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Legislative Update

The House and Senate will reconvene tomorrow at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. respectively.

House Calendars & Senate Calendars

Video Broadcasts: House | Senate

April 22nd Budget Bill on House Floor

Thursday, April 22nd has been targeted as the date for SB 1, as substituted, (General Appropriations Act) to be deliberated on the House floor.

Deadlines

4/15 is the first day a senator may place up to five bills or resolutions on the Senate Notice of Intent Calendar.

Additional wind-down dates can be found at the following link.

Bills on the Move

HB 1603 (Huberty), which removes the expiration date on Individual Graduation Committees, was passed out of the House with 148 ayes and 0 nays on 4/13.

The House passed HB 1916 (Turner, Chris) on 4/13 with 99 ayes and 48 nays. HB 1916 applies the Texas Telemarketing Disclosure and Privacy Act to all calls made by state-licensed credit access businesses, preventing these businesses from contacting consumers on the no-call list.

SB 14 (Creighton) Relating to the regulation by a municipality or county of certain employment benefits and policies was passed out of the Senate as substituted with two adopted amendments on 4/13 with 19 ayes and 12 nays.

SB 23 (Huffman) Relating to an election to approve a reduction or reallocation of funding or resources for certain municipal or county law enforcement agencies was passed out of the Senate as substituted with two adopted amendments on 4/13 with 28 ayes and 2 nays.

CSSJR 45 & enabling legislation CSSB 1025 (Birdwell) relating to the authority of the legislature, governor, and certain political subdivisions with respect to disasters and emergencies was passed out of the Senate as amended on 4/13. The bill would require the Governor to convene a special session if emergencies and declared disasters last more than 30 days and grants the legislature the ability to act on these declarations.

Legislative Committee Spotlight 

Energy

HB 4378 (Paddie) Relating to the supply of power and the financial stability of the competitive wholesale and retail electricity markets was laid out on 4/8 in Senate State Affairs. The bill would require the PUC to adopt rules in response to price signals, procurement, moderate price volatility and ensure reliability of power supply. The bill was left pending in committee.

HB 4502 (Vasut) Relating to cost recovery for costs arising from the interconnection of certain electric generation facilities with the ERCOT transmission system was laid out on 4/8 in Senate State Affairs. The bill allows PUC to determine a “resonable allowance” for interconnection, the rest of which must be covered by the generator. The bill was left pending in committee.

Education

SB 706 (Lucio), the Sunset bill for the Teacher Retirement System, was passed out of Senate Finance unanimously on 4/12. Among other provisions, SB 706 creates an ombudsman for participants and directs TRS to develop a member outreach plan. Sen. Lucio laid out several amendments that are expected to be presented on the Senate floor, including incorporating SB 288, a grandfather provision for new return to work requirements, and a clarification that the ombudsman reports to the TRS board.

Health Care

HB 1445 (Oliverson) relating to the applicability of the sales and use tax to medical or dental billing services was brought up in lieu of SB 775 (Nichols) in Senate Finance and then voted out unanimously. The bill prevents reinstatement of a service tax on medical insurance. The bill will now move to the Senate floor for further deliberation.

Upcoming Senate Committee Meetings

Upcoming House Committee Meetings