Its day 38 of the 84th Regular Session, and that means we are more than a quarter of the way through Session! This week saw the legislature shift into full swing with both the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees conducting a full schedule of hearings on various aspects of their respective budgets, combined with an increasing volume of filed bills.  Thus far, 2,391 bills have been filed in the House of Representatives and 625 bills in the Senate. Today marked the “unofficial deadline” for submitting bill drafts to Legislative Council, before the March 13 deadline to file non-local bills.

On Tuesday, Governor Abbott unveiled his budget and delivered his first major policy, State of the State, speech, identifying five (5) emergency measures, which requires the Legislature to focus on those items within the first 60 days. The emergency proclamations, included early education, higher education research initiatives, border security funding, transportation funding, and ethics reforms.

This week was also marked by a great deal of attention on the budget, including a highly charged review of Article II (Health) in the Senate.  Senators took the opportunity to ask pointed questions of the Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner, Kyle Janek.  High on the list were questions surrounding the recent contracting issues that have plagued the agency over the past few months.  Additionally, audit reports showed that contracts executed by Janek’s predecessors also raised questions.  The public reporting of these lapses and the clearly distressed members of the legislature, promise to make the already difficult task of passing the package of HHSC Sunset legislation, much more complicated, perhaps even jeopardizing Commissioner Janek’s tenure.

In other news, several important election run-off were held, nearly completing the field of vacancies left due to members seeking other offices.  Below are the key client takeaways for this past week.

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Specific State of the State priorities include:

  1. Early Education Programs
  • proposed additional funding for schools that adopt high-quality Pre-K programs
  • literacy and math training for Pre-k through 3rd grade teachers
  1. Higher Education Research Initiatives
  • commit $500 million to enhance research programs and attract nationally-recognized researchers and Nobel Laureates to Texas universities
  1. Border Security -creation of a comprehensive border security plan that adds:
  • 500 new state troopers
  • more Texas Rangers to focus on corruption
  • more funding for local law enforcement
  • advanced technology to stop gang, cartel, and criminal activity
  1. Transportation
  • appropriate $4 billion a year to build more roads – without raising taxes, fees, or tolls
  1. Ethics Reforms
  • require elected officials to disclose campaign donations and contracts with public entities
  • prohibit lawmakers from voting on legislation from which they could profit

 

Election results

SD 26, Run-off for the seat vacated by Senate Van de Putte, who is running for Mayor of San Antonio

  • In a race that surprised some political handicappers, Rep. Jose Menendez bested Rep. Trey Martinez-Fischer by an overwhelming margin of 59% – 41%. Senate District 26, had been viewed as a safe bet for the candidate more aligned with democratic support groups. However, with a combination of traditional democratic support and an unprecedented push of close to a million dollars from republican aligned groups such as Texans for Lawsuit Reform, Menendez pulled off a stunning victory in a high dollar race.   The Senate will now have 20 Republicans and 11 Democrats.

HD 17, Run-off for the seat vacated by Rep. Kleinschmidt, who is now at the Texas Department of Agriculture.

  • In a very close race, John Cyrier edged out Brent Golemon 52% – 48%. The House District 17 race was a hard fought battle with allegations and missives fired by both camps.

HB 123, Run-off for the seat vacated by Rep. Mike Villarreal, who is running for Mayor of San Antonio

  • In the one election night blowout, former San Antonio City Councilman Diego Bernal easily best Nunzio Previtera by a margin of 64% – 36%

HD 13, Run-off election to replace the seat vacated by former State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, who is now in the Texas Senate.

  • Caldwell attorney Leighton Schubert defeated former Austin County Judge Carolyn Bilski 57% – 43%, after having lost the first round by 10 points.

  

WHAT TO LOOK FOR NEXT

  • The House adjourned until 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, February 23, 2015
  • The Senate adjourned until 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, February 23, 2015.
  • The first Senate Intent Calendar has been set for Monday, including SB 11 by Birdwell – relating to the carrying of concealed handguns on campuses of and certain other locations associated with institutions of higher education; and SB 17 by Estes, relating to the authority of a person to carry a handgun to openly carry a holstered gun.
  • The deadline filing non-local bills and joint resolutions is March 13, 2015, which marks is the 60th Legislative Day.