Last Week in the Legislature
The Senate