STATE LAWMAKERS WITH CENTRAL TEXAS CONSTITUENTS RECEIVE REQUEST FOR SPONSORSHIP OF A NEW BILL EXPANDING SCOPE OF DRUG-TESTING ON CITY GOVERNMENT OF AUSTIN EMPLOYEES AND CITY OF AUSTIN OFFICIALS

On Monday, March 19, 2018 11:14 PM, John McMillan wrote:

March 19, 2018

Dear Distinguished State of Texas Legislators from the greater Austin area,

My duly-elected representative in the Texas House, State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, earlier today indicated (below) to me in writing that she is not willing to sponsor any proposed legislation in the Texas House that will cite additional specified circumstances in which the State of Texas will either require or authorize the City Government of Austin to conduct drug testing on a City of Austin employee or on a City of Austin official---such as the Mayor, City Manager, a City Council Member, or a City of Austin department head.

The proposed new legislation will also, of course, be applicable to other municipal governments in Texas.

Are any of you state lawmakers from the greater Austin area willing to consider sponsoring new legislation of the type that I am myself recommending (see below) in the next session of the Texas Legislature?

If so, please let me know as soon as possible, as I do not currently have any local sponsor for proposed new legislation of the type I am advocating for our state.

Sincerely and Best Wishes,

John Kevin McMillan, founder and only current approved member of the lawfully non-Christian and public-safety-minded as well as crime-deterrence-minded "Progressive Prohibitionist Religion".
My home address: 10926 Jollyville Road, Apt. 1609, Austin, Texas, 78759.
Home phone: (512) 342-2295.
My Blog: John Kevin McMillan: A 21st Century Conservative Left-Wing Agenda
John Kevin McMillan: A 21st Century Conservative Left-Wing Agenda
Observations for a rationally religious and implicitly deistic modern religion, public-policy writing, creative ...
John Kevin McMillan

On Monday, March 19, 2018 4:35 PM, Amanda Foster wrote:

Dear Mr. McMillan,

Thank you for your email. Rep. Hinojosa is not planning to recommend any revisions you mentioned regarding drug testing municipal employees or municipal-government officials for next session.

Amanda Foster, LMSW |Legislative Director
State Representative Gina Hinojosa
(O) 512-463-0668
amanda.foster@house.texas.gov

________
From: John McMillan [mailto:mcmillanj@att.net] 

Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2018 1:51 AM

To: Gina Hinojosa; Amanda Foster; Kirk Watson; Keysha Walcott; Gerald Daugherty; margaret.moore@traviscountytx.gov; Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt; CountyAttorneyDavidEscamilla; Public Information; Texas Rangers Division of DPS; Austin City Council Member Delia Garza (2015); gerald.daugherty@traviscountytx.gov; Texas Municipal League (2016); Texas Municipal League General Counsel Bennett Sandlin; Texas City Attorneys Assn. General Counsel Scott Houston; Texas City Attorneys Assoc. Pres. (2016); APD Officer James Turner; U.S. Department of Homeland Security; FBI Dallas Bureau; Austin Mayor Steve Adler; sally.hernandez@traviscountytx.gov; Governor's Office of Texas Open Records Administrator; City of Austin Interim City Attorney Anne Morgan; statesman; Christian Hawley; Texas DPS Office of General Counsel; Unknown National; White House Fellows Program 2017; Austin Chronicle Editors; Texas Observer Editors; Texas Monthly Editors (2017); Scott Goldstein; Dallas City Attorney's Office; Houston Chronicle Letters To the Editor; Houston Police Dept (2015); Travis County Sheriff Law Enforcement Assoc. (2016); rocky.reeves@austintexas.gov; christopher.gaines@austintexas.gov; District 8; district9@austintexas.gov; Austin City Auditor QA Coordinator (2016); Sherri Fleming; Austinstone Info; Hpbc Info; Crime Report Ed. Stephen Handelman (2016); Austin Regional Crime and Terrorism Intelligence Center; Letters To the Editor; Texas Tribune Editor In Chief Evan Smith; KLRU; UT-Austin Law School Dean Ward Farnsworth; smccown@law.utexas.edu; hway@law.utexas.edu; University of Oklahoma President; The Oklahoman Editor 2017; The Oklahoman ME Shannon (2017); DMN Austin Bureau Reporter Robert Garrett; Texas Dept. of Public Safety Officers Assn. Director; Texas Dept. of Public Safety Officers Assn. President; zpatton@governing.com; edaigneau@governing.com; CNN.Viewer.Communications.Management; National Crime Victim Law Institute (Lewis & Clark Law School Portland Oregon); CBS News '60 Minutes' Editors and Reporters; WallStJournalNewstips; kathryn.walker@normanok.gov; The University of Texas at Austin; Dustin Burrows; Carlos Uresti; Charles Schwertner; Traviscountydemocrats Info; Travis County Republican Party (2016); Jon Heining; Republican Party of Texas; Texas Christian Univeristy; david_garland@baylor.edu; Rice Univ. Polit. Sci. Prof. Brace; KXAN TV News Investigations; Texas City Management Pres-elect 2017; Texas City Management Pres. 2017; spencer.cronk@austintexas.gov; Texas Department of Health and Human Services Ombudsman; Usnews Webmaster; CommentaryMagazineEditors; BBC News Story Ideas (2017); Cedar Park (TX) City Manager Brenda Eivens (2014); Leander Police Chief Minton; Attorney General of Utah; Joyful Heart Foundation for Rape Victims; Texasadvocacyproject Info; Harvard Kennedy School Carr Center for Human Rights Policy; Dailytexanonline News; Steven Rich; Office for Victims of Crime (U.S. DOJ); Texas Association Against Sexual Assault Atty Kaiser 2016; Trinity University (San Antonio) Assoc. Prof. Political Science John Hermann; CommunityAnti-DrugCoalitionsofAmericaEditor; Imla Info; Temple (TX) Police Chief Floyd Mitchell (2016); Pflugerville (TX) Police Chief Charles Hooker (2016); Sunset Valley Police Dept. Lt. Richard Andreucci

