Legislative Update
The House and Senate will reconvene on Thursday, April 29, at 10 a.m. and 8 a.m. respectively.
Floor deliberations: House Calendars & Senate Calendars
Committee hearings: House & Senate
Video Broadcasts: House | Senate
Bills on the Move Spotlight
HB 570 (Paddie / Button / Harris / Burrows / Guillen / et al.) relating to small business recovery funds and insurance tax credits for certain investments in those funds; imposing a monetary penalty; authorizing fees passed to engrossment on 4/28 with one amendment. The amendment states the office shall approve up to $500 million of investment authority.
HB 1195 (Geren) relating to the franchise tax treatment of certain loans and grants made under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act passed through the Senate on 4/19 (31-0) with one clarifying amendment on which programs would be applicable to the forgiveness. The House concurred with the Senate amendment on 4/23. The bill was sent to the Governor on 4/27.
HB 1468 (Bell) relating to a local remote learning program offered by a public school was passed out of the House as amended on 4/28 (135-9). Two amendments adopted would add a sunset date for 2027 and an exemption for special purposes districts that operate virtual schools, of which there are two at Texas Tech University and the University of Texas. The bill will now move to the Senate for further deliberation.
CSHB 1525 (Huberty) relating to the public school finance system passed out of the House with 17 adopted amendments on 4/22 (142-4). The bill will now move to the Senate for further deliberation.
HB 1535 (Klick / Dean / Price / Oliverson / Howard / et al.) relating to the medical use of low-THC cannabis by patients with certain medical conditions and the establishment of compassionate-use institutional review boards passed to engrossment on 4/28 with one amendment. The amendment adds all forms of PTSD and chronic pain.
HB 2053 (Klick) creating a licensure and regulation system for genetic counselors was passed by the House on 4/20 with 112 ayes and 30 nays. The bill will now move to the Senate for further deliberation.
HB 2766 (Rogers / Morrison / Lambert / Ashby / Fierro / et al.) relating to the creation of a rural dual credit pilot program by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board passed by the House on 4/28 (136-6). The bill will now move to the Senate for further deliberation.
HB 3348 (Pacheco) easing restrictions and increasing the maximum number of baccalaureate degree programs a junior college can offer was passed by the House on 4/20 with 122 ayes and 24 nays. The bill will now move to the Senate for further deliberation.
HB 3376 /SB 1438 (Meyer / Burrows / Bonnen / Thierry) relating to the effect of a disaster on the calculation of certain tax rates and the procedure for adoption of a tax rate by a taxing unit passed to engrossment on 4/28 and laid on the table for its companion SB 1438. Three amendments were added to clarify the bill does not apply to schools, limits the timeline, and clarifies classification criteria. SB 1438 has passed as amended to engrossment in the House.
HB 3643 (King) relating to the creation of the Texas Commission on Virtual Education was passed by the House to engrossment on 4/28.
HB 3938 (Bell, Keith / Button / Bell, Cecil / Gates / Johnson, Jarvis) relating to the establishment of the industry-based certification advisory council and the transfer of certain duties to that advisory council passed through the House on 4/28 with no amendments (145-0). The bill will now move to the Senate for further deliberation.
CSSB 29 (Perry) relating to requiring public school students to compete in interscholastic athletic competitions based on biological sex passed out of the Senate on 4/15 (18-12). The bill passed with one amendment including what documents can be used to find such information and that UIL will establish implementation rules approved by the commissioner. The bill will now move to the House for further deliberation.
CSSB 207 (Schwertner) relating to recovery of medical or health care expenses in civil actions passed through the Senate on 4/20 (19-12) with one amendment. The amendment provides safe haven for providers, creates parameters, and provides an exemption from pre-trial discovery. The bill will move over to the House for further deliberation.
CSSB 334 (Johnson) relating to disclosure under the public information law of certain records of an appraisal district passed through the Senate on 4/20 (30-1) with no amendments. The bill will move over to the House for further deliberation.
CSSB 678 (Alvarado) relating to the creation of the small business disaster recovery loan program was passed by the Senate as amended on 4/28 with 24 ayes and 7 nays. The program would provide short-term emergency bridge loans for small businesses damaged by a disaster. The bill will move over to the House for further deliberation.
SB 721 (Schwertner) relating to the disclosure of appraisal reports in connection with the use of eminent domain authority passed out of the Senate on 4/20 (31-0) with no amendments. SB 723 (Schwertner) relating to certain requirements in connection with the acquisition of real property for public use by an entity with eminent domain authority passed out of the Senate on 4/20 (29-2) with no amendments. CSSB 726 (Schwertner) relating to establishing actual progress for the purposes of determining the right to repurchase real property from a condemning entity passed out of the Senate on 4/20 (27-4) with no amendments. All three bills will move on to the House for further deliberation. SB 721 & SB 726 were both voted out of House Committee on 4/28.
SB 1145 (Perry) relating to marketing and labeling requirements for certain food products, including imitation meat and egg food products passed out of the Senate on 4/15 (27-4) with two amendments. The amendments include qualifiers for terms and images to be used, provides DSHS with enforcement authority, and pushes the effective date to January 2022. The bill has moved over to the House and was referred on 4/28 to the House Committee on Public Health for further consideration.
CSHB 1585 (Lambert) relating to the operations and functions of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas was unanimously passed by the Senate on 4/28 as amended. The bill as amended creates an ombudsman position at TRS and incorporates SB 288 which establishes a three-strike policy for retirees returning to work and working more than the allowed number of hours. The bill will now move back to the House where they will concur on Senate amendments or continue deliberations to resolve differences.
CSSB 1827 (Huffman) creating the opioid abatement account to hold certain settlement funds from multi-state opioid lawsuits and outlining avenues for these funds was unanimously passed by the Senate as amended on 4/28. The Senate adopted an amendment by Senate Sponsor Joan Huffman seeking to address abatement fund distribution to hospital districts and adding health care professionals into the process. The bill will move over to the House for further deliberation.
Energy Legislation
CSHB 14 (Goldman) creating the Texas Electricity Supply Chain Security and Mapping Committee was passed by the House on 4/20 with 142 ayes and 3 nays.
CSHB 1520 (Paddie) allowing securitization of certain extraordinary costs incurred by gas utilities was passed by the House on 4/20 with 139 ayes and 5 nays. The bill as amended will allow certain utilities to issue bonds and permit deferral of costs on consumer bills over long periods of time.
CSSB 13 (Birdwell) related to state contracts with and investments in certain companies that boycott energy companies was passed out of the Senate on 4/15 (26-4). The bill passed with one amendment relating to limited provisions for contracting. The bill moved over to the House for deliberation. It was voted out of House State Affairs on 4/23 but recommitted to the committee on 4/26.
CSSB 1282 (Hancock) relating to cost recovery for costs arising from the interconnection of certain electric generation facilities with the ERCOT transmission system was passed out of the Senate on 4/15 with no amendments (19-11). The bill has now moved over to the House and been referred to the House Committee on State Affairs for further deliberation.
CSSB 1580 (Hancock) allowing electric cooperatives to use securitization to address extraordinary costs and expenses created by Winter Storm Uri was unanimously passed by the Senate on 4/28. The bill will move over to the House for further deliberation.