Abbott Gets His Signature Pen Going

The House may be ahead of the Senate in getting bills out of the chamber, but the Senate has drawn first ink from Governor Greg Abbott.

The very first bill that Abbott’s signed into law during his tenure, on April 2, was SB 219 by Senator Charles Schwertner. The bill essentially was a clean-up measure on Health and Human Services functions, but initially met opposition from the Texas Home School Coalition. However, the coalition’s concerns were addressed in the Senate.

The second bill, signed on April 8, was Senator Jane Nelson’s SB 293 to expand the state’s major events fund eligibility. The groups eligible for state dollars now will include ESPN or an affiliate, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) and the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Primarily, this bill was for the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, but also had support from Circuit of the Americas in Austin.

Get your motors running. I’m sure other bills in the future will receive fanfare from the governor’s office.