Committee Spotlight:
House and Senate committees have mostly moved from organizational hearings and hearing agency invited testimony to taking up bills referred.
Both House Appropriations and Senate Finance are continuing to work through the appropriations process. The Legislative Budget Board has posted the following documents for this stage of the process:
- Summary of Recommendations Presentations – Senate Finance Committee
- Adopted Decision Documents – House Appropriations Committee
Contracts:
The House Committee on General Investigating and Ethics heard from the Legislative Budget Board on March 5 regarding state procurement and contract management.
Property and Franchise Tax Relief:
The Senate Finance committee dedicated three days to discussion on tax relief. The committee took up property tax relief bills on one day, sales tax relief and franchise tax relief the following and concluded with public testimony. Some members on the committee expressed concern about voting for certain tax relief bills without having a better understanding of how current needs in the budget would be addressed.
Multiple senate bills were filed on March 4 which could address some of the concerns mentioned by members in the Senate Finance committee. Two bills and corresponding joint resolutions were filed which would amend the Texas Constitution so that tax relief and debt relief would not be subject to the spending limit. The resolutions would put the issue before voters in 2015.
Upcoming hearings:
House and Senate Committee hearing will continue next week, the latest information can be found by visiting HillCo’s “Legislative News from Texas.” Please note that dates and times are subject to change and additional hearings dates may also be added at any time so you will want to re-visit the page frequently to confirm hearings.
The standing committee hearings as well as floor discussions, live and archived, can be listened to at the following links: House | Senate. Please note that formal hearings may not be broadcasted.
Spotlight on Bills on the Move:
The Senate passed their first bills for the 84 Session – SB 5 & SJR 5. SB 5 will allow for a portion of revenue from the motor vehicle sales tax to be dedicated toward the state highway fund. The formula would be: the first $2.5 billion would go to general revenue (GR), the next $2.5 billion would go to the state highway fund. Anything over that first $5 billion would then be split the following ways: 1) 20% to the Available School Fund, 2) 30% to GR, and 3) the remaining 50% to the state highway fund. SJR 5 would put the issue before the voters in 2016. The legislation now moves over to the House side for further consideration.
The Senate Calendars are now being populated with bills. The House is referring bills to committees but there are no House calendars up yet.
Members of the 84th
The Senate swore in Jose Menendez (D) on March 5. All 31 Senate seats are now filled. Makeup: 20 R’s and 11 D’s .
On March 5, the House swore in the following three Reps.: Leighton Schubert (R), John Cyrier (R), and Diego Bernal (D). Current makeup: 98 R’s and 51 D’s. There is one seat left to be filled – HD 124 which was recently vacated by Sen. Menedez (D). A special election has been called for that seat on Tuesday, March 31, 2015.
Deadlines:
Friday, March 13 will mark the 60th day of session and the deadline for filing bills and joint resolutions other than local bills, emergency appropriations, and bills that have been declared an emergency by the governor.
