On Tuesday, April 28 the House will hear tax bills HB 31 and HB 32 authored by Rep. Bonnen. Pre-filed amendments must be submitted by April 27 at 10am.
The Conference Committee on HB 1 will begin meeting on April 28 to work out the differences between the Senate and the House version.
In the special runoff for HD 124 (Bexar County) Ina Minjarez defeated Delicia Herrera 55%-45% – a total of 2,439 votes were cast (2.8% turnout), Minjarez will fill the vacant seat left by José Menéndez when he took his Senate seat.
The House has adjourned until Monday, April 27 at 10:00 a.m. House Calendar
The Senate has adjourned until Monday, April 27 at 2:00 p.m. Senate Calendar
Video Broadcasts: House | Senate
Bills on the Move
HB 4 (Huberty) relating to a high quality prekindergarten program provided by public school districts was referred on April 23 to the Senate Committee on Education.
HB 280 (Simmons) relating to the information required to be posted by the Texas Water Development Board on the board's Internet website regarding the use of the state water implementation fund for Texas. Passed on the House Local Calendar on April 23 and will now move to the Senate for further consideration.
HB 1759 (Aycock) the public school finance bill was voted favorably as substituted from House Public Education on April 21 and will now move to House calendars.
HB 2510 (Price) the Department of State Health Services Sunset bill had a point of order called on it on that caused the bill to go back to the House Human Services Committee before going back to the House floor.
SB 4 (Taylor) relating to school choice programs for certain students eligible to attend public school was passed out of the Senate on April 21 with 18 ayes and 12 nays and will now move to the House side for further consideration.
SB 149 (Seliger) relating to the creation of individual graduation committees for certain high school students was passed out of the House as amended on April 22 with 125 ayes and 9 nays. It will now move back to the Senate where they can adopt the changes or move not to confer and go to conference committee to work out the differences.
SB 526 (Birdwell) relating to restrictions on holders of package store permits was passed out of the Senate with 24 ayes and 5 nays on April 22 and will now move to the House for further consideration.
Health Care Hearings
The Senate Health & Human Services Committee held a hearing on April 22. The committee discussed a bill that would extend authorization for home telemonitoring services in the Medicaid program, as well as a bill that would extend Medicaid program agreements from SB 7 (83R).
The House Public Health Committee held a hearing on April 21. Among legislation discussed were bills that would allow for the expunction of records of disciplinary action for health care professionals, allow for physician initiated emergency detention of certain individuals with mental illness, and that would give additional representation for rural hospitals in the Perinatal Advisory Council which develops neonatal intensive care unit level of care designations.
Upcoming Hearings
House and Senate Committee hearing will continue next week, the latest 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.
The standing committee hearings as well as floor discussions, live and archived, can be listened to at the following links: House | Senate. Please note that formal hearings may not be broadcasted.