Texas bills target Flock cameras, THC workplace rules, and more

All right, welcome back here to your news. So we are heading in January to a transition, if you will. You guys hit the polls, you voted, and now a new Texas legislature will eventually be sworn in and Democrats will be at the helm. Gina Hinojosa will become the governor. Democrats will take over the House and then Republicans will maintain control of the Senate. But with that, we now have more than 1,200 bills already filed before that session begins here. Everything from limiting those license plate readers to also changing drug testing rules for government workers. Thank That's just two of them. Remember, there's more than 1,200, and we ain't got time to go into all of them. But we can talk about two here in just a little bit. So let's bring in Karis Belcher joining you us now with some details on that. Karis? Yeah, 1,200 bills. These legislators have been busy, okay? for Don't blame them. They have a lot they want to get to. So one of the big ones has to do with Flock cameras. watching. Republican Representative Brian Harrison filed HB 847, and it would put a limit on how police actually use those automatic license plate readers, especially ones used like Flock's. We need a warrant or a court order to use the readers and they could use the data only to investigate certain violent offenses if they are passed. So here in Harris County Precinct for Assistant Chief Deputy Toby Hecker says the cameras actually help deputies recover stolen cars, find missing people. He told me about one case in particular where there was still a child inside of a car. Unfortunately, someone left the car running and their kids were in there and someone took off in the car with the kid in the backseat. We're able to track that down pretty quickly because of that. All right, so that was the first one. It's the first one. And now we have the other one, this one in regards to those government workers using THC products. Absolutely, so obviously we know THC is a big talker here and this would as it stands change the way government workers are able to utilize them. So HB 507 is this one filed by another Democrat and it would bar local government agencies from requiring most employees and contractors to take or pass a drug test for cannabis or any other THC related product as a condition of their job. Now, it would also prevent those agencies from barring covered workers from using their I'm using qualified low THC medical cannabis or consumable hemp products. So at her transition news conference today, Lieutenant Governor-elect Vicki Goodwin spoke about THC regulation more broadly. She said she supports regulating THC, but she opposes a full ban altogether. And she essentially wants to work on those details with senators when the new session starts. And of course, that new legislative session will start on January 12th. So obviously, she's going to have a lot on her plate. All right, so if I'm hearing this correctly, hypothetically, if this passes, it's saying that if you're a government worker, you could potentially hit the blunt and still get a job? Potentially use certain products under a certain category and keep your job. Okay. And keep your job. Okay. We'll see what happens there. Now, we were asking you guys at home. We got the poll at the bottom of your screen right here. What would be the thing you want lawmakers to kind of address first? Because it's going to be a lot, right? Because you're going to talk about some more- Yes. At six. Absolutely. We got two more you're going to talk about at six with us. Two more. One of them dealing with education. We know schools are big here. Yeah. Okay. All right, Karis. Thank you. And then the poll at the bottom of the screen, you guys are saying 62% save property taxes. That's going to be the first thing you want lawmakers to address. So that'll be on the measure as well.