View this email in your browser

The TEXAS Insider

Happy Wednesday!

Please forward this email or let us know about anyone you think would be interested in this newsletter!

News from across the State

This Tuesday, the 88th Texas Legislative session officially began. The House re-nominated Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) as speaker. Phelan had one opponent, which was Representative Tinderholt (R-ARLINGTON). The vote breakdown was 145-3, with Representative Phelan receiving the vast majority of support from members of both parties.

Tinderholt’s campaign focused on preventing the appointment of Democratic committee chairs. Despite losing the speaker’s race Tinderholt and his supporters are planning on pushing the House Republicans to ban the practice of Democratic chairs when the House adopts its legislative rules this week.

It’s rumored that allies of Tinderholt will be busing hundreds of Republican activists from across the state to advocate for this issue on Thursday. This will be something to watch as it’s setting members of the Republican party against one another.

Speaker Phelan emphasized the importance of Austin not turning into DC and letting hyper-partisanship dominate both parties. The state GOP has gone after numerous Republican House members on social media for, among other things, their support of the Speaker and Democratic chairs. It will be interesting to see how that impacts their working relationship.

He said it is important to preserve essentials House tradition.“Our rules keep the game fair, but they do not dictate the outcome,” Phelan said. “We will have divisions — every session does — but that division does not have to define us.” (Well-written summary of opening day.)

In other news, the Senate elected Kelly Hancock as Senate President, which makes him the chief presiding officer when Lt. Governor Dan Patrick is away.

The Texas Comptroller gave the legislature a Biennial Budget Estimate this week. For 2024-2025 the legislature will have a nearly $32.69 billion budget surplus compared to $11.68 billion for 2022-23. The Comptroller repeatedly mentioned this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the state to make key investments for our critical needs. Texas should not expect to have anywhere near this amount of money again, especially considering rising inflation and signs of recession. (Full revenue estimate)

Some potential items being considered for state funding:

• Property tax reform

• Improving the water infrastructure

• High-speed Broadband

• Public Schools

And much more. The State budget legislation will begin in the House this session, and legislators will have the difficult task of choosing what investments best impact Texas.

Governor Abbott sent a letter supporting new ERCOT reliability standards. (Official press release here) Grid reliability is a top-of-mind issue this session.

Abbott declared January as Human Trafficking month. (Official social media post) And said he would deliver the most significant property tax cut in history. (Official social media post)

Looking at the Legislature

Representative Craig Goldman (Tarrant County) was elected House Republican Caucus chair.

Election Legislation:

HB 1140 by Representative Michael Schofield (R-House) changes the election identification certificate used to vote into a certification card.

SB 293 by Senator Nathan Johnson (D-Dallas) would, among other things, make harassment of an election official in their statutory or official duties related to administering an election a third-degree felony.

In the wake of 2020, election officials across the country have faced increased threats and violence. For example, in Tarrant County, the elections administrator said there were multiple social media calls for his violent death. In Gillespie and Hood counties, elections officials have resigned due to in part to harassment. (In-depth-write up here)

SB 143 by Senator Drew Springer (R-Muenster) would ban the use of public schools as polling places. Many counties rely on schools as polling places, but many school officials across the state are expressing hesitancy due to safety concerns.

Education

HB 1238 by Representative Gary VanDeaver (R-Texarkana) would, among other things, require any school seeking reimbursement under the school health and related services program during a school year to obtain written parental consent.

SB 354 by Senator Bob Hall (R-Rockwall) would, among other things, ban school boards or boards of trustees from prohibiting their employees from carrying a handgun if they are licensed.

SB 55 by Senator Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) would require the Higher Education Coordinating Board to develop a study and report on the best practices to assist students with autism.

Border

HB 1251 by Representative Mihaela Plesa (D-Denton) expands which first responders and their spouses are eligible to receive homestead tax exemptions in the case of line-of-duty deaths to include border agents.

Your Legislators

Representative Gary VanDeaver has eleven bills as of 01/11/23.

Senator Bryan Hughes has filed five pieces of legislation as of 01/11/23.

Things will start picking up soon, so stay tuned!

Thanks for reading!

As of 1/11/23, over 1,649 pieces of legislation have been filed. Please let me know of anyone who may be interested in this newsletter!

Copyright (C) Want to change how you receive these emails?You can update your preferences or unsubscribe