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By Cyrus Reed,
Legislative and Conservation Director, Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter
Our state’s legislature doesn’t meet to pass any bills this year. That’s by design. Even though our state is home to 30 million people, that’s not enough of a reason for our state’s leaders to think, maybe we need to meet more often… because, you know, the country and the world can change a lot in a year and a half.
Instead of meeting to pass bills in this interim year between legislative sessions, the Texas House and Senate meet to discuss issues they think are important before they meet again in 2025. These are often called “interim charges” and the people who decide what each legislative committee should discuss or study are the Lieutenant Governor (Dan Patrick), who determines the charges in the Senate, and Speaker of the House (Dade Phelan), who determines the charges in the House.
Even though no legislation comes out of these meetings, they are a good indicator of what bills may be filed next year when the Texas Legislature convenes for the 89th time. That’s why the Sierra Club is watching these hearings closely, and doing our best to engage lawmakers now on energy, water, and environmental issues.
The Lieutenant Governor was first to announce his charges, which came relatively late (only last month), and Speaker Phelan followed with his charges in early May.
Before his main list of charges were announced, Speaker Phelan also named several special committees on the panhandle fires, LNG facilities, and artificial intelligence. All three committees recently released their reports. And in case you had any doubts about where leadership lies in terms of oil and gas, the LNG Special Committee did not consider any of the Sierra Club’s recommendations on better protecting the public and environment from LNG expansion! Instead they called for faster permitting and more subsidies for the industry!
Recently, the Senate’s Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee held their first interim hearing and you can read more about it here.
House Interim Charges
There’s some important context to share if you don’t follow Texas politics. Dade Phelan is in the race of his political life. He was forced into a primary runoff, which has turned into an obscenely expensive race in House District 21 in Southeast Texas.
Amid the runoff fight, he has given the House a whole lot of charges to consider, and to be honest, many of these are very much worth studying and discussing. From housing affordability to land conservation to water reuse to rising insurance rates; to a review of recent EPA regulations to looking at the demand-side of the electric grid and reliability, it’s worth digging into these issues. Of course, no one’s expecting that this legislature will suddenly come up with the most sustainable solutions to these issues, but it is important to engage and give our perspective. In addition, Speaker Phelan threw some obligatory red meat to his more conservative colleagues. However, we expect that a lot of the discussion will be focused on issues that matter to Texans of all stripes.
Coming up fast are two invite-only hearings largely on electric grid matters in the House Committee on State Affairs. The first, on June 10, will largely focus on the main agencies that deal with the electric grid like the Office of Public Interest Counsel (OPUC), Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and ERCOT (the operator of the main electric grid in Texas), but the later hearing on July 8, will delve more into the implementation of the various reforms passed by the legislature, including reforms meant to reduce energy use. We have some thoughts on what we need to strengthen the grid, lower electric bills for Texas families, and reduce pollution. Sign our petition here.
While these two hearings are invite-only, you can submit written comments either directly to the committee or through the House online portal. Texas residents who wish to electronically submit comments related to agenda items on this notice without testifying in person can do so here until the hearing is adjourned.
Senate schedules lots of meetings
Coming up soon are a number of Senate hearings, including a key hearing on June 12 in the Committee on Business and Commerce focused on various aspects of the electric grid, from reliability to bitcoin operators to transmission, as well as a key Natural Resources Committee hearing which will focus on overcoming “federal incompetence” in putting forward EPA regulations intended to protect the public and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The framing of these charges obviously has some pro-fossil fuel bias. I wouldn’t call the new EPA regulations incompetence but we will be sure to tell the senators that on June 13! These hearings are open to the public and you can provide oral or written testimony.
Later in the summer and fall, the Senate Business & Commerce Committee, Senate Water, Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee, Senate Natural Resources Committee, and Senate Finance Committee will be holding additional hearings. We will let you know more as we get closer to those dates and we announce our official legislative priorities.