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This week, I will continue to talk about some of the bills that have been pre-filed for the upcoming legislative session. The session begins on January 13, 2009, and will last for 140 days. In past
sessions, over 6000 bills have been filed during a regular session. I
encourage you to contact my office with input on any legislation of importance to you.
House Bill 354 would require an applicant for food stamp benefits to state in writing whether the applicant has been convicted of
a felony drug offense. An applicant who has been convicted of such an
offense during the five-year period preceding the date of the application must submit to monthly drug testing to be eligible for benefits. If an applicant tests positive for a controlled substance that was not prescribed to the applicant, he or she is ineligible for food stamp benefits for one year. Before denying food stamp benefits, the Health and Human Services Commission must notify the person of the results of the drug test, confirm the results through a second drug test; and provide the person with an opportunity for a public hearing.
House Bill 356 would allow the fine for a traffic violation to be doubled if the driver committed the offense while using a wireless device. This enhancement penalty would be similar to work-zone violations, for which fines are doubled if committed in a posted road work-zone.
House Bill 362 would allow a non-urban county with a population of 100,000 people or less that is adjacent to a major
metropolitan county to regulate some outdoor sound devices. The
commissioners court of the county could prohibit the production of sound from a loudspeaker or sound amplifier if the sound exceeds 85 decibels at a distance of 50 feet from the property line of the property on which the loudspeaker or sound amplifier is operated and that disturbs an ordinary person in the immediate vicinity of the loudspeaker or sound amplifier. The commissioners court could authorize the events which exceed the specified decibel levels if the person holding an event obtains a permit from the county for the event. An offense under this section would be a Class C misdemeanor; each hour of violation would be a separate offense.
For more information on these bills, or to review all of the legislation that has been filed, please visit the website
www.capitol.state.tx.us . You can
contact my office by writing to P.O. Box 2910, Austin, TX 78768-2910 or
by emailing me at larry.phillips@house.state.tx.us. My district
office phone number is (903) 891-7297.