The House and Senate will reconvene on Tuesday, April 23 at 10am and 11am respectively.
Video Broadcasts: House | Senate
Budget
The House and Senate Conferees for HB 1 are scheduled to meet on Tuesday, April 23 at 10am for an organizational hearing.
HB 1 House Conferees Reps.: John Zerwas/Chair (R-Richmond), Greg Bonnen (R-Friendswood), Sarah Davis (R-West University Place), Oscar Longoria (D-Mission), Armando Walle (D-Houston).
HB 1 Senate Conferees Sens.: Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound), Joan Huffman (R-Houston), Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham), Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood), and Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville).
The House Conferees for SB 500 have also been appointed: John Zerwas (R – Richmond), Giovanni Capriglione (R – Southlake), Mary Gonzalez (D – Clint), Rick Miller (R – Sugar Land), and Toni Rose (D – Dallas). They will join: Sens.: Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound), Joan Huffman (R-Houston), Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham), Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood), and Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (D-McAllen).
Key Dates of Interest Coming Up
Monday, May 6 (119th Day) – The last day for House Committees to report HBs & HJRs
35 days until Sine Die – May End of Session Deadlines
Coming up on House Calendar
HB 2 (Burrows) the House version of the property tax bill is scheduled on the House Calendar for 4/24. The bill has been postponed twice to date.
HB 9 (Bonnen) relating to the contributions to and benefits under the Teacher Retirement System of Texas is on the 4/24 House Calendar.
HB 20/HJR 10 (Capriglione) relating to the allocation of certain constitutional transfers of money to the economic stabilization fund, the Texas legacy fund, and the state highway fund was set on the House Calendar for 04/23.
SB 12 (Huffman) relating to the contributions to and benefits under the Teacher Retirement System of Texas is set on the House Calendar for 4/25, it has been postponed once to date.
Coming up on Senate Calendar
The Senate Intent Calendar lists bills which could be considered, however; no bill or resolution will be considered on its first day on the Intent Calendar (without a vote for suspension of the rules). Bills do not have to be brought up in the same order as they are listed on the calendar and the Senate will routinely consider only a portion of the bills listed on the Intent Calendar.
Moving Out of First Chamber
Elections/Lobby/Ballot
SB 29 (Hall) relating to the use by a political subdivision of money for lobbying and certain other activities was passed out of the Senate on 4/17 with 18 ayes and 13 nays.
SB 462 (Campbell) relating to ballot propositions authorizing certain political subdivisions to issue debt obligations was passed out of the Senate on 4/16 as substituted with 24 ayes and 7 nays.
SB 1569 (Fallon) relating to the use of public money and resources by employees of an independent school district to distribute a communication that advocates for or opposes a political measure, candidate, or party; creating a criminal offense was passed out of the Senate on 4/17 as substituted and with two adopted amendments with 22 ayes and 9 nays.
Health Care
HB 1504 (Paddie) relating to the continuation and functions of the Texas Medical Board & authorizing a fee, was passed by the House on 4/17 as amended with 127 ayes and 7 nays.
HB 1589 (Ortega) relating to providing notification to certain pregnant women regarding their eligibility for coverage under Medicaid and the Healthy Texas Women program, was passed by the House on 4/17 with 144 ayes and 1 nay.
SB 1140 (Watson) relating to an independent medical review of certain determinations by the Health and Human Services Commission or a Medicaid managed care organization, was passed by the Senate on 4/17 as amended with 30 ayes and 1 nay.
SB 1264 (Hancock) relating to consumer protections against certain medical and health care billing by certain out-of-network providers; authorizing a fee was passed out of the Senate on 4/16.
SB 1530 (Hancock) relating to the applicability of mediation requirements for balance billing to certain health benefit plans was passed out of the Senate on 4/16.
SB 1207 (Perry) relating to the coordination of private health benefits with Medicaid benefits was passed out of the Senate on 4/17.
Mental Health
HB 10 (Thompson) relating to grants and programs for researching and treating behavioral health and psychiatric issues was passed out of the House with 114 ayes and 32 nays as amended.
HB 18 (Price) relating to consideration of the mental health of public school students in training requirements for certain school employees, curriculum requirements, counseling programs, educational programs was passed out of the House with two adopted amendments on 4/16 with 129 ayes and 14 nays.
HB 19 (Price) relating to mental health and substance use resources for certain school districts was passed out of the House on 4/16 with 127 ayes and 19 nays.
HB 1070 (Price) relating to the mental health first aid training program reporting requirement was passed out of the House on 4/16 with 139 ayes and 8 nays.
Pensions
SB 322 (Huffman) relating to the evaluation and reporting of investment practices and performance of certain public retirement systems was passed out of the Senate as substituted unanimously on 4/17.
Water Bills
HB 1052 (Larson) relating to the authority of the Texas Water Development Board to use the state participation account of the water development fund to provide financial assistance for the development of certain facilities was passed out of the House as substituted unanimously on 4/18.
HB 722 (Larson) relating to the development of brackish groundwater was passed out of the House as substituted unanimously on 4/18.
HB 726 (Larson) relating to the regulation of groundwater was passed out of the House as amended and substituted with on 4/16 with 127 ayes and 7 nays.
Environment
HB 2771 (Lozano) relating to the authority of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to issue permits for the discharge into water of this state of produced water, hydrostatic test water was passed out of the House on 4/17 with two adopted amendments. Lozano provided the adopted amendment which was a cleanup amendment. The other adopted amendment authored by Turner moves back the date to 2021 by which TCEQ is required to seek delegation authority. The bill was passed out of the House as amended and substituted on 4/17 with 94 ayes and 47 nays.
School Finance
SB 2 (Bettencourt) the property tax bill was passed out of the Senate with 18 ayes and 12 nays. The fiscal note on the bill points out the voter-approved tax rate from 8 percent to 2.5 percent for school districts would result in reduced tax revenues for school districts and increased costs to the state through the operation of the school funding formulas. The bill’s prescribed method for calculating the school district no-new-revenue tax rate (a key component in the rollback tax rate) requires corresponding amendments to the Education Code which are not identified in the bill. Consequently, the cost to school districts and to the state cannot be estimated. SB 2 has been sent over to the House and referred to House Ways and Means.
HB 3 (Huberty) the school finance bill passed out of the House was set to have a public hearing in Senate Education but it was removed from the 4/16 hearing and has yet to be re-set/posted.
SB 3 (Nelson) the Senate’s teacher and librarian pay bill was passed out of the Senate unanimously and was referred to the House Committee on House Public Education on March 28, the bill has not yet been set for a public hearing.
Misc
SB 2486 (Creighton) relating to the regulation by a political subdivision of terms of employment relating to scheduling practices was passed out of the Senate on 4/17 with 19 ayes and 12 nays as substituted and amended.
SB 2488 (Creighton) relating to the authority of a political subdivision to adopt or enforce certain regulations regarding whether a private employer may obtain or consider an employment applicant’s or employee’s criminal history record information was passed out of the Senate on 4/17 with 19 ayes and 12 nays.
SB 645 (Birdwell) relating to restrictions on holders of package store permits was passed out of the Senate on 4/17 with 27 ayes and 4 nays.
