County constructed an economic engine on the allure of the Guadalupe River. Government leaders acknowledged the need for more disaster mitigation, including a $1 million flood warning system that would better alert the public to emergencies, to sustain that growth, but they were hamstrung by a small and tightfisted tax base.
An examination of transcripts since 2016 from Kerr County’s governing body, the commissioners court, offers a peek into a small Texas county paralyzed by two competing interests: to make one of the country’s most dangerous region for flash flooding safer and to heed to near constant calls from constituents to reduce property taxes and government waste.
“This is a pretty conservative county,” said former Kerr County Judge Tom Pollard, 86. “Politically, of course, and financially as well.”
County zeroes in on river safety in 2016
Cary Burgess, a local meteorologist whose weather reports can be found in the Kerrville Daily Times or heard on Hill Country radio stations, has noticed the construction all along the Guadalupe for the better part of the last decade.
More Texans and out-of-state residents have been discovering the river’s pristine waters lined with bald cypress trees, a long-time draw for camping, hiking and kayaking, and they have been coming in droves to build more homes and businesses along the water’s edge. If any of the newcomers were familiar with the last deadly flood in 1987 that killed 10 evacuating teenagers, they found the river’s threat easy to dismiss.
“They’ve been building up and building up and building up and doing more and more projects along the river that were getting dangerous,” Burgess recalls. “And people are building on this river, my gosh, they don’t even know what this river’s capable of.”
By the time the 1987 flood hit, the county had grown to about 35,000 people. Today, there are about 53,000 people living in Kerr County.
In 2016, Kerr County commissioners already knew they were getting outpaced by neighboring, rapidly growing counties on installing better flood warning systems and were looking for ways to pull ahead.
During a camp evacuation ahead of rising floodwaters, a Seagoville Road Baptist Church bus was swept into the Guadalupe River near the town of Comfort during the July 17, 1987 flood. Forty three people — four adults and 39 teenagers — were washed into the river. Ten teenagers died. Credit: The National Weather Service
During a March 28 meeting that year, they said as much.
“Even though this is probably one of the highest flood-prone regions in the entire state where a lot of people are involved, their systems are state of the art,” Commissioner Tom Moser said then. He discussed how other counties like Comal had moved to sirens and more modern flood warning systems.
“And the current one that we have, it will give – all it does is flashing light,” explained W.B. “Dub” Thomas, the county’s emergency management coordinator. “I mean all – that’s all you get at river crossings or wherever they’re located at.”
Kerr County already had signed on with a company that allowed its residents to opt in and get a CodeRED alert about dangerous weather conditions. But Thomas urged the commissioners court to strive for something more. Cell service along the headwaters of the Guadalupe near Hunt was spotty in the western half of Kerr County, making a redundant system of alerts even more necessary.
“I think we need a system that can be operated or controlled by a centralized location where – whether it’s the Sheriff’s communication personnel, myself or whatever, and it’s just a redundant system that will complement what we currently have,” Thomas said that year.
“The purpose of this project is to provide Kerr County with a flood warning system,” the county wrote in its application. “The System will be utilized for mass notification to citizens about high water levels and flooding conditions throughout Kerr County.”
But the Texas Division of Emergency Management, which oversees billions of FEMA dollars designed to prevent disasters, denied the application because they didn’t have a current hazard mitigation plan. They resubmitted it, news outlets reported, but by then, priority was given to counties that had suffered damage from Hurricane Harvey.
Political skepticism about a windfall
All that concern about warning systems seemed to fade over the next five years, as the political atmosphere throughout the county became more polarized and COVID fatigue frayed local residents’ nerves.
In 2021, Kerr County was awarded a $10.2 million windfall from the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, which Congress passed that same year to support local governments impacted by the pandemic. Cities and counties were given flexibility to use the money on a variety of expenses, including those related to storm-related infrastructure. Corpus Christi, for example, allocated $15 million of its ARPA funding to “rehabilitate and/or replace aging storm water infrastructure.” Waco’s McLennan County spent $868,000 on low water crossings.
“I’m here to ask this court today to send this money back to the Biden administration, which I consider to be the most criminal treasonous communist government ever to hold the White House,” one resident told commissioners in April 2022, fearing strings were attached to the money.
“We don’t want to be bought by the federal government, thank you very much,” another resident told commissioners. “We’d like the federal government to stay out of Kerr County and their money.”
When it was all said and done, the county approved $7 million in ARPA dollars on a public safety radio communications system for the sheriff’s department and county fire services to meet the community’s needs for the next 10 years, although earlier estimates put that contract at $5 million. Another $1 million went to sheriff’s employees in the form of stipends and raises, and just over $600,000 went towards additional county positions. A new walking path was also created with the ARPA money.
While much has been made of the ARPA spending, it’s not clear if residents or the commissioners understood at the time they could have applied the funds to a warning system. Current Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, and Thomas have declined repeated requests for interviews. Moser, who is no longer a commissioner, did not immediately respond to a Texas Tribune interview request.
Many Kerr County residents, including those who don’t normally follow every cog-turn of government proceedings, have now been poring over the county commissioners meetings this week including Ingram City Council member Raymond Howard. They’ve been digging into ARPA spending and other ways that the county missed opportunities to procure $1 million to implement the warning system commissioners wanted almost 10 years ago, and to prevent the devastating death toll from this week.
A week ago, Howard spent the early morning hours of July 4 knocking on neighbors’ doors to alert them to the flooding after he himself ignored the first two phone alerts on his phone in the middle of the night.
In the week since, the more he’s learned about Kerr County’s county inaction on a flood warning system, the angrier he has become.
“Well, they were obviously thinking about it because they brought it up 20 times since 2016 and never did anything on it,” Howard said, adding that he never thought to ask the city to install sirens previously because he didn’t realize the need for it. “I’m pretty pissed about that.”
Harvey Hilderbran, the former Texas House representative for Kerr County, said what he is watching play out in the community this week is what he’s seen for years in Texas: A disaster hits. There’s a rush to find out who’s accountable. Then outrage pushes officials to shore up deficiencies.
It’s not that Kerr County was dead set against making the area safer, Hilderbran said. Finding a way to pay for it is always where better ideas run aground, especially with a taxbase and leadership as fiscally conservative as Kerr’s.
“Generally everybody’s for doing something until it gets down to the details paying for it,” Hilderbran said. “It’s not like people don’t think about it … I know it’s an issue on their minds and something needs to be done.”
Howard, the 62-year-old Ingram city council member, came to Kerr County years ago to care for an ailing mother. Although he has now been diagnosed with stage four cancer, he said he intends to devote his life to make sure that his small two-mile town north of Kerrville has a warning system and he already knows where he’s going to put it.
“We’re going to get one, put it up on top of the tower behind the volunteer fire department,” he said. “It’s the thing I could do even if it’s the last thing I do …to help secure safety for the future.”
The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Right
This article presents a mostly factual and balanced overview of Kerr County’s flood warning system challenges within a politically conservative community. It highlights the county’s strong conservative stance on limited government spending and skepticism toward federal aid, reflecting typical right-leaning priorities such as fiscal conservatism and wariness of federal involvement. The coverage is careful to present multiple perspectives, including official statements and local residents’ concerns, without overt editorializing or ideological framing. The tone and content suggest an objective report focused on local governance dynamics rather than promoting a partisan agenda, though the conservative context is clearly emphasized.
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