your weekly update from Texas Impact

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Texas Impact
People of Faith Working for Justice

Dear {name},

This week, the legislature held hearings on location: in Houston and Arlington on redistricting, and in Kerrville on the recent floods. Rep. Todd Hunter filed HB4, which would redraw many of Texas’ congressional districts. The proposal is designed to give Texas five additional Republican congressional seats.

Texas Impact member Kim Batchelor of Northaven United Methodist Church testifies on redistricting in Arlington

Despite the overwhelming testimony opposing mid-decade redistricting from Texans across the state, the House Select Committee on Redistricting is hearing HB4 today, August 1, less than two days after the bill was filed, with the intent to vote the bill out of committee at the conclusion of the hearing and bring it to the House floor August 4 or 5.

Rev. Joel Benson of PA and Rev. Keats Miles Wallace of Texas deliver a report from the ELCA’s Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust Reconsiderations Taskforce at General Synod

Texas Impact staff have been out and about as well. Keats has been at the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, where the ELCA has elected a new Presiding Bishop, Yehiel Curry. In the blog, Keats explains the general synod process and why the issues on this year’s agenda have particular salience for Texas Impact and our colleague organizations around the country.

Bobby Watson assists a PCUSA Youth Triennium participant with a Vidas Robadas shirt

Bobby is spending the week at the Presbyterian Youth Triennium, where youth from across the country are creating a Vidas Robadas exhibition. Read more about Triennium in PCUSA Magazine here.

Witnesses wait to testify at the Houston hearing of the House Select Committee on Redistricting

Rebecca attended the Houston redistricting hearing and wrote this analysis of the anticipated impacts of proposed redistricting on Texans’ lives. Becca and Ava attended the Kerrville hearing on the floods. Becca covered the Capitol hearing on the floods in a series of posts this week—look for reflections on the Kerrville hearing next week. And back in Austin, Kyle, Kat, and Heather assisted the Texas Women’s Health Caucus with a screening of Zurawski v. Texas in the Capitol Auditorium. Several of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit attended the screening, as well as one of the film’s directors.

Also in the blog this week, we’re delighted to share our latest guest post: financial literacy educator Megan Winters breaks down the federal budget reconciliation act (the “OBBBA”) on personal finance, concluding “the real impacts of the OBBBA on our finances will likely be far less beautiful than the president promised.”

As we round the corner into August, it’s hard to imagine that 2025 is more than halfway over. It’s good to remember that democracy is never over: the processes by which we order our lives in community belong to all of us, and it’s up to each of us to keep them in good working order.

Thanks for all you do for the community of Texas—and thanks for being part of Texas Impact!

Love,