House Committees & Senate Bills

Last week, Speaker Dustin Burrows announced committee assignments, one of the final organizational moves in the House prior to legislative work beginning in earnest. The House rules stipulate—for the first time—that all chairmen must be of the majority party and all vice chairmen come from the minority party. In addition, the rules require that both chairmen and their vice chairs get committee budgets to support the additional responsibilities and staffing requirements that the position carries. 

Previously, Speaker Burrows had announced some reorganization of the committees themselves, consolidating some responsibilities and creating new committees on other topics to reflect pressing needs in the state. You can find the list of committees here. As a member of Speaker Phelan’s leadership team before his election to the speakership, Burrows reappointed key Republicans to some of the most prominent committee positions: Greg Bonnen (R-Friendswood) returns as the chair of the Appropriations Committee, and Brad Buckley (R-Killeen) will again serve as the chair of the Committee on Public Education. A full list of assignments can be found on the House website here. 

Public Education will be spending much of its time this session focused on the debate over school choice and vouchers—also known as education savings accounts or ESAs—a longtime priority of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and an emergency item shared by Governor Greg Abbott. The Senate has already debated its legislation on vouchers, SB 2, and sent it along to the House for consideration. They also have set aside $1 billion in the appropriations bill, SB 1, for the program. 

Expect the House to move more slowly as it considers this proposal—the slower start to committee assignments and consideration of legislation in the House is typical in this process, and rural House Republicans have historically been opposed to any kind of voucher program because of the impact it can have on public schools. This session, it’s anticipated that the votes will be closer than ever. 

As the focus begins to turn to policy priorities, TXPOST is in the capitol advocating on behalf of programs, professionals, and young people across the state. As a part of our Intermediary Collaborative efforts—the complementary effort to our Direct Service Program in the OST CARES Initiative—we hosted representatives from intermediary networks across the state in Austin for a day-long convening with the option to also spend a day meeting with Representatives and Senators to tell the stories of the impact of out of school time. We met with representatives from El Paso, San Antonio, Dallas, and Austin to connect them with local leaders and communicate all of the good work that is happening in their backyards. 

We are always looking for more OST stories to tell. Your efforts and relationships in your communities are why we advocate. Contact us to find who represents you and be sure they know what’s going on in your program. And be sure to stay up to date with what’s going on under the dome. We’ll be updating this blog throughout the session with updates on key priorities decision-makers are discussing, and if there’s anything you want to learn more about, please email info@txpost.org.