On Saturday August 23, 2025 the precinct chairs in House District 66 met at CC GOP HQ to vote on a Rule 44 censure of HD66 Representative Matt Shaheen. We had a precinct chair run late because his child delayed him, so we did not have a quorum at the official time. The late precinct chair was walking in the door as the man who cancelled the vote was running out. By a matter of minutes we were deprived of our chance to vote on this Rule 44 Censure motion.
It is very detailed, but this was a serious matter. You can now see for yourself why we wanted to censure him.
RESOLUTION TO CENSURE TEXAS HOUSE DISTRICT 66 REPRESENTATIVE—MATT SHAHEEN
WHEREAS, Rule 44 of the Rules of the Republican Party of Texas (RPT), as amended on June 14, 2025, authorizes the Party to censure a Republican officeholder who, during a biennium, commits three (3) or more actions in opposition to the core principles of the RPT Platform, the Legislative Priorities adopted at the most recent State Convention, or both; and
WHEREAS, on March 6, 2025, HB 951—a bill to close primaries in Texas—was referred to the Elections Committee (Bill History, https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB951), and Representative Shaheen, as Chair of the Elections Committee, failed to schedule a hearing on this bill, thereby killing it in committee and denying Texans the opportunity for closed primaries—an action in opposition to RPT Legislative Priority #2, Secure Texas Elections; and
WHEREAS, on May 24, 2025, Representative Jeff Leach filed an amendment to SB 12 (House Journal, 89th Legislature, Day 72, p. 67), which—through changes 14 and 15—amended page 32 of CSSB 12 (https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/pdf/SB00012H.pdf#navpanes=0) by altering the language from:
“not provide or allow a third party to provide instruction, guidance, activities, or programming regarding sexual orientation”
to:
“not provide or allow a third party to whom the district or school has delegated teaching responsibility to provide classroom instruction regarding sexual orientation,”
thereby allowing guidance, activities, or programming regarding sexual orientation or gender identity to take place, in opposition to RPT Legislative Priority #3, Stop Sexualizing Texas’ Kids; and whereas Representative Shaheen voted in favor of this amendment (Record Vote #3489, House Journal, 89th Legislature, Day 72, p. 69), such vote by Representative Shaheen constitutes an action in opposition to Legislative Priority #3 and is therefore a censurable act; and
WHEREAS, on January 23, 2025, Representative Shaheen voted to second the motion of Representative Patterson for the previous question on the adoption of HR 4 (Record Vote #4, House Journal, 89th Legislature, Day 05, p. 130), thereby introducing standing subcommittees that could—and have—been chaired by members of the minority party, and ending debate on that date so as to prevent any amendment to remove the rule—an action in opposition to Legislative Priority #4, No Democrat Committee Chairs—and therefore constituting a censurable act; and
WHEREAS, SB 17, authored by Senator Bob Hall, was intended to protect Texas land from foreign adversaries; and on May 8, 2025, Representatives Shaheen and Button offered Amendment #4 (Record Vote #1848, House Journal, 89th Legislature, Day 59, p. 98), which weakened the bill by allowing Chinese nationals and other hostile foreign actors to enter the United States on tourist visas and purchase Texas land, thereby rendering SB 17 ineffective; and whereas this amendment constitutes an action in opposition to Legislative Priority #7, Texas is Not for Sale, as well as RPT Principle #3, Preserving individual, Texan, and American sovereignty and freedom—and therefore constitutes a censurable act; and
WHEREAS, the SREC Election Integrity Committee opposed HB 2442 (as noted in the 89th LP Bill List, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GWpInulm7haelZ7QI29EXvK0pKzQ4eZr/view ) because it promotes the use of mail-in ballots; and Representative Shaheen voted in favor of HB 2442 in the Elections Committee (Committee Bill Analysis, https://hro-dfr.house.texas.gov/bill-analysis?legislature=89&session=R&billNumber=HB2442), and subsequently voted for the bill on May 14, 2025 (Record Vote #2497, House Journal, 89th Legislature, Day 64, p. 96) and on May 15, 2025 (Record Vote #2615, House Journal, 89th Legislature, Day 65, p. 28), voting alongside Representatives Plesa and Wu—actions in opposition to RPT Legislative Priority #2, Secure Texas Elections—and therefore constituting a censurable act by Representative Shaheen; and
WHEREAS, HB 2773 provided a civil penalty for the unlawful altering of election procedures; and Representative Shaheen, as Chair of the Elections Committee, left the bill pending in committee (Bill History, https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB2773); and whereas this bill was promoted by a Collin County precinct chair and authored by Representative Leach to support election integrity, the killing of this bill in committee by Representative Shaheen constitutes an action in opposition to RPT Legislative Priority #2, Secure Texas Elections—and therefore constitutes a censurable act by Representative Shaheen; and
These actions therefore are censurable acts, so therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, that the HD 66 Executive Committee of the Collin County GOP, being constituents of Representative Matt Shaheen, hereby censures Texas House District 66 Representative Matt Shaheen in accordance with RPT Rule 44 for the foregoing actions in opposition to the Republican Party of Texas Legislative Priorities and Principles, as detailed above; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the House District 66 Executive Committee of the Collin County GOP requests that the State Republican Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Texas censure State Representative Matt Shaheen by imposing all applicable penalties set forth in RPT Rule 44, including, but not limited to, Penalty 3: refusal to accept any application for a place on the ballot of a Republican Primary Election for a period of twenty-four (24) months following adoption of this censure; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Chair of the House District 66 Executive Committee of the Collin County GOP shall submit this resolution, along with supporting documentation, including minutes and vote counts, to the Chairman, Secretary, Vice Chair, and Resolutions Committee Chair of the Republican Party of Texas, for the applicable Rule 44 penalty to be applied before the incumbent from HD 66 attempts to file for a place on the ballot in his next election; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Chair of the House District 66 Executive Committee of the Collin County GOP shall request the Chair of the Collin County GOP to post an announcement of this censure on the Collin County GOP website, as well as on its Facebook and ‘X’ social media pages.
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