Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick issued a statement regarding his priorities for the Third Called Special Session of the 87th Legislative Session. Although he acknowledged that establishing a new fund for higher education similar to the Permanent University Fund (PUF) and the Higher Education Fund (HEF) is an interesting idea, he noted that taxpayers must come before any new spending. Patrick then overviewed his priorities which outlined each of the first five Senate bills as well as an initiative to create a dispatchable energy incentive fund.
- SB 1 (Bettencourt) relating to property tax; identical to SB 91 – “Sends a large amount of our surplus money back to taxpayers before spending on any new programs. This represents a quantum shift in the way we think about spending surplus dollars. Tax relief must come first – before new spending.”
- SB 2 (Nelson) relating to unemployment insurance – “Will address funding for our unemployment insurance fund that was drained during 2020 due to COVID-19.”
- SB 3 (Perry) relating to youth sports
- SB 4 (Huffman) the new Senate district map
- SB 5 (Lucio) relating to safety regulations for dogs
- Hearings by Sen. Schwertner on the creation of a fund to “incentivize more investment in dispatchable energy to add generation to our grid over the next several years”