Harrison speaks out against assault on First Amendment

ELLIS COUNTY – If Texans are not careful, they’ll soon have their First Amendment rights violated.

This will be compliments from the majority of those they sent to Austin to represent them.

And for all the Republicans out there scratching their heads about how that could happen, the former speaker of the Texas House, a Republican named Dade Phelan, decided it was a good idea to criminalize political memes with his HB366. 

Apparently, a majority of the Texas House thought taking away free speech from Texans was a good idea too, since HB366 passed and is now on to the Senate.

Ellis County’s State Rep. Brian Harrison said, “Instead of using the precious time left in session to abolish or even lower property taxes, last week the Texas House voted to criminalize political memes. This is an assault on the First Amendment and an absolute disgrace to the state of Texas.  

“Texans deserve real leadership who will stop growing government and will put their liberty first.”

House Bill 366 is said to be about ending the use of artificial intelligence to mislead voters.

Phelan said his idea with the bill is to prevent someone from impacting or altering an election by using fake media.

Rep. Nate Schatzline (R-Fort Worth) thinks it will go a step further than that. “So we know that this bill is going to be abused to put people in jail for political speech,” he said. “Is it your intent to limit grassroots organizations from criticizing their elected officials?”

David Covey, who was in a run-off election with Phelan last May for the house seat posted to his X account regarding Phelan’s bill: “Dade Phelan wasting time on a personal vendetta against me instead of working to cut taxes and protect Texans.”

Covey also pointed out that Phelan won by 366 votes against him and named his “anti-free speech bill HB366.” 

Covey believes this HB number was specifically chosen due to the number of votes Phelan won by and that it was not mere coincidence.

“Someone could end up in jail if Dade gets his way,” Covey’s X post read.

Those violating this bill, if it should become a law, would be charged with a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and/or a maximum fine of $4,000.