Can't Ignore It Any Longer - The Texas Legislature Is In Session

I don't know if it has been that there is so much going on in Washington or a feeling that it is unlikely that anything too severe to employers will actually come out of the Texas legislature, but for some reason I have basically ignored our state solons. Although they joined us here in Austin in the middle of January, they are still basically in the organizational stage. The new Speaker of the House is to announce committee assignments only this week. Committee assignments taking time.

But a news item ($) in Employment Law 360 reminded me that there is at least one area where employers could be vulnerable: guns in parking lots. That's right, Senator Hegar (R-Katy) has now introduced SB 370. The key paragraph:

A public or private employer may not prohibit an employee who holds a license to carry a concealed handgun ... who otherwise lawfully possesses a firearm, or who lawfully possesses ammunition from transporting or storing a firearm or ammunition the employee is authorized by law to possess in a locked, privately owned motor vehicle in a parking lot, parking garage, or other parking area the employer provides for employees.

One argument will likely be that a number of other states have passed similar measures. I can just hear my mother asking me: "If all your friends jumped off a cliff ..."