The 86th Legislative Session
Throughout every legislative session for the past 20+ years, The US Hispanic Contractors Association has been actively fighting for every small business owner and the rights of every Hispanic individual in the state of Texas. The 86th Legislative Session, which ran from January 8 through May 27, was no different. Our membership leadership and their staff spent countless days at the capitol relentlessly talking to and negotiating with legislators about the rights and concerns of the Hispanic community. While working alongside other organizations including the Texas Association of Mexican American Chambers of Commerce (TAMACC), the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the Texas Independent Roofing Contractors Association, the Austin Roofing Contractors Association, the Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. of Texas, the Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Texas, the Texas Mexican Restaurant Association, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and many other supporting partners we were able to protect the rights of our members.
In every legislative session since 1997 there is a bill aimed at imposing new and more restrictive regulations on the roofing industry, and every legislative session, including the most recent, the USHCA, along with its allies, have been able to defeat it. Should the most current bill have passed there would have been a new classification of roofers, more specifically "reroofers," with additional regulations, a requirement to register through the state, as well as administrative and civil penalties for non-compliance. "Reroofers" refers to the people in the business of repairing or replacing current roofing, in which the majority are Hispanic contractors. This bill, House Bill 2101, was sponsored by Representative Giovanni Capriglione and Charles "Doc" Anderson, claiming it was an effort to better protect consumers from possible roofing fraud. They even cited certain instances after Hurricane Harvey when people fell victim as illegitimate businesses preyed on their unfortunate situation. The fallacy behind their argument is that the history of this bill predates Hurricane Harvey. The defeat of H.B. 2101 could not have been possible without the help of Representative Richard Pena Raymond, Representative Ramon Romero, Representative Able Herrero, Representative Joe Deshotel, Representative Matt Schaffer and so many others. Ultimately, it was the desire of the House of Representatives to not create new legislation that would over regulate small business and potentially raise the cost of reroofing homes as well as the cost of homeowners' insurance. In the end, the final vote was a profound defeat with a mere 30 votes in favor and a whopping 103 votes in opposition.
On the other side of the Texas Legislature is the Senate, and among their proposed legislation were four bills the the USHCA, TAMACC, LULAC, The Texas Mexican Restaurants Association, NFIB, The Texas Independent Roofing Contractors Association, the Austin Roofing Contractors Association, and all of our partners were proud to stand behind. Each of these bills were a means to provide stability and equality in regulating businesses. They discussed allowing private employers the autonomy in running their business as they see fit without inconsistent rules and regulations different jurisdictions may impose. The bills' primary sponsor was Brandon Creighton, a Republican from Beaumont, and his co-sponsors were Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, and Pat Fallon, R-Denton.
Below are the bills with our full support:
* Senate Bill 2485 stated that a political subdivision of this state may not regulate a private employer's terms of employment relating to employment benefits, health, disability, retirement, profit-sharing, death, and group accidental death and dismemberment benefits.
* Senate Bill 2486 stated that a political subdivision of this state may not regulate a private employer's terms of employment relating to scheduling practices or overtime compensation.
* Senate Bill 2487 stated that a political subdivision of this state may not regulate a private employer's terms of employment relating to any form of employment leave, including paid days off from work for holidays, sick leave, vacation, and personal necessity.
* Senate Bill 2488 stated that a political subdivision of this state may not regulate a private employer's ability to request, consider, or take employment action based on the criminal history record information of an applicant or employee.
Then there was House Bill 1565 and its identical counterpart in the Senate, S.B. 3362. H.B. 1565 was in regard to adding people with disabilities to the Historically Underutilized Business Program (HUB). It would be easy to abuse this system since all it would take to be deemed disabled would be documentation from a physician. That might seem difficult in itself, but when we provided Representatives with a list of conditions that can be considered disabilities under the ADAAA (Americans with Disabilities Act - Amendments Act of 2008) it was clear to see that some conditions weren't serious enough to truly require all of the benefits received through HUB Certification. Certainly our elected officials felt as we did because ne