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The House will reconvene on Thursday, April 1 at 10 A.M.

A House Calendar for Thursday is available.

The Senate Intent Calendar and Regular Order of Business can be found here.

Deadlines

Thursday, April 15th is the first day a senator may place up to five bills or resolutions on the Senate Notice of Intent Calendar.

Monday, May 10th is the last day for House committees to report House bills and House joint resolutions. Additional deadlines for action in May.

Budget

Senate Finance has passed their committee substitute budget bill unanimously out of committee and is anticipated to be heard on the Senate floor on April 6th.

House Appropriations concluded adopting budget decision documents on March 31. Cross function documents show funding from ESF was utilized.

Bills/Issues on the Move 

ERCOT Bills Pass House

The House took up ERCOT reform bills HB 10 (Paddie), HB 11 (Paddie), HB 12 (Raymond), HB 13 (Paddie), HB 16 (Hernandez), and HB 17 (Deshotel) upon third reading. All bills heard were passed out of the House and will now move over to the Senate for further deliberation.

  • HB 10 (Paddie), relating to the governing body of the independent organization certified to manage the ERCOT power region, would replace the five unappointed ERCOT board members with three appointed by the Governor, one from the Lieutenant governor, and one from the Speaker of the House. HB 10 passed the House unanimously with no amendments.
  • HB 11 (Paddie), relating to the extreme weather emergency preparedness of facilities for providing electric service shifts, establishes weatherization mandates for all utilities. Amendments were adopted, including a clarification that the bill would not apply to residential producers, provisions allowing the PUC to impose administrative penalties for failure to comply, audits on required utility emergency plans, and an ability for Transmission and Distribution Utilities to enter into agreements with commercial consumers to reduce load during peak usage. HB 11 passed the House unanimously with 11 amendments.
  • HB 12 (Raymond), relating to a study on a statewide disaster and extended power outage alert system and implementation of that system, establishes an official statewide alert system through TDEM. Five amendments were adopted including providing for warnings in Spanish and other languages as well as directions for TDEM to implement an emergency notification system while the statewide system under the bill is finalized. HB 12 passed the House unanimously.
  • HB 13 (Paddie), relating to the establishment of the Texas Energy Disaster Reliability Council, would expand TERC to include PUC, RRC, ERCOT, and TDEM. Four amendments adopted on the floor would add midstream gas as a gas provider under the bill, direct TERC to work to prevent gas outages in addition to electricity outages, add local government entities to consultation provisions, and make TERC subject to legislative information requests. HB 13 passed the House unanimously.
  • HB 16 (Hernandez), relating to a prohibition on the sale of wholesale indexed products by retail electric providers, passed the House 116 ayes to 31 nays with no amendments.
  • HB 17 (Deshotel), relating to a restriction on the regulation of utility services and infrastructure based on the energy source to be used or delivered, would prevent municipalities from specifying fuel types used in new developments. HB 17 passed the House with 116 ayes and 29 nays with no amendments.

 

Committee Spotlight Review of Bills in Committee

Bills highlighted below have complete reports on them linked in articles below. If you are a HillCo client but have not yet set up your website access, please visit HillCo Partners in order to access the content under “read more.”

Chapter 313 Agreements

HB 1502 (Deshotel) and HB 1556 (Murphy) both relating to the Texas Economic Development Act and extending Chapter 313 agreements, were heard in House Ways & Means on 3/29. HB 1502 aims to extend the agreements until 2032. HB 1556 aims to reform and update the agreements including tasking the Comptroller with the application process, removed Revenue Protection Payments and Supplemental Payments, and adds an economic penalty for companies. Both bills were left pending in committee.

Privacy Protection

SB 15 (Nichols) relating to the Texas Consumer Privacy Act was laid out in Senate Transportation on 3/31. The bill aims to prohibit the resale and disclosure of personal data from the databases for TxDOT, DMV and DPS and determine the “legitimate” use for such data. The bill was left pending in committee.

Disaster Legislation

SJR 45 (Birdwell et al.) and SB 1025 (Birdwell et al.) both relating to the authority of the legislature and governor with respect to a certain disaster or emergency declaration, were laid out in Senate State Affairs on 3/31. The bills mandate the Governor call a special session is a disaster or emergency declaration is to exceed 30 days. Additionally, the bills give the legislature the right to sue if such action is not taken. Both were voted out of committee with 5 ayes and 0 nays.

Virtual Education

HB 1468 (Bell) relating to curriculum and eligibility requirements for the provision of local remote learning to qualify for state funding and calculation of average daily attendance was taken up in House Public Education on 3/30. The bill was left pending.

 

Spotlight on Upcoming Hearings

For the latest updates on all legislative committee hearings, visit “Legislative News from Texas” frequently to confirm hearings since dates and times can and do change. Standing committee hearings held at the Capitol, live and archived, can be listened to at the following links: House | Senate

Upcoming Senate Committee Meetings

Upcoming House Committee Meetings