Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Shelter-in-place ... unless you're one of these hundreds of exceptions


UPDATE: Gov. Abbott's orders now supercede the city's.

Travis County issued a "Stay at Home, Safe at Work" order -- read, a shelter-in-place ordinance that requires residents to stay indoors and limit gatherings to prevent the spread of coronavirus/COVID-19.

Like any law, there are exceptions. And when we looked at the ordinance itself it was eye-opening just how many "essential activities" and "critical infrastructure" goods services made the cut.

See below for Travis County's list of exceptions, some of which appear in multiple categories (so forgive the many repetitions). For any attorneys reading this, no, this does not count as legal counsel, and if you want to make absolutely certain your activity is covered see the ordinance itself.

If you're in Williamson County click here, which is quite similar in scope. For some commentary on why these ordinances are similar read here.

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

2020 Primary Election results: Who made the runoff?


2020 TRAVIS COUNTY REPUBLICAN PRIMARY ELECTION
Primary Election Day Tuesday, March 3 (Early voting Feb. 18 through Feb. 28).

NEW: Unofficial election results are in! See below for winners (indicated by ✔️)

FULL RESULTS: COUNTY STATENATIONAL

PRESIDENT
✔️ Donald J. Trump (i)   
     Roque De La Fuente Guerra
     Zoltan G. Istvan
     Matthew John Matern
     Bob Ely
     Joe Walsh (withdrew)
     Bill Weld

U.S. SENATE     Virgil Bierschwale
✔️ John Cornyn (i)
     Mark Yancey
     Dwayne Stovall
     John Anthony Castro
U.S. CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 10: 
✔️ Michael McCaul (i)

U.S. CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 17: GOES TO RUNOFF
     Ahmad Adnan
     Scott Bland
     George W. Hindman
     Todd Kent
     Laurie Godfrey McReynolds
     Jeff Oppenheim
     Kristen Alamo Rowin
     David Saucedo
✔️ Pete Sessions
     Trent Sutton
✔️ Renee Swann
     Elianor Vessali
U.S. CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 21:
✔️ Chip Roy (i)
U.S. CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 25:
     Keith Nuendorff
✔️ Roger Williams (i)
U.S. CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 35: GOES TO RUNOFF
✔️ "Guillermo" William Hayward
     Nick Moutos
✔️ Jenny Garcia Sharon
RAILROAD COMMISSIONER: 
     Ryan Sitton (i)
✔️ James "Jim" Wright
TEXAS SUPREME COURT, CHIEF JUSTICE:
✔️ Nathan Hecht (i)
TEXAS SUPREME COURT PLACE 6:
✔️ Jane Bland (i)
TEXAS SUPREME COURT PLACE 7:
✔️ Jeff Boyd (i)
TEXAS SUPREME COURT PLACE 8:
✔️ Brett Busby (i)
COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS PLACE 3:
     Gina Parker
✔️ Bert Richardson (i)
COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS PLACE 4:
✔️ Kevin Patrick Yeary (i)
COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS PLACE 9:
✔️ David Newell (i)
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION PLACE 5: GOES TO RUNOFF     Inga Cotton
✔️ Robert Morrow (TCRP recommends not voting for)
✔️ Lani Popp
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION PLACE 10:✔️ Tom Maynard (i)
TEXAS HOUSE DISTRICT 47: GOES TO RUNOFF**NOTE: Final revised count winners. Recount pending. ✔️ Justin Berry (2nd place)
 ✔️ Jennifer Fleck (1st place)
     Jenny Roan Forgey
     Aaron Reitz
     Don Zimmerman*

TEXAS HOUSE DISTRICT 48:

✔️ Bill Strieber
TEXAS HOUSE DISTRICT 49:
     Jenai Aragona-Hales
✔️ Charles Allan Meyer

TEXAS HOUSE DISTRICT 50:
✔️ Larry Delarose

TEXAS HOUSE DISTRICT 51:
✔️ Robert Reynolds
THIRD COURT OF APPEALS CHIEF JUSTICE:
✔️ Jeff Rose (i)
JUDGE, 460th DISTRICT COURT:✔️ Geoffrey Puryear (i)
DISTRICT ATTORNEY:
✔️ Martin Harry
TRAVIS COUNTY SHERIFF:✔️ Raul Vargas
TRAVIS COUNTY TAX ASSESSOR-COLLECTOR:
✔️ Marilyn Jackson
TRAVIS COUNTY COMMISSIONER PRECINCT 1:
✔️ Solomon Arcoven
TRAVIS COUNTY COMMISSIONER PRECINCT 3:✔️ Becky Bray
COUNTY REPUBLICAN CHAIRMAN
✔️ Matt Mackowiak (i)

PRECINCT CHAIRMAN PRECINCT 137
✔️ William Moorhouse (i)
     Sarah Saiz
PRECINCT CHAIRMAN PRECINCT 359
✔️ Russell Gallahan (i)
     Douglas Scherer

* * *

Primary ballot propositions:

This is an opinion poll of Republican voters and not binding referenda. These questions will appear on all Republican ballots.
✔️ 1.) Texas should not restrict or prohibit prayer in public schools. YES/NO
✔️ 2.) Texas should reject restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms. YES/NO
✔️ 3.) Texas should ban the practice of taxpayer-funded lobbying, which allows your tax dollars to be spent on lobbyists who work against the taxpayer. YES/NO
✔️ 4.) Texas should support the construction of a physical barrier and use existing defense-grade surveillance equipment along the entire southern border of Texas. YES/NO
✔️ 5.) Texas parents or legal guardians of public school children under the age of 18 should be the sole decision makers for all their children’s healthcare decisions including, but not limited to, psychological assessment and treatment, contraception, and sex education. YES/NO
✔️ 6.) Texas should ban chemical castration, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and genital mutilation surgery on all minor children for transition purposes, given that Texas children as young as three (3) are being transitioned from their biological sex to the opposite sex. YES/NO
✔️ 7.) Texans should protect and preserve all historical monuments, artifacts, and buildings, such as the Alamo Cenotaph and our beloved Alamo, and should oppose any reimagining of the Alamo site. YES/NO
✔️ 8.) Texas election officials should heed the directives of the Office of the Governor to purge illegal voters from the voter rolls and verify that each new registered voter is a U.S. Citizen. YES/NO
✔️ 9.) Bail in Texas should be based only on a person’s danger to society and risk of flight, not that person’s ability to pay. YES/NO
✔️ 10.) Texas should limit our state legislators’ terms to 12 years. YES/NO

* * *

HELPFUL LINKS:


Updated: 3/11/20 7:58 p.m.