Texit legislative and practical situation

Since Rep. Kyle Biedermann (R-Fredericksburg, Texas) introduced his Texit Bill (HB 1359), an explosion of activity has taken place. The Texas Deep Freeze put the desirability of, and readiness of Texas for, independence in stark relief. But after that, Governor Greg Abbot (R-Texas) sent the Texas Rangers and National Guard to guard breaches in the Texas portion of the U.S.-Mexican border wall. This after Rep. Bryan Slaton (R-Canton, Texas) introduced HB 2862 to authorize permanent border-security funding—and finish the wall. Herewith a discussion of how ready Texas is for independence, and what Texans have to do to get it.

Where is the Texit Bill?

The Texit Bill is now in the Texas House Committee on State Affairs. Which has thirteen members and at the moment has 132 bills, joint resolutions, and resolutions on its plate. This includes no fewer than fourteen joint resolutions, including twelve constitutional amendments and two applications to Congress for Article Five conventions. Reps. Biedermann and Slaton do not sit on this Committee at present.

One can tell a lot about the tone of the Texas State House by reading the sort of matters before the State Affairs Committee. The two Article Five applications concern a desire to prohibit abortion and euthanasia, and prevent packing of the Supreme Court. As Publius Huldah said on CNAV three years ago, an Article Five convention is an inherently dangerous thing. CNAV said the same two years before that. No institution can survive a second exposure to the process that created it!

Nevertheless, one can readily see that the hearts of many Texas legislators seem to be in the right place. “Court packing” is another dangerous precedent to set, and goes directly to whether Texas can stay in the union. Today the Attorney General of Texas must lead the charge to sue to enjoin the federal government from a litany of excesses. A “packed” Supreme Court could simply deny, deny, deny “cert” for “lack of standing” and let individual liberties suffer. And the Texas House knows this.

What would it take to move the bill?

But: of 132 House Bills, only one speaks forcefully enough to how Texans can protect their liberties. That bill is the Texit Bill. It provides for:

1. a popular referendum on independence, and
2. the seating of a joint legislative committee to study how to bring it about, should the people vote Yes.

As one of 132 bills before the Committee, HB 1359 could fall to “chubbing.” “To chub,” in Texas lingo, means to delay a bill through procedural folderol. This includes waiting until the last minute, filing dilatory motions, and, at the end of the session, throwing up one’s hands and sighing, “We just didn’t have time to get to it!” “Chubbing” is therefore an administrative filibuster, that one commits in the process, not in a plenary session.

The above link to the State Affairs Committee has the list of its thirteen members. It is for Texas residents in their districts to call their offices and tell them: move the Texit Bill forward!

The Texas Nationalist Movement has scheduled many events to popularize the concept of Texas independence. Hopefully they know that moving the question to a vote will take more than rallies.

How else is Texas getting ready for independence?

The Texas Deep Freeze showed expensively that Texas is not ready. Texas needs to winterize all its generators and pipelines—for they all failed, not only the solar and wind farms. Furthermore, Texas needs to start storing large amounts of electrical energy for release at high demand. Apart from the pollution (real and imagined) from “peaker plants,” storage solutions can respond faster.

Elon Musk joshed the Electrical Reliability Council of Texas for failing to live up to the R in its acronym.

Almost at once another user asked him whether he could build in Texas a project similar to what he was helping build in Australia at the time.

Musk replied simply, “Yes.” And then quietly started to build a 100-plus-megawatt battery facility in Angleton, Brazoria County, Texas.

Musk is already building a massive automobile factory in Travis County. Recently he announced plans to build another factory in Texas, that will build Starlink Internet ground stations. (He’s already “headhunting” for a key engineering post in the area.)

Musk’s Boring Company might be after a contract to build underground transit tunnels to serve Austin. To that end, Boring seems to have leased industrial space in Pflugerville and has applied for permission to renovate it. More recently, overflights of the “Terafactory Texas” site revealed some of Boring’s patented tunnel borers. Whether Musk intends this equipment to work on a mass-transit project under Austin or merely to facilitate parts delivery to his new auto factory, remains unclear.

How all this would serve Texit

Elon Musk hasn’t said anything about whether he would support or oppose a move for Texas independence. (Nor has anyone asked him.) But the steps he has taken, including building new facilities in Texas and relocating others to Texas, would help Texit. Texas would need a native automotive industry to support its police and military forces. Building ground stations in Texas preserves Internet access. The Starship® proving ground in Boca Chica, Texas would give Texas its own space program. (Musk has hinted at building a complete company town called “Starbase” to include Boca Chica. Readers should not confuse this with STARBASE Austin, a summer-school program of the Texas Military Department.)

The new Big Battery in Angleton would help transform the Texas Interconnection into a more robust grid. No doubt Tesla would build more such batteries, including its entire line of residential, commercial, and industrial batteries. Then residents of East Texas, El Paso County, and the northwestern half of the Texas Panhandle would be more willing to connect to the rest of Texas! As they would have to do, should Texas move forward with declaring independence.

Of course, a battery is not a generator. But as the Texit Times made abundantly clear, all the generators failed to deliver, by failing to winterize. Happily, one big problem recently resolved itself. Four of ERCOT’s sixteen board members, who don’t even live in Texas, resigned. If their replacements come from Texas, one more third-party reliance problem will disappear.

Defending Texas

Any independent country must see to its own defense. In “Operation Lone Star,” the Texas National Guard and Rangers are now defending against invasion. (Remember: not all invaders come in with guns blazing – but not all pillage takes an obvious form, either. Illegal immigrants who make messes of private land where they camp, and take livestock without permission, engage in pillage.)

But even before Governor Abbott sent the Guard and Rangers to guard the remaining breaches in the border wall, Rep. Slaton introduced the bill to stop the breaches. If this bill passes, then for the first time Texas will take direct responsibility for defending its international border. Texas would thereby change its policy, not subtly, but obviously. The Texas Border Security Enhancement Fund could easily expand to cover more borders than the north Rio Grande shore.

During the Obama administration, an Arizona resident named Chris Simcox founded a Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. A separate Civilian Defense Force has organized itself more recently. While the MCDC appears defunct, some of its members might still remember. The MCDC gave a good account of itself, by running a pilot project along 23 miles of the border, spotting illegal entrants and reporting them to the Border Patrol. Obviously the Texas Military Department would find in these organizations (or their remnants) fertile recruiting grounds.

Texit recommendations

CNAV recommends that interested Texas residents first look up the Committee on State Affairs. If their Representatives sit on it, call their offices and tell them to move House Bills 1359 and 2862 forward! (And even a Representative who does not sit on that Committee, can make his own calls through more direct channels.) These two bills cover, in order, putting Texit to a vote and making sure Texas can defend itself.

The Texas Deep Freeze alone should encourage all Texas residents to prepare for a “prolonged grid-down” event. Apart from another Deep Freeze, they must prepare for a Sherman-like pillage of the grid. (General William Tecumseh Sherman’s scorched-earth March from Atlanta to the Sea should tell Texans what to expect!) ERCOT can and should extend its interconnection to those parts of Texas that do not – yet – fall under it. Until they do, the federals could cut these areas off from the Western and Eastern Interconnections, as a punishment.

In addition, the “Unauthorized Texas Militia” (see the Texit War Game) must start to form immediately. Recruiting, training, organizing, equipping, and deploying such a force will take time. Nay-sayers can’t “chub” a true grass-roots movement. CNAV takes cognizance that most Texit proponents do not anticipate war. But the old adage still applies. Pro pace, para bellum. If you would have peace, prepare for war.

List of earlier articles relating to Texas independence and readiness