Columns/Opinions

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AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott and members of Lone Star State’s congressional delegation last week signed a letter seeking $18.7 billion in Texas-specific Hurricane Harvey relief and recovery funding in the next federal supplemental appropriations bill.
Meanwhile, the Texas Department of Emergency Management Commission is working with county judges and mayors to secure funding and resources requested by those local officials. 
John Sharp, who heads the commission, testified along with other state officials before the Texas House Appropriations Committee at a meeting in Houston last week examining recovery costs. In his testimony, Sharp urged officials in Harris County and other hurricane-stricken counties to submit the FEMA-required Request for Public Assistance forms by Oct. 31. 
Sharp speculated that the $140 billion early estimate of Hurricane Harvey recovery costs would be turn out to be low.
Revenue total increases

AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott on Sept. 27 announced the Texas Department of Transportation had collected more than 2.4 million cubic feet of debris left behind by Hurricane Harvey in roadways across the four districts hardest hit by the storm.
TxDOT is continuing to assist in the removal of debris from roadsides in Corpus Christi, Houston, Beaumont and a number of areas along the Gulf Coast region, Abbott said in a news release. 
“This is a tall order, but I want to assure Texans that TxDOT is up to the challenge and has already made great progress. We will not rest until this important job is finished, and we are working to do so as quickly as possible,” he added.

AUSTIN — Texas now has a “bathroom bill.”

The Lone Star State has joined Alabama, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington as states where legislation has been filed in an effort to restrict access to restrooms, locker rooms and other sex-segregated facilities on the basis of sex or gender.

On Jan. 5, Texas Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, filed Senate Bill 6, titled the Texas Privacy Act. The legislation, she said, would address “the personal privacy concerns of many Texans.”

The legislation comes after a May 13, 2016, “joint guidance” from the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice “to help provide educators the information they need to ensure that all students, including transgender students, can attend school in an environment free from discrimination based on sex.”