From Houston Chronicle
Between heated comments on preserving constitutional rights and religious discrimination, jokes flourished that Tuesday was the first time a bill amending family law had a public hearing in the Senate’s Business and Commerce Committee.
Senate Bill 1639 originally was assigned to the Jurisprudence Committee for consideration, but within a few days was moved to the committee chaired by its author, John Carona, R-Dallas.
Carona’s proposed legislation would prevent Texas judges from applying or ceding to foreign laws in family cases if the foreign court would violate American constitutional rights.
Supporters lauded Carona for fighting the sinister effort of foreign nations, and specifically sharia law, to subvert American ideals and subjugate women. One Houston-area woman read a letter from a friend who couldn’t make it, describing the Pakistani immigrant’s story of being the victim of an acid attack because of her Christian faith.
The woman’s Methodist Minister, Randy Smith of Tyler, also testified at the hearing as President of interfaith advocacy group Texas Impact, but he opposed the measure.
“I helped arrange for the surgeries she got,” Smith said. “In no way would this bill have helped her. She was granted the ability to stay in this country because immigration law recognized she was heavily discriminated against in her own country.”
