Sine Die. A day in Texas’ lawmaking process that, both, terrifies and excites.
For members of the Texas legislature and their families, it is the end of an arduous and demanding 6-month process. For those advocating for legislation, it might mean a bitter end to a hard-fought effort to advance issues they care about.
For Representative Lacey Hull, it was the former. “I am excited to go back home,” she says.
Hull, who was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2020, has deep roots in the Houston district where she represents House District 138. She was born and raised there and as a kid, she went to Spring Branch ISD schools. She earned her degree from the University of Houston, and now lives with her family in Spring Branch.
Since that first election, which Hull won by a few more than 2,000 votes, she has ascended to a prominent leadership position in the Texas House. This session she served as Chair of the House Human Services Committee, the committee that oversees crucial issues related to child welfare and services for disabled Texans, among other things.
“I love Human Services. That committee is my heart, my passion,” she says.
“It’s my first time as chair [of a committee], and I’m very grateful to the Speaker for trusting me with that responsibility,” says Hull. “It’s been an incredible journey this session.”
And Hull takes that responsibility very seriously. From March 4th until the end of the legislative session, the committee met 17 times, had 277 bills referred to the committee, and voted out 105 bills.
“We deal with issues for the most vulnerable Texans. We can also have pretty heavy hearings that really leave an impression on committee members,” she says. “It’s really, really incredible work.”
One significant piece of legislation that was related to health and was championed by Hull was Senate Bill 25, the Make Texas Healthy Again legislative agenda, authored by Senator Lois Kolkhorst in the Senate.
The bill aimed to improve health and nutrition standards in Texas to promote healthy living, including requirements for food labeling, nutrition education requirements for primary and secondary education, and additional nutrition and health training for health care professionals.
Hull said that as a mother and having her own personal health issues related to food, nutrition and its impact on health has been an issue that she has long been interested in.
“That issue has been a passion of mine for nearly two decades,” says Hull.
While the most contentious part of the bill had to do with the labeling requirements, there were other parts of the legislation that were important.
“P.E. requirements and more recess for kids,” says Hull. “We also added new nutrition requirements for K-12 schools.”
As for the labeling requirements, Hull said that the food companies selling their products in Texas, sell the same products in other countries but without some of the potentially harmful ingredients. Instead of banning the ingredients, Hull and her colleagues thought that it would be good for Texans to know if their foods included any of those ingredients.
However, those provisions faced significant resistance.
“Big food has been fighting transparency,” says Hull. “We knew how hard they were fighting this. For some reason, they don’t want transparency about what is in their products.”
In the end, the bill passed with the labeling requirements but some of the ingredients that would require a warning label, like glyphosate and high-fructose corn syrup, were removed from the legislation through the amendment process. The bill is now on Governor Abbott’s desk. He has the final say on whether it becomes law in Texas or not.
Another passion of Hull’s that she was successful in passing legislation this session for was advocating for victims of sexual assault.
House Bill 1422, relating to the rights of victims of sexual assault extend options for sexual assault survivors regarding testing rape kits.
A rape kit, also known as a sexual assault forensic exam (SAEK), is a collection of tools and materials used by medical professionals to gather and preserve evidence after a sexual assault has occured. It collects DNA, bodily fluids, and other physical evidence from the victim’s body, clothing, and scene and can be used in investigations or prosecutions of a crime.
Under current Texas law, victims of sexual assault must make a police report in order to have their rape kit processed.
“If you don’t make a report, you can’t process the rape kit,” says Hull.
HB1422 creates a way for victims of sexual assault in Texas to have their rape kits tested without the pressure of filing a criminal complaint.
“If a victim decides to have a rape kit and it comes back with foreign DNA, they can know who it is,” says Hull. “This [bill] allows them to make that choice.”
And while she is encouraged by the progress, Hull is not finished standing up for victims of sexual assault.
“There is so much more that we need to do to help victims,” says Hull.