The 86th Texas Legislature convenes this month, and lawmakers have already filed hundreds of bills to debate in the upcoming session. The bills cover a wide range of issues of wider or narrower interest. There's a bill to end Daylight Saving Time in Texas, one to outlaw fake caller ID, and one to make possession of an ounce or less of weed into a civil violation instead of a crime.
There are bills to raise the minimum wage to 15-dollars an hour, to ban housing discrimination against gays and transgenders, and to allow schools to post the Ten Commandments. There are many more bills, with something for everyone.
Meanwhile, the record backlog of immigration court hearings is on the rise, since the government shutdown has closed immigration courts nationwide. Immigration attorneys say some court dates could be delayed for months or more than a year.
A Syracuse University report says the backlog had reached a record 800-thousand cases as of the end of November. The numbers have been climbing every day of the partial government shutdown.