House Floor
Education
HB 3 (Burrows) Relating to the development of, implementation of, and funding for public school safety and security requirements. The bill was passed out of the House on 4/25 (119-25) with 13 amendments. Amendments include changing the “conservator” section to “an agency monitor,” ensuring peace officers do not have an expanded presence/authority, increasing the school safety allotment from $10 to $100, and amendments related to eligibility/training, among others. The bill will now move to the Senate for further discussion.
HB 13 (K. King) Relating to training, preparedness, and funding for school safety and emergencies in public schools. The bill was passed out of the House on 4/25 (125-21) with 1o amendments. Amendments include a cap for the fund of $500m, training requirements, and ensures peace officers do not have an expanded presence/authority, among others. The bill will now move to the Senate for further discussion.
HB 11 (Dutton) Relating to the rights and certification of public school educators, including financial and other assistance provided to public schools by the Texas Education Agency related to public school educators, methods of reading instruction in public schools, certain allotments providing for compensation for certain public school teachers under the Foundation School Program, and rules adopted by the State Board for Educator Certification. The bill was passed out of the House on 4/27 (145-3). Six floor amendments were adopted onto the bill, including allowing ISDs to remove caps on the mentoring program, codifying intent to provide Pre-K funding under the Early Education Allotment, and modifying exception timelines for bilingual education. The bill will now move to the Senate for further discussion.
HB 100 (King, Ken) Relating to the compensation of public school educators and to the public school finance system, including enrollment-based funding for certain allotments under the Foundation School Program. HB 100 was passed out of the House on 4/27 (140-3). The bill provides for basic allotment increases and inflation adjustments starting in 2026 with 50% of the overall increase designated for teacher salaries. 14 amendments adopted on the House floor included removing the sunset date from the CPI, amendments providing for cameras in special education classrooms, SHACs at charter schools, and establishing a credit for prepayment of attendance credits. HB 100 will now move to the Senate for further discussion.
HB 1707 (Klick) Relating to the applicability of certain laws to open-enrollment charter schools. HB 1707 was passed out of the House on 4/28 (101-45). Six amendments were adopted on the floor that would match disclosure provisions to ISDs, prohibit financial benefit to governing body of charter for real estate transactions with the charter, aligning responsibilities with ISDs, and allowing for property agreements with municipalities to revert to prior use after property is no longer used for school purposes. HB 1707 will not move to the Senate for further discussion.
Health Care
HB 2727 (Price) Relating to the provision of home telemonitoring services under Medicaid. HB 2727 would add kidney disease and high-risk pregnancy to home telemonitoring services and was passed out of the House on 4/27 (138-11). One floor amendment added the phrase “cost effective” back into the bill after it was removed in committee. The bill will now move to the Senate for further discussion
HB 2337 (Oliverson) Relating to the provision of certain intensive outpatient services and partial hospitalization services under Medicaid. The bill would establish step down care for behavioral health services and was passed out of the House on 4/28 (124-23). The bill will now move to the Senate for further discussion.
HB 3359 (Bonnen) Relating to network adequacy standards and other requirements for preferred provider benefit plans. The bill establishes more specific standards for network adequacy and limits the number of times waivers may be issued. One floor amendment clarified that waivers may be granted by TDI if there are no uncontracted positions in the service area and amends applicability to capture contracts without termination dates. HB 3359 was finally passed in the House on 4/28 unanimously. The bill will now move to the Senate for further discussion.
Environment & Energy
HB 1158 (Darby) Relating to advanced clean energy projects and certain other projects that reduce or eliminate emissions of carbon dioxide or other pollutants. The bill passed out of the House on 4/27 (118-27). The bill would clarify provisions for hydrogen and carbon capture under TERP, with amendments on the floor making conforming changes for petroleum coke and cement plants and restoring language originally included on length and efficacy of carbon sequestration. The bill will now move to the Senate for further discussion
HB 2669 (Geren) Relating to the deadline for approving a certificate of public convenience and necessity for certain transmission projects. The bill would shorten approval timelines to half a year and was passed out of the House on 4/28 unanimously. HB 2669 will now move to the Senate for further discussion.
