A Texas House deadline has come and gone, killing many top-priority bills for both parties — among them raising the criminal age of responsibility, Tesla-backed direct car sales, regulating ride-hailing companies and limiting or expanding gay rights.
Midnight Thursday was the last chance for House bills to win initial, full-chamber approval.
Since any proposal can be tacked onto other bills as amendments, no measure is completely dead until the legislative session ends June 1. But even with such resurrections, actually becoming state law now gets far tougher.
"The reality is, when you file many thousands of bills, the funnel is only so large," said Rep. Tan Parker, chair of the House Republican Caucus.
Regulations for ride-sharing companies passed out of committee, but never reached the House floor, despite strong lobbying efforts that cost both the taxi industry and companies such as Uber and Lyft up to a total of $1 million.
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