Photo by: Al Braden
By Cyrus Reed
Well it’s been 17 days since the 140-day legislative session kicked off. And what can I say about the 88th Legislative Session?
Lots and lots of bills have already been filed in anticipation of the March 10 filing deadline.
Want me to describe all the bills that have been filed? Not enough time, but keep up to date with our legislative tracker here. We’re trying to keep up but more than 2,000 House and Senate bills have already been filed with many more on the way. I promise we will give you a good, bad, and just plain ugly report soon.
Okay, but are there any important bills?
Yep, the most important bill of all… HB 1 / SB 1, the state’s two-year annual budget. It will appropriate about $290 billion over two years in state and federal funds, with billions more in surplus general revenue and more billions in the Rainy Day Fund left on the table.
To be clear what has been submitted are the initial budgets in the House and Senate before all the negotiations and debating has occurred, but the big news is that the initial budgets include about $5 billion for border security (i.e., border militarization) and about $15 billion in property tax relief. Thus far, though, neither the House nor Senate versions include a big increase in education funding, water infrastructure, grid fixes, land conservation, or other needs.
Just as session started, Comptroller of Public Accounts Glenn Hegar announced that the state would have $188 billion available in general revenue related funds to play with, or almost $40 billion more than last time. And that doesn’t even include about $25 billion or so in the Rainy Day Fund that would be available. However, because of constitutional provisions, and decisions made by the Legislature, the Senate and House are starting with the idea that they have a much smaller amount that they can spend – but that could change. For a good description of the two budgets, see House and Senate here.
In addition to the regular budget, the Legislature will also pass a “Supplemental Appropriations Act” which adds money to the current year’s budget. What might be in that budget you ask? Well, we already have been given a hint, and it includes, for example, $100 million for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to buy out Fairfield Lake (owned by coal operator Vistra Energy) and $400 million for Texas Water Development Board for flood infrastructure.
Budget hearings begin next week and we have already circled February 13, when the public hearing on all natural resource agencies occurs (Parks, Water Development Board, Railroad Commission, and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality included)-. And yes, we will let you know with more details whether the state is planning to give enough money for pipeline inspection, parkland acquisition, air monitoring, well plugging, water infrastructure, grid fixes, etc, and what you can do about it!
Hearings begin soon in the Senate
Budget hearings were announced this week, and the most powerful person in the Senate - Lt. Governor Dan Patrick - named his legislative committees for the 88th Legislative Session.
The assignments are not terribly surprising.Patrick named Republicans as chairs of 15 of the 16 committees. These are immensely powerful choke points through with all legislation must pass.
One of his favorite Senators appears to be Sen. Brian Birdwell (R-Waco), who is not only again chairing the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Economic Development, but the Senate Committee on Border Security, a key committee on border security that will certainly be a legislative priority for Republicans. Another is Sen. Joan Huffman, who not only chairs the powerful Committee on Finance, but is also heading up the Senate Special Committee on Redistricting, which is expected to rubber stamp the Senate and House maps passed last year in special session.
Other key committee leadership includes Sen. Charles Schwertner, the Georgetown Republican who will chair the Committee on Business and Commerce, the key committee for all things electric. Sen. Charles Perry (R-Lubbock), who will again chair the Committee on Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs. Sen. Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville) will again chair the Committee on Transportation, and Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) will be sharpening his knives on the Senate Committee on Local Government.
How do we Sierra Club inside lobby types feel about all this?
I feel like I have always felt - it will be an uphill battle to get good policy through these committees. As an example, the Water Committee of nine members only includes three Democrats (Blanco, Gutierrez, and Johnson), while the Committee on Natural Resources and Economic Development also only includes three Democrats (Alvarado, Blanco, and Miles). In practical terms, it means that to get a bill through committee it must have the support of Republican leadership.
What about House committees?
We expect them to be named in about two to three weeks. All 150 members (okay, 149 if you take out the Speaker who doesn’t sit on committees) were required to turn in their requests for committee assignments this week so we expect Speaker Dade Phelan (back for his second term) to name committees in about two weeks.
If you’d like to stay up to date on Sierra Club’s work inside and outside the Capitol this legislative session, sign up for our legislative updates where you can get much more detail and ways you can get involved!