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Committee Spotlight:
The House Committee Schedule is now available. Both House Appropriations and Senate Finance are continuing to work through the appropriations process. The Legislative Budget Board has posted the following documents for this stage of the process:

On February 24 the Senate Committee on Natural Resources & Economic Development met to hear bills related to the Major Events Trust Fund.  The committee reported two bills favorably to the full Senate that would allow NASCAR events at Texas Motor Speedway to receive METF funding and that would allow presidential general election debates to receive METF funding.

On February 23 the House Human Services Committee heard testimony from the Sunset Advisory Commission regarding recommendations from the Health and Human Services Enterprise Sunset review. The committee also heard testimony from HHSC Executive Commissioner Kyle Janek. Janek discussed contracting issues at HHSC as well as a general update on entitlement programs administered by the agency.

Contracting discussions – The House Committee on Government Transparency & Operation on Feb. 25 met and heard an overview of Deliverables-Based Information Technology Services contracts from the Legislative Budget Board and other agencies. Handouts from the DIR included recommendations for improving cooperative contracts. The House Transportation delved into contracts and contracting method during testimony on toll roads on February 26, 2015.

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.

Senate Finance next week will take up certain Property Tax bills on Monday, March 2; Franchise Tax Bills on Tuesday, March 3; and hear public testimony on those bills during their Wednesday, March 4 hearing.
 
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.

Spotlight of Bills on the Move
SB 5/SJR 5 – Nichols, Robert(R) – Relating to the allocation of certain motor vehicle sales tax revenue to the state highway fund and to the uses of that revenue and enabling legislation. Voted favorably from Senate committee as substituted and will move to calendars.

SB 133 –  Schwertner, Charles(R) –  Relating to mental health first aid training for school district employees and school resource officers. Voted favorably from committee as substituted and will move to calendars.

SB 293 – Nelson, Jane(R) – Relating to a clarification of the law governing eligibility of National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing events for funding under the Major Events trust fund. Voted favorably from committee as substituted and will move to calendars.

SB 541 – Taylor, Van (F)(R) – Relating to the eligibility of presidential general election debates for distributions from a Major Events trust fund. Reported favorably from committee and will move to calendars.

SB 318 – Hinojosa, Chuy(D) – Relating to the amount the Texas Military Preparedness Commission may grant to local governmental entities for certain purposes. Voted favorably from committee and will move to calendars. 

SB 424 – Schwertner, Charles(R)   – Relating to the licensing and regulation of hospitals in this state. Voted favorably from committee as substituted and will move to calendars.

Both the Senate and House will reconvene at 2:00 p.m., Monday, March 2.
Live broadcasts of the Senate and House can be listened to at the following links:  House | Senate.

Approaching deadlines: Friday, March 13, 2015 (60th day of the 84th Session) – Deadline for filing bills and joint resolutions other than local bills, emergency appropriations, and bills that have been declared an emergency by the governor.