The House and Senate continue to refer bills to committee. As of Friday morning, the House has referred a total of 901 bills and the Senate has referred 723 bills to committees.
House: Adjourned until Mon, Feb 28, 2011 11:30 am
Senate: Adjourned until Mon, Feb 28, 2011 1:30 pm
Friday, March 11, 2011 marks the 60th day of session and is the deadline for filing bills and joint resolutions other than local bills, emergency appropriations, and bills that have been declared an emergency by Governor Perry.
Spotlight on Bills on the Move:
SJR 1 passed out of the Senate 24-7. SJR 1 calls for a balanced federal budget amendment to the U.S.
HB 15, relating to sonograms, passed out of House Committee and will now head to the floor.
For a spotlight on the list of bills being taken up in hearings this week see: Spotlight on Hearings.
More Committees Formed:
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst announced the formation of the Senate Select Committee on Open Government, charged with reviewing issues regarding transparency, public information and open records. Members Sens.: Jeff Wentworth (Chair), Wendy Davis (Vice-Chair), Rodney Ellis, Kevin Eltife, and Florence Shapiro.
Governor Rick Perry announced the formation of a Task Force on Unfunded Mandates, which will identify burdensome unfunded mandates that have been passed down from the state to local governments, such as cities, counties and school districts. The task force will make their recommendations to the governor in March on how to best alleviate these burdens on local entities. Members: Annise Parker – Mayor, City of Houston; John Cook – Mayor, City of El Paso; Bob Holder – Comal County Sheriff; Susan Narvaiz – former Mayor, City of San Marcos; Mike Sullivan – Houston City Councilman; Carlos Cascos – Cameron County Judge; Keith Self – Collin County Judge; Brett Ligon – Montgomery County District Attorney; and Mary Ann Whiteker – Hudson Independent School District Superintendent.
Hearings Daily:
Committee hearings are being updated constantly. For the latest hearing postings, please visit: House Committee Meetings By Date and Senate Committee Meetings By Date. Most committee meetings are streamed on the internet if the room the hearing is held in has video capabilities. For a list of video streaming or archived hearings for the House and/or Senate, click on: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/ and look for the Video link.
A total of 62 House and Senate Committee hearings were held February 21-25, 2011 and 60 committee hearings are posted to meet this week. Upcoming hearings this week can be found below – Spotlight on Hearings.