SPECIAL SESSION BEGINNING JULY 18 Abbott announced last week that the Legislature will be reconvened in a special session beginning July 18th. Unlike “regular” sessions which last 140 days and convene each odd number year, “special” sessions are called in 30 day increments. And unlike regular sessions, only topics put on the “call” by […]
Tomorrow is the final day for the House to pass Senate bills. After that, the remainder of the session is focused on rectifying differences on bills that did not pass in identical form in each chamber. This last week has been crunch time with very long hours and we have passed some of the most important […]
Freedom To Serve Children Act The state of Texas is facing a critical shortage of foster homes. In 2016 over 200 kids spent nights in offices, hotels or hospitals because there are not enough foster homes in which to place them. With limited capacity, children in foster care suffer from placements that are poorly matched […]
Removing Impediments To Your Right To Bear Arms This week, the Texas House of Representatives passed very important legislation removing impediments to your right to bear arms.SB 16, a bill I carried in the House, drastically reduced the state fee for a License to Carry (LTC). I had discovered that Texas had the 3rd highest fee […]
Texas Ranks #9 in Economic Outlook In the 10th edition of Rich States, Poor States that was published this week, Texas is ranked #9 in Economic Outlook in the country. That’s the best ranking for Texas in the decade of this report being published – and an improvement of 10 spots. (from 19th in 2010). Check out […]
Appropriations Update The approved budget and supplemental budget are up for consideration before the full House of Representatives this Thursday, April 6th. Over 400 amendments were pre-filed and will be debated. We expect to be on the floor until the early hours on Friday – possibly working through amendments and amendments to the amendment for over 18 consecutive hours. […]
LEGISLATIVE HIGHLIGHTS Firearms – Yesterday, my committee heard two constitutional carry bills that allow the unlicensed carry of a holstered handgun where licenses are now required. We had over 300 attend to testify. Those who registered a position were almost equally distributed “for” and “against”. The hearing began at 8 am and concluded at about […]
Ethics Reform Legislation Our republican form of government is founded on the principle that public servants represent the interests of their constituents, serving as their voice in government. To that end, the Texas House has laid out an impressive ethics reform package to advance public trust in our elected bodies. For more information about each […]
Filing Deadline Today! Marks the 60th Day of Session Today marks the 60th day of the 85th session which is also is the last day to file all non-emergency bills. For the next 30 days of the regular legislative session, the committees of each chamber will be holding hearings to consider all bills, resolutions and other […]
HB 4 & HB 5 – Emergency CPS/Foster Care Legislation Passes the Texas House Without a single no vote cast, HB 4 and HB 5 passed the Texas House this week. The bills will now be considered by the Texas Senate. This legislation will implement critically needed reforms of our CPS and foster care systems. […]