Photo by Al Braden
By Cyrus Reed
Finally, all committees have been named and they are cooking. This week, the subcommittees of the House Committee on Appropriations began meeting, and Sierra Club was there to testify on funding for the State Energy Conservation Office, Energy Systems Laboratory, the Office of Public Interest Counsel and the Public Utility Commission of Texas. You can see our written testimony here!
HB 1: Comptroller of Public Accounts: Fiscal Programs
HB 1: Energy Systems Lab Funding
HB 1: Public Utility Commission of Texas
Next week, one of those subcommittees will be taking up all natural resource agencies like Texas Parks and Wildlife, Texas Water Development Board, Railroad Commission (think oil and gas), and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The hearing occurs Monday and our staff and hopefully several volunteers will be there to support investments in water quality, oil and well inspections (and plugging), air quality monitoring, parks, and water infrastructure. Live video should be on this page if you want to tune in.
In other news, additional committees like the Senate Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs Committee, the Senate Natural Resources and Economic Development Committee, and the House State Affairs Committee will have their first hearings of the session. While they won’t bring up any bills yet, we can expect bill hearings to start in earnest within a week or so. Interestingly, at the House State Affairs Committee, yours truly was invited to speak on grid fixes that help residential consumers. Think energy efficiency, storage and onsite solar. Stay tuned for a report back!
Meanwhile, over 4,000 bills have been filed, though we are still waiting for some of the big items promised such as sunset bills, grid fixes, and other issues. One big bill that did get filed was SB 837 / HB 2483, a large water infrastructure bill, filed jointly by Sen. Charles Perry and Rep. Tracy King. As drafted, we have a lot of questions about how the funding mechanisms will work within the existing structures at the Texas Water Development Board. We are still working with those offices to improve subsequent versions of the bill, especially to emphasize water reuse, mitigate water loss, and prioritize water conservation over some of the more controversial water infrastructure priorities that the bill might promote - mainly the use of produced water from oil and gas, the importation of water from other states, and additional marine desalination capacity.
Okay… I know everyone is anxious for our good and bad list of bills and a full list but our team is busy still reading all those bills, analyzing them and making our positions “official.” With the deadline for filing bills coming up on March 10, expect a full list by mid-March!
Finally, we will have our second Building Power to Win campaign meeting next week! Join us Thursday, March 2, 7-8pm on Zoom for a campaign update including:
- Status updates on good bills and bad bills
- Progress made on grassroots efforts
- Review of priority districts
- New regular meetings to stay engaged
- Volunteer opportunities at the Texas Capitol and in your community
We hope to see you there! In the meantime, check out the new content, including factsheets, testimony, bill tracker and more, on our Legislature page!