April 7, 2023 – District 2 House Representative Bryan Slaton was missing from all proceedings in the 88th Texas Legislature both Wednesday and Thursday before the Good Friday holiday in advance of Easter Sunday. All votes for the very busy two days showed Slaton as “Absent – Excused”. His last record of voting came on Tuesday, April 4, 2023 as he voted on several bills presented on that day including one presented from a committee on which he serves named “Defense & Veterans’ Affairs”. That bill known as HB1315 is described by its author as: A bill to be entitled An Act relating to the creation of the open burn pit registry fund and the issuance of specialty license plates to honor members of the United States armed forces exposed to open burn pits. Slaton voted in the affirmitive to support that bill.
Thursday April 6, 2023 was a very busy day for the Texas Legislature as the Texas House debated over HB1 which concerns the over $300 Billion budget for the State of Texas for the next two years. Hundreds of amendments were presented and added to the bill with most of those influencing how that money is spent and which districts (and counties) would benefit from the huge Texas budget. None of Slaton’s amendments were presented during the proceedings and Slaton was marked as “Absent – Excused” for the 11 votes taken on House Bill 1. As the budget bill has now cleared the House, it will move over to the Senate for further discussions and amendments following the Easter Holiday.
Repeated calls from KSST News to Slaton’s Austin office as well as his Greenville office went unanswered. Hopefully, Slaton will be back as the House session resumes on Monday at 2:00pm to represent his constituents in Hopkins, Hunt and Van Zandt counties.
