Free Republic

AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, is warning major retail stores that not following guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus could hinder the ability of smaller businesses to reopen. Rep. Bonnen ticked off a series of tweets Monday citing “some of our largest home improvement superstores” and saying that workers are not wearing masks or keeping six feet of distance. “What we were seeing in Lowes, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, what have you, is they were not doing social distancing among their employees. They were not wearing masks. That’s all White House guidelines,” he told Capital...

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas’ GOP House speaker sought help ousting members of his own party in 2020, called a female lawmaker “vile” and said President Donald Trump is “killing us” in pivotal races in a secretly recorded meeting with a conservative activist released Tuesday. House Speaker Dennis Bonnen also profanely disparaged another Democratic House member in the hourlong tape, which also reveals other political scheming and has thrown the GOP-controlled Legislature into disarray at a fragile moment when their majority is at stake. The tape has uncorked the biggest Texas political scandal in years. Democrats filed a lawsuit accusing Bonnen...

Texas's Republican House Speaker on Friday moved to drop the state's "constitutional carry" legislation after a gun rights activist showed up at his home to push for the bill. Dennis Bonnen said the bill was "dead" after Chris McNutt, the executive director of Texas Gun Rights, appeared at his home to advocate for the controversial legislation that would allow Texans to carry firearms without a license, The Dallas Morning News reported. McNutt, according to the outlet, drove 50 miles south of Houston last Wednesday before turning up at Bonnen's house to question why the legislation wasn't moving forward faster. The...

Activists taking shots at the planned Trans Texas Corridor have found some legislators willing to take a stab at trimming the colossal super-highway and ensuring that state authorities control the toll rates. Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, who sits on the appropriations committee and is vice chairman of the House Rural Caucus, said she filed House Bill 1273 in an attempt to balance the huge scope of the corridor with grass-root concerns. "My goal is to better the concept," she said. "I will be very saddened for Texas if we don't have some assurances in place." Kolkhorst was joined by co-authors...