Here is a spotlight on what happened today up at the Capitol:
Budget
Today House Appropriations took up the budget bill SB 1 as sent over by the Senate and substituted House language. The House Committee Substitute of SB 1 appropriates $104.3 billion in General Revenue. The bill also taps $2.5 billion in the Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF), also known as the Rainy Day Fund (RDF). The committee unanimously voted out the bill and sent it to the full House for further deliberations.
The bill has been set on the House Calendar for Thursday, April 6. After the House votes out their budget bill, the House and Senate versions will go to conference where the differences will be worked on.
The House Appropriations Committee also unanimously voted out their Supplemental Appropriations bill HB 2 as substituted. An infographic on the supplemental bill is available.
Calendar & Committee Referral Spotlight
On 3/30 the Senate Committee on Administration will meet to certify bills for placement on the Senate Local and Uncontested Calendar to be held on April 3rd at 12:30 P.M.
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Budget Transparency & Reform had the following bills referred to it today: HB 18, HB 20, HB 579, HB 1467, HB 1695, HB 1851, HB 1885, HB 1943, HB 2233, HB 2686
Bills on the Move Spotlight
SB 490 (Lucio), relating to information regarding the number of school counselors in public school, was passed out of the Senate as substituted (29-2)
SB 1107 (Schwertner), relating to telemedicine and telehealth services, was unanimously passed out of the Senate as substituted.
SB 88 (Hall), relating to the use of photographic traffic signal enforcement systems, was passed out of the Senate as substituted with 3 floor amendments (25-6).
SB 13 (Huffman), which would prohibit certain payroll deductions for state and local government employee organizations, was passed in the Senate as substituted to third reading with one adopted amendment (20-11).
HB 486 (VanDeaver), relating to school district ad valorem tax rates, was unanimously voted favorably out of the House Committee on Ways and Means.
HB 2005 (Larson), relating to the duty of the Texas Water Development Board to conduct studies of and prepare and submit reports on aquifer storage and recovery, was unanimously voted favorably from the House Committee on Natural Resources.
House and Senate Chamber
Both the House & Senate will reconvene tomorrow at 10am and 11am, respectively.
To listen to either House or Senate deliberations: House | Senate
Upcoming Committee Hearings
The latest hearing 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.