HB 4885 (Landgraf) Relating to programs established and funded under the Texas emissions reduction plan. HB 4885 updates the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan to account for new technologies and was finally passed in the House on 4/28 (108-37). Amendments on the floor clarifies provisions related to transmission, added refining, increased number of vehicles that could receive a credit, and increased the current contract with the Energy System Laboratory. The bill will now move to the Senate for further discussion.
Other
HB 3053 (Dean) Relating to the municipal disannexation of certain areas annexed during a certain period of time. HB 3053 was passed out of the House on 4/26 (95-46). Two floor amendments were adopted on the House floor which limited the bill to municipalities with a population of 500,000 or more and exempted areas with federal military installations. The bill will now move to the Senate for further discussion.
HB 9 (Ashby) Relating to the development and funding of broadband and telecommunications services; providing for transfers of money for funding. HB 9 was passed out of the House on 4/27 (140-8) and would create the broadband infrastructure fund. One floor amendment was adopted that would add a focus on expanding broadband service in economically distressed areas. The bill will now move to the Senate for further discussion
Senate Floor
Education
SB 2059 (Hinojosa) Relating to grant programs established to support nursing education and training. The bill passed out of the Senate on 4/26 (29-2) with no amendments. The bill will now move to the House for further discussion.
SB 2565 (Creighton) Relating to instructional material and technology, the adoption of essential knowledge and skills for certain public school foundation curriculum subjects, and creating allotments for the procurement of certain instructional materials under the Foundation School Program; authorizing a fee. The bill passed out of the Senate (22-8) on 4/25 with 5 amendments. The amendments include banning methods of instruction related to sounding out words in teacher prep programs/phonics curriculum, allows teachers to tailor lesson plans to their classroom, requiring instructional reviews, parents to retain all access to instructional materials, TEA need to consult with SBOE concerning the material review, and changes method of finance as treated as state aid and placed directly into school’s instructional material account, among others. The bill will now move on to the House for further consideration.
Health Care
SB 1534 (Schwertner) Relating to restrictions on covenants not to compete for physicians and certain other health care practitioners. The bill passed out of the Senate (27-4) on 4/26 with one amendment which extends the geographic restriction for rural areas to 10 miles and the noncompete clause is void if an employee was terminated without cause. The bill will now move to the House for further discussion.
SB 2173 (Alvarado) Relating to a pilot program for the safe disposal of prescription drugs, including controlled substance prescription drugs. The bill passed out of the Senate (31-0) on 4/26 with one amendment which sets the chapter to expire on its second anniversary when funds have been expended. The bill will now move to the House for further discussion.
Environment & Energy
SB 813 (Miles) Relating to providing notice to a state representative and senator of certain administrative actions of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The bill passed out of the Senate (30-1) on 4/26 with one amendment which adds an opt-in provision for representatives/senators who want to receive the notification. The bill will now move to the House for further discussion.
SB 624 (Kolkhorst) Relating to the permitting of renewable energy generation facilities by the Public Utility Commission of Texas. The bill was finally passed in the Senate on 4/24 (21-9). SB 624 establishes PUC and RRC oversight for permitting and decommissioning of renewable resources. Amendments adopted on the floor exempted solar installations within the city limits of home rule cities and required a 3,000 foot setback from the property line for windmills that could be waived in negotiations between property owners. SB 624 will now move to the House for further discussion.
Other
SB 147 (Kolkhorst) Relating to the purchase of or acquisition of title to real property by certain aliens or foreign entities. The bill passed out of the Senate (18-12) on 4/26 with 3 amendments which restrict the requirements in the bill to the purchase of agriculture land, timber, oil/gas, and rare minerals and changes AG’s investigations to be based on reasonable suspicion.
SB 2038 (Bettencourt) Relating to release of an area from a municipality’s extraterritorial jurisdiction by petition or election. The bill was passed out of the Senate (20-11) on 4/27 with one amendment which makes exceptions for active military bases, industrial districts, and if an election fails, cannot hold another, among others. The bill will move to the House for further discussion.