Subject: 3-10-18 idea for TX Leg: expand drug testing of municipal employees

To: State Representative Gina Hinojosa of the Texas Legislature in Austin, Texas.

March 10, 2018

Dear State Rep. Hinojosa,

As a law-abiding, gainfully employed, single adult male constituent of yours in northwest Austin, I appreciate your great dedication to pursuing factual research on behalf of generating proposed revisions to existing state laws and proposals for new state laws in Texas.

During my leisuretime this weekend, I have been pursuing online research about drug testing of employees by municipal governments in the United States.

I am pursuing this factual research because I feel very strongly that the integrity of all municipal governments in Texas, and the public-safety of all Texans, will be greatly enhanced when the percentage of all municipal employees in Texas who are drug addicts is as close to zero as possible.

State Rep. Hinojosa, I would like to take this opportunity to ask you if you are planning to recommend any revisions to state law in Texas that significantly increase the number and scope of circumstances in which a municipal government---including the City Government of Austin in this very influential state-capital city---is either required or authorized by the Texas Legislature to conduct drug testing on one or more cited municipal employees or municipal-government officials, such as City Council Members or the Mayor or City Manager or a department head, of that municipal government in our state.

On behalf of that type of public-policy goal for Texas, I have pursued online Google searches late this Friday night and Saturday morning inside my rental apartment unit in the District 10 section of Austin. District 10 is the local district in which the Austin City Council Member directly and officially representing any and all persons residing in that local district on City Council is Dr. Alison Alter (who, as you know, has reportedly prohibited me ever since March 9, 2017, from ever again myself directly contacting Dr. Alter or any of the City Hall staff members whom she directly supervises).

In my online research this weekend, I have been very pleased to find an item about a pertinent state law in our neighboring state of Oklahoma.

That item can be found at the following blogsite address:
https://www.omag.org/news/2016/5/24/drug-testing-municipal-employees-1

That blogsite address provides a link to a May 24, 2016, blog, "Drug Testing Municipal Employees," that was written by Suzanne Paulson of Oklahoma.

The blog notes that Ms. Paulson is the Associate General Counsel of the Oklahoma Municipal Assurance Group (OMAG). That Edmond, Oklahoma-based organization provides insurance and risk management solutions for municipal governments throughout Oklahoma.

The cited office phone number for Ms. Paulson at OMAG headquarters in Edmond, Oklahoma, is:
(405) 657-1400. Her E-mail address: spaulson@omag.org .

According to Ms. Paulson's May 2016 blog, state law in Oklahoma authorizes (and I did not check to find out if that law has since been revised by the Oklahoma Legislature) drug testing of municipal-government employees or prospective new municipal-government employees in that southwestern state for any of the following reasons:

---if the individual is applying for employment by a municipal government in Oklahoma;

---if a municipal employee in Oklahoma is being transferred or reassigned to a different position or a different job;

---if a municipal employee in Oklahoma was involved in a workplace accident that reportedly caused an injury or property damage;

---if a municipal employee in Oklahoma is being required to take a routine "fitness-for-duty" exam;

---if a municipal employee in Oklahoma has been in a rehabilitation program (and I myself am assuming this may refer to a drug-addiction treatment program) for which a follow-up drug test on that employee is then legally permitted by state law.

---if a municipal-government employer in Oklahoma has reason to suspect that an employee of that municipal government is under the influence of drugs at the workplace. That might occur, for instance, if a municipal government employer in Oklahoma directly observes an employee with drugs at the workplace, or if a municipal-government employer in Oklahoma notices an "unexplained pattern of absences and tardiness, or employee behavior that suggests impairment".

---if a municipal government employee in Oklahoma is employed in a "safety sensitive position" as defined by state law. For employees fitting that state-mandated description, random drug testing on themselves is authorized by state law in Oklahoma.

Rep. Hinojosa, would you like to see state law in Texas revised to specify any additional circumstance or any additional circumstances in which a municipal government is required or authorized by the Texas Legislature to conduct or sponsor drug testing on cited employees or cited officials of that municipal government?

Sincerely and Best Wishes,
John Kevin McMillan, founder and only approved member of the public-safety-minded and anti-illicit-drugs-minded, anti-marijuana-minded, drinking-alcohol-free, and lawfully non-Christian "Progressive Prohibitionist Religion"---an "Honor Society" new religion with very stringent membership-eligibility requirements.
My home address: Village Oaks Apartments, 10926 Jollyville Road, Apt. 1609, Austin, TX 78759.
My home phone: (512) 342-2295.
My Blog: John Kevin McMillan: A 21st Century Conservative Left-Wing Agenda
John Kevin McMillan: A 21st Century Conservative Left-Wing Agenda
Observations for a rationally religious and implicitly deistic modern religion, public-policy writing, creative ...