Our Vote Texas

88th Texas Legislative Session - 2023
A Review

 

Here is our 88th Legislative Session Report detailing our advocacy work in the regular session that took place in 2023 as well as our goals for legislative sessions in future years. Any subsequent special sessions called by the Governor of Texas with a focus on Texas voter rights and Texas elections will require an addendum to be added at the completion of that special legislative session that documents our continued work.

Our Vote Texas is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, formed in 2017 and dedicated to advancing voter education and good public policy in Texas through advocacy and outreach.

 

During the regular session, Our Vote Texas took action on 38 bills that dealt with Texas voting and elections ranging from voting access, to increased penalties, to election infrastructure and administration.

166 bills tracked this session

At the start of session, we created a master list of bills that have been flagged for our tracking. We tracked over 160 pieces of legislation this session related to

  • voting

  • education

  • redistricting

38 targeted actions and Community engagement

  • Over 1,800 letters were sent via letter action campaigns on bills both positive and harmful for Texas voters.

  • Our Vote Texas submitted testimony and/or written remarks on nine bills during the regular legislative session, including testimony to urge lawmakers to boost the voter ID education funding in the House and Senate budget proposals.

  • We operated a #txlege Action Alerts Center for the public to learn more about legislation as it moved through session and contact their lawmakers.

  • We held two session focused community engagement virtual events through our TXLEGE Round One and Round Two series.

txlege action alerts and growth

The legislative action alert crew numbered 78 total and the Our Vote Texas network grew by 6% this year

The “txlege” Crew

We continue to be grateful for the advocates who join our efforts each session. These are Texans speaking up for voting rights who sign up specifically to receive regular updates and calls to action throughout the session from us so they can contact lawmakers and, where possible, show up to provide testimony on bills moving through the state legislature.

 

Legislative Advocacy Led By Community

This session we were able to hold two community engagement virtual events aimed at talking to Texans about the legislative process, the bills that directly impact us and ways for us to mobilize one another to take action and inform our communities.

The TXLEGE Round One and Round Two series allowed us another opportunity to build out pathways for civic engagement and we look forward to continuing this work in the months and years ahead.

It is critical that going forward we also continue to push for members of the state legislature to improve access for Texans to be able to participate in the legislative process. One opportunity to do this would be for lawmakers to make virtual testimony more standard for committee hearings where Texans from across the state can speak on the issues we all care about. Proximity to the Texas Capitol should not determine one’s ability to be able to speak directly before lawmakers and powerful legislative committees who determine the movement of critical legislation.

 

A Harmful Legislative Process That Thwarts The People

In our ongoing For The Record series, we expressed our dismay with the opportunities missed this legislative cycle and the complete disregard on display at various points throughout this session for public participation.

Some of the most harmful and controversial bills of the 88th were laid out in hearings that took place well into the night and early hours of morning. These hearings also did not always include all the Texans who had shown up specifically for the opportunity to speak before lawmakers. Read our full piece here.

When the legislature engages in this kind of conduct, it undermines not just the transparency or fairness of the legislative process but the very voices of the communities our lawmakers are meant to serve. We will continue to document and shine a light on such harmful practices while working to find opportunities for Texans to make their voices heard because the legislative process must always include the people.

From “A Disdain For Democracy” - May 2023, Our Vote Texas.

 

Positives Coming Out Of The 88th For Texas Voters

There were some important wins for Texans that are worth celebrating because of the benefit they will be to Texas communities going forward. We are grateful to see bills like SB 477 and HB 357 pass and get signed into law by the Governor.

SB 477 will better voting access for Texans with disabilities. It was signed into law by the Governor on June 18, 2023 and takes immediate effect.

HB 357 will provide necessary improvement to the state’s ballot-by-mail tracking system. It was signed into law on June 13th and will take effect September 1st of this year.

 

Improving Our Process Going Forward

As always, we will continue to work at improving our legislative advocacy efforts for future state sessions so that we can better track and respond to important legislation as well as build out leadership roles that unite passionate advocates to help work for a strong Texas culture of civic engagement. If you would like to, please take a few minutes to offer some feedback below.

Thank you to all in the Our Vote Texas network and we look forward to continuing to work alongside you!