Lawmakers strip ‘no stop’ amendment from open-carry bill
AUSTIN — Texas Lawmakers on Thursday removed a controversial amendment from the open carry bill that would have barred police from stopping or detaining someone simply for toting a visible handgun.
A conference committee convened to reach a compromise on the legislation stripped the “no stop” amendment. A majority of the members in each chamber once more must approve House Bill 910, without the amendment, before it heads to the desk of Gov. Greg Abbott, who has pledged to sign it into law.
Racial profiling?
Sen. Don Huffines, RDallas, added the amendment during debate last week in the Senate, but the House disagreed with the change Wednesday, kicking the legislation to a conference committee to work out a compromise. Huffines on Thursday said he was “disappointed” his amendment was removed, but he still would vote for the bill when it comes back to the Senate without it.
“It’s a common-sense, civil rights amendment,” Huffines said. “It’s an integral part of open carry and it’s certainly very important to the African-American members of the legislature.”
An unusual coalition of tea party Republicans and urban Democrats backed the Huffines amendment in the Senate, saying it would discourage police from profiling gun owners who open carry based on race. Police organizations vehemently opposed the measure, however, saying it would tie their hands and negatively impact public safety.
Bill’s author happy
If signed into law, House Bill 910 by Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, would allow licensed gun owners to openly carry their handguns in hip or shoulder holsters. Texas law already allows for the open carry of long arms — rifles and shotguns — without such license requirements.
Phillips on Thursday said he was happy with the compromise to strip the amendment and felt confident that Abbott would have an open carry bill to sign in the next few days.
The chambers could vote to give final approval to House Bill 910 as soon as Friday.
Other legislative action:
• A bill establishing an 11-member commission to examine wrongful convictions is heading to Gov. Greg Abbott.
The House voted Thursday to accept Senate tweaks to a measure sponsored by Democratic Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon.
Its Senate sponsor, Democrat Rodney Ellis, said he’d spent years attempting to pass similar proposals. Abbott can now sign it into law.
The commission would be named for Timothy Cole, who died in prison after being wrongfully convicted of rape. He was cleared 10 years after he died, and in 2010 became the first Texan posthumously pardoned.
Texas exonerated 39 people in 2014, the most nationwide.
• The House on Thursday agreed to reimburse a North Texas county for costs incurred during the trial of a man who killed “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle and his friend.
The House on Thursday agreed to pay Erath County $500,000 for the highprofile trial of Eddie Ray Routh, convicted in February of murder for the 2013 double-slaying.
The expenditure was one of several tweaks the Senate made to a $300 million state budget that covers immediate costs. The measure now heads to the governor.
Also included now is $4.7 million for the University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Economic Geology.