Six months ago, Representative Debbie Riddle (R - District 150) said she would be introducing legislation similar to a provision in Arizona’s SB 1070 as soon as permitted for the upcoming Texas legislative session.

Riddle made good on that promise Nov. 8 when she filed the state’s first batch of bills, including HB 17, which creates the offense of Criminal Trespass by Illegal Alien and allows for their arrest by state and local police officers.

“My constituents want to see that their representative is just as serious about getting the job done this session as they are,” Riddle said. “They’ve got a real fire in their bellies, and I’m here to show them that I’m ready to match that tenacity.”

Riddle set up some folding chairs and pitched a make-shift campsite outside the floor of the Texas House of Representatives beginning on the afternoon of Nov. 6 to make sure she was the first in line when the Chief Clerk’s office opened for early filing the morning of Nov. 8. She spent both Saturday and Sunday night sleeping on the lobby floor.

Although the immigration legislation has generated the most buzz this year, Riddle deliberately filed her Voter ID bill before any of her others, making it the very first bill filed for the new session: HB 16. The bill requires one form of photo ID or two forms of non-photo ID in order to vote in Texas.

“Voter ID has got to be one of the top priorities of the legislature this session,” Riddle said. “It passed in the House two sessions ago and was stalled by politics in the Senate. It passed in the Senate last year and then was stalled by politics in the House. There are no more excuses left this time around.”

Seven other bills rounded out the first day of Riddle’s early filings: HB 18, imposing sanctions for municipalities that allow “sanctuary cities;” HB 19, which seeks to imprison unlicensed drivers who cause serious accidents; HJR 16 and HB 23, which allow counties to set their own appraisal caps; HB 21, requiring all state agencies to determine and report their costs related to illegal aliens; HB 22, requiring school districts to report the number of illegal aliens attending their schools; and HB 20, increasing the penalty for burglary of a motor vehicle to a state jail felony.

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