Mulligan Could Be in Store for Dead Bill
after Communication Meltdown in Flood Capitol Inside
July 7, 2025
State lawmakers may get a second shot in a summer special session on a bill that was designed to prevent catastrophes like a flood that claimed more than 90 lives in the Texas Hill Country on the Fourth of July after a shocking breakdown in emergency communications at every level of government.
House Bill 13 would have required the development of statewide strategic plan for emergency communications and public warning systems in areas that are vulnerable to natural disasters like the swath of Kerr County were 27 girls at the century-old Camp Mystic were swept to their deaths by a wall of water they never knew was coming.
Sponsored by GOP State Rep. Ken King of Canadian, the legislation cleared the Texas House on April 2 - two full months before the regular session adjourned - on a vote of 129-18 vote with the chamber's most conservative members in the dissent. The Senate two most powerful members - Republican Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and GOP State Senator Joan Huffman of Houston - teamed up to bury HB 13 without a hearing or vote in the Texas Capitol's east wing in the regular session that ended June 2.
The one-two punch that derailed HB 13 began when Patrick referred the measure to the Finance Committee that Huffman leads as the chair on the day after it cleared the House. The lieutenant governor assigned an identical bill that GOP State Senator Charles Schwertner of Georgetown authored to the Huffman panel on April 3 as well. But the Finance Committee took no action on either proposal.
One of the King bill's opponents - rookie Republican State Rep. Wes Virdell of Brady - found himself on Monday in the uncomfortable position of attempting to defend the vote against the emergency communications and coordination plan as the representative for Kerr County - the largest of 16 rural counties that his district covers.
Virdell complained that reporters and "paid trolls" on social media were unfairly trying to blow the vote that he cast against HB 13 out of proportion.
"This is the only post I am going to make regarding this, but media is trying to spin a vote of mine to make it look newsworthy," Virdell said today on X. "I voted against HB13 because it would have created a non-transparent council that would have overseen a grant program for emergency warning capabilities. We need to focus on Kerrville and its needs right now, not on certain media types and radical leftist that are trying to create anger and outrage."
The Republicans who voted against the measure included State Reps. Bricoe Cain of Deer Park, Brian Harrison of Midlothian, Janis Holt of Silsbee; Andy Hopper of Decature, Helen Kerwin of Glen Rose, Terri Leo-Wilson of Galveston, Mitch Little of Lewisville; David Lowe of Fort Worth, Shelley Luther of Tom Bean, Brent Money of Greenville, Matt Morgan of Richmond, Mike Olcott of Aleda, Katrina Pierson of Rockwall, Keresa Richardson of McKinney, Nate Schatzline of Fort Worth; Tony Tinderholt of Arlington and Steve Toth of Conroe.
Virdell pointed out that HB 13 died in the Senate and would not have gone into effect until September if had passed. The freshman representative argued that the time had come to focus on the current challenges in the aftermath of the flood instead of trying to sensationalize events of the past like his vote against the bill. .
"I understand some media and outrage culture personalities will do everything they can to spin this in to something it isn't," Virdell asserted. "The paid trolls will be out in full force in the comments online. Let's focus on the real immediate tragedy in front of us and do what needs to be done right now to help Kerr County and those affected. We can take up this discussion later, but let's do what needs to be done now."
HB 13 would have created a Texas Interoperability Council to oversee the statewide emergency communications plan and grants that local governments could use to acquire the equipment they would need to put warning systems in place.
The bill would have a negligible effect on the new $338 billion state budget with a fiscal note of $5.8 million for the next two years. That computes to $212,992 in savings for each of the young females who were missing from Camp Mystic before their bodies were recovered by search crews as the weekend progressed.
The failure of the emergency communications meausure has the potential to be a hot issue in Virdell's bid for a second term in House District 53 and Huffman's campaign for attorney general. Virdell was the only House member who opposed HB 13 with a district that's mostly rural. Most of the others who voted no on the legislation are running for new terms in districts that are suburban to some degree if not exclusively. But several House Republicans who voted against the King bill represent districts with significant numbers of rural residents including freshmen State Reps. Janis Holt of Silsbee and Helen Kerwin of Glen Rose.
Abbott said he planned to have the Texas Legislature tackle questions that the flood and the response to it triggered when it meets in a special session that gets under way on July 21. But the key to the King proposal's success in the summer session would be the lieutenant governor who's seeking re-election next year as well. .
more to come ...
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