The Legislative Cocktail Hour

Texas to Feds: Come and take it (our digital data!)

No doubt that if you’ve turned on a computer or flipped through a newspaper this week, you’ve seen something about the privacy protections of Americans. With last week’s revelations that the NSA had obtained the phone records of Verizon customers, the issue of privacy have been just about everywhere.

It comes as no surprise that lack of privacy and government transparency doesn’t sit very well with us Texans. But what is kind of surprising is that a 29-year-old freshman representative may have just set the national standard for privacy.

Rep. Jonathan Strickland began the session vowing to have the most conservative voting record in the House, a promise he’s pretty much kept considering he has voted “no” on spending, well, pretty much anything. But Strickland also managed to tack on a key amendment that would force law enforcement officials to get a warrant for old emails (older than six months) — from an electronic service provider, giving those the same privacy protections as new emails (which already require a warrant).

The bill passed both chambers with accolades coming from both side of the aisle, and is on its way to the Governor.

Abortion finally makes an appearance during the Special Session

Well, it just wouldn’t be a Texas Legislature Special Session without an abortion bill. Governor Rick Perry added it to the agenda and the Senate Health and Human Services Committee heard testimony on Thursday on a whole bunch of abortion bills.

A breakdown of the proposals:

No more abortions after 20 weeks (Roe v. Wade protects abortions up to 24 weeks)
Abortion providers must have admitting privileges for at least one hospital within 30 miles (tough for rural areas)
Tighter restrictions around abortion drug RU-486
Abortion clinics must be up to surgical clinic standards

Perry: That liberal Grinch won’t steal our Christmas

It is now legal to say, “Merry Christmas!” in Texas public schools - not that it wasn't already, mind you, but our small-government friends in the Capitol decided to pass a law just in case someone felt the need to sue over it. No word if “Feliz Navidad” is protected. My guess would be no.

CruzNews

Ted Cruz came out as “Obamaphobic” this week, ending months of speculation about Cruz’s ability to add the word “phobic” to another word in a subversive way.

In other Cruz news, Ted tweeted pictures of himself in super fun, absolutely crazy Texas flag socks he was rocking under his suit. He’s so wild! (And hey, he probably wasn't trying to copycat Bush Senior's birthday Superman socks publicity AT ALL...)

In “Oh wow, Chris Matthews didn’t just say that, did he?” news, Chris Matthews may or may not have compared Ted Cruz to a Nazi sympathizer. Ted’s not a Nazi sympathizer. He’s just Canadian. Hope he has a birth certificate!

A few more things…

Lawmakers are still dealing with redistricting.

Paul Burka thinks Perry may run for Governor again.

After going after California businesses this Spring, Perry is now clamoring for New Yorkers. (Please bring bagels!)

And, like kids on Christmas morning (legal to say!), all the politics nerds geeked out about 48 hours ago with the release of Texas Monthly’s Best and Worst Legislators list. Mainly because getting on the Best list is something the electeds shamelessly campaign for during every legislative session. Because, you know. That's what's really important.

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Defensive Driving

Austin-based Tesla faces new probe focused on remote driving feature

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating 2.6 million Teslas.

Federal regulators have opened an investigation into 2.6 million Teslas after reports of crashes involving the use of company technology that allows drivers to remotely command their vehicle to return to them, or move to another location, using a phone app.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also said Tuesday, January 7 that Austin-based Tesla did not report any of the accidents. Tesla is under order to report crashes on “publicly accessible roads” involving vehicles being operated through its autonomous driving technology.

The new investigation follows another probe launched in October looking into the company's “Full Self-Driving” system after getting reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. That investigation covers 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

One driver filed a complaint after a crash while using Tesla's “Actually Smart Summon” technology and NHTSA is looking into another three similar incidents based on media reports, the NHTSA said. The agency is looking into 12 total incidents reported by users of the technology.

Each of the vehicles failed to detect posts and other parked vehicles, according to the NHTSA.

Regulators say the vehicles struck objects because the users had "too little reaction time to avoid a crash, either with the available line of sight or releasing the phone app button, which stops the vehicle’s movement.”

Shares of Tesla Inc. slid more than 4 percent in late afternoon trading Tuesday.

Musk has complained that U.S. regulations are too onerous and are holding back the development of self-driving cars. Ethics experts are worried that once President-elect Donald Trump takes office, Musk will push him to ease oversight of Tesla, which just suffered its first decline in annual sales in more than a decade.

Musk donated an estimated $250 million to Trump's presidential campaign and is a frequent guest at Trump's Mar-a-Lago, vetting cabinet nominees and meeting with foreign heads of state. Trump has put Musk in charge of an advisory group, the Department of Government Efficiency, that will recommend where to cut government expenses and staff at federal agencies and reduce regulation.

The NHTSA said it will look into the top speed that Teslas can reach when users deploy its “summons” technology, as well as restrictions on public roads and line of sights requirements. It also said it expects to check for any “connectivity delays" with the app that could result in increased stopping distance.

Tesla’s Model 3 owner’s manual says that its “summons” feature is designed for use only in parking lots and driveways on private property and is disabled on public roads.

The new probe covers 2016-2025 Model S and X vehicles, 2017-2025 Model 3, 2020-2025 Model Y equipped with Tesla's Full Self-Driving driver assistance system.

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