Quick Takes
- House Bill 1, the state budget, moves to the Senate floor for a vote today.
- House and Senate priorities advance in each chamber.
- NTC board members testified in House committees last week.
State Report
The legislature had a busy week culminating in the House convening for its first Friday of the session to take up bills on third reading, a Congratulatory and Memorial Calendar, and its first Local and Consent Calendar. Both chambers will meet today at 11 am. With the arrival of the 100th day of the legislative session this week, lawmakers are spending longer days in committee meetings and floor sessions. More than 550 House and Senate bills are scheduled for committee hearings this week.
As expected, the Senate immediately referred the budget, HB 1, to Senate Finance upon officially receiving it from the House Last Tuesday. Finance Chairman Joan Huffman scheduled it for a hearing the following day, and HB 1 was voted out as substituted for the Senate version of the budget. The full Senate will take up HB 1 today. The floor deliberation of the budget in the Senate is typically much faster than the hours-long process in the House. Following passage of the budget by the Senate, the bill will return to the House, and a conference committee will be requested by Appropriations Chairman Greg Bonnen so that the two bodies can negotiate the differences between the two versions of the budget.
In addition to the budget, most of the priorities identified by Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan are advancing through the legislative process. The Senate has passed legislation endorsed by Patrick related to voter fraud, property tax relief, the electric grid, parental rights, including school choice, and others. Several of his priorities have been referred to and heard in House committees, as well. At least two are headed to the House Calendars committee: SB 10, a one-time additional payment to eligible Teacher Retirement System retirees, and SB 14, prohibition on child gender modification. Meanwhile, most of Speaker Phelan’s priorities are still moving through the committee process in the House although a few have advanced to the Senate, including measures related to consumer data privacy, community college funding, establishment of the Mental Health and Brain Institute of Texas, and a sales tax exemption for certain personal care items. Additionally, late last week, the House passed its version of property tax relief, which centers around a reduction in the appraisal cap from 10% to 5%. This conflicts with the Senate package of property tax relief bills that focuses on increasing the homestead exemption.
Last week, the NTC engaged on priority bills heard in the House Ways & Means and House Public Education committees. NTC board members traveled to Austin to testify about the NTC’s position favoring economic development incentives and against public school vouchers. On Monday, April 10, Aledo Superintendent Dr. Susan Bohn, Chair of the NTC Superintendents Council, testified in support of HB 5, the Texas Jobs and Security Act [43:12]. On Tuesday, April 11, NTC Chairman Andrew Johnsen testified against HB 4340 during the hours-long hearing regarding the creation of Education Savings Accounts and public school vouchers [3:42:25].
The House Calendar has been scheduled for today and tomorrow, with additional calendars for the remainder of the week to be scheduled upon the meeting and approval of the House Calendars Committee and House Local and Consent Calendars Committee. The House Supplemental Calendar is the correct one to reference each day; it is updated and published following session each day the House meets. It is common to see “Postponed Business” atop the Supplemental Calendar. This frequently means the Senate companion bill to the House bill posted on the calendar is over and will be eligible soon to be substituted for the House bill on the House Floor. Some bills are postponed multiple times before the Senate bill is ready. Other times, a bill may be postponed while the bill author continues to negotiate it with colleagues. The Senate Notice of Intent Calendar can be reviewed here. Lieutenant Governor Patrick has the sole discretion to recognize senators to lay out their bills posted on the Intent Calendar for consideration before the full Senate.
For questions regarding the legislative session, please reach out to Patrick Brophey.
