Weekly Lege Update – January 23, 2015

Weekly Lege Update – January 23, 2015

Last week we began the first week of session, which will take place over the next 5 months in Austin for 140 days.

The Legislature passed HR 4, which sets up all of the procedural rules that will govern the proceedings and operations of the lower chamber for the 84^th Legislative session. This is a critical step and the Texas House is now prepared to undertake the people’s business.

Our first new Governor since 2000, Greg Abbott was officially sworn in on Tuesday. Thousands descended upon the State House to watch the historical swearing in ceremony, which was followed by a parade and inaugural ball.

Our new Comptroller, Glenn Hegar announced lawmakers would have roughly $113 billion for preparing the state budget for the 2016-17 Biennium. The Legislative Budget Board released their budget recommendations for the Texas House. These recommendations are the starting point for the base budget bill.

This week the Speaker of the House began the process of selecting committee assignments for the 84^th Legislative Session. Each member of the legislature receives a preference card where he/she selects his or her top committee assignment preferences. The Speaker takes these preferences into consideration when giving out committee assignments. One selection is based on seniority and the other by Speakers preference. Committee assignments are two year terms.

I officially began serving my term as National Chair for the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC is the largest public-private membership association of state legislators and we work to advance limited government, free markets and federalism at the state level through this partnership. To learn more about ALEC and what we are doing visit: http://www.alec.org/.