Texting ban, sword carrying a reality

Hunting hogs also among measures OK’d by Legislature that take effect

AUSTIN—Atextingand driving ban, sword-carrying rights and permission to hunt wild hogs from hot air balloons are just some of the many new Texas laws going into effect Friday.

Others ban a long-standing practice of allowing children under 16 years old to marry, give faith-based child welfare organizations authority to deny placing children with gay parents, and make it harder to fight insurance companies that give homeowners lowerthank-expected damage estimates.

Nearly 700 new laws go into effect Sept. 1, the biennial start date for most laws passed during the legislative session. Nearly 400 laws went into effect immediately after they were signed, and about two dozen kick in Jan. 1.

Most of the 673 new laws impact narrow groups of people, like relating to certain mental health screening,changing state agencies’ power or designating Jan. 9 as Law Enforcement Appreciation Day.

But others have more wide-ranging application, including two that have already been halted at least temporarily by the courts.

Senate Bill 4, the flagship law of this year’s legislative session, allows law enforcement to ask for proof of legal residency at traffic stops and other routine detentions. The law also threatens jail time and hefty fines to local law enforcement officials who refuse federal requests to detain people suspected of being in the country illegally so they can be deported. A federal judge in San Antonio on Wednesday hit pause on the bill’ s implementation and granted a preliminary injunction preventing the law from going into effect.

Another law quickly challenged in the courts stems from lawmakers’ decision to ban one of the safest second-term abortion