TEXAS, USA — Last week, the Republican Party of Texas hosted its state convention in Houston, where party members discussed their platform and legislative agenda.
KVUE took a look at the 40-page party platform approved at the biennial convention. Below is a breakdown of the party's approved resolutions and some of the party's stances on major political topics in Texas.
Resolution rejecting 2020 presidential election results
As part of their platform, Texas Republicans approved a resolution rejecting the certified results of the 2020 presidential election and declaring that President Joe Biden was not "legitimately elected."
The resolution reads in full:
"We believe that the 2020 election violated Article 1 and 2 of the US Constitution, that various secretaries of state illegally circumvented their state legislatures in conducting their elections in multiple ways, including by allowing ballots to be received after November 3, 2020.We believe that substantial election fraud in key metropolitan areas significantly affected the results in five key states in favor of Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. We reject the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and we hold that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States. We strongly urge all Republicans to work to ensure election integrity and to show up to vote in November of 2022, bring your friends and family, volunteer for your local Republicans, and overwhelm any possible fraud."
Resolution rejecting red flag laws, waiting periods
The Texas GOP also approved a resolution against the "Gang of 20 Gun Control bill," including red flag laws and waiting periods for gun purchases. As part of the resolution, the Republicans rejected the "so-called 'bipartisan gun agreement" and rebuked involved senators, including Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).
The resolution reads in full:
"Whereas those under 21 are most likely to be victims of violent crime and thus most likely to need to defend themselves. Whereas “red flag laws” violate one’s right to due process and are a pre-crime punishment of people not adjudicated guilty. Whereas waiting periods on gun purchases harm those who need to acquire the means of self defense in emergencies such as riots. Whereas all gun control is a violation of the Second Amendment and our God given rights. We reject the so called “bipartisan gun agreement”, and we rebuke Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas), Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), Roy Blunt (R-Missouri), Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania)."
Stance on defunding police departments
The Republicans' platform states that, "Any large city or county that cuts its police budget by more 484 than 10 percent should be required to cut its property tax revenue by the same or greater percentage."
Stance on property tax relief
The Texas GOP stated in its party platform that it supports these steps toward the ultimate abolition of property tax:
- "Dedicate surpluses to buy down school district maintenance and operation property tax.
- "Replace the appraisal system with a system that values property at the purchase price.
- "We support requiring appraisal districts to publish the amount of property taxes and appraisals attributable to each rental unit.
- "Close the loophole called the 'Unused Increment Rate,' which allows taxing entities to bypass recently added limits to increases in property taxes."
Stances on sexual and gender identity education in schools, school security
The Texas Republicans' party platform calls for a complete abolishment of the teaching of sexual education, sexual health or sexual choice or identity in any public school, in any grade.
The platform also addressed recent moves to filter "inappropriate" or "harmful" content from Texas schools and libraries, saying that the Texas Legislature should pass legislation that requires those institutions to filter such material. The platform also states that events such as "Drag Queen Story Hour" should not be part of educational programming in public schools.
The platform additionally states that Texas Republicans support the passage of a law "more comprehensive than the Florida law that prohibits instruction in sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools," referring to the so-called "Don't Say Gay" law.
Additionally, the platform states that the official position of Texas schools should be that there are only two genders, biological male and biological female, and that Texas Republicans "oppose transgender normalizing curriculum and pronoun use." The platform also supports requiring transgender student-athletes to play on sports teams based on the sex assigned at or near their birth.
As for issues of school security, the Texas Republicans support passage of a statute that would permit local law enforcement to provide handgun safety and proficiency training for all educators and allow license-to-carry holders to carry a concealed firearm on the premises of Pre-K-12 schools.
Stances on sexual and gender identity
The party platform states that "homosexuality is an abnormal lifestyle choice" and the Texas GOP believes "there should be no granting of special legal entitlements or creation of special status for homosexual behavior" and opposes "any criminal or civil penalties against those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction, or belief in traditional values."
Additionally, the party opposes "all efforts to validate transgender identity" and stated that no medical practitioner or provider should be allowed to intervene in any way to prevent natural progression of puberty, administer or provide opposite sex hormones to anyone age 21 or younger or perform any surgery on "healthy body parts of the underage person."
Stances on marijuana
Texas Republicans stated in their platform that they oppose the legalization of recreational marijuana but believe Congress should remove cannabis from the list of Schedule 1 substances and move it to Schedule 2.
To read more about the 273 principles included in Texas Republicans' party platform, click here.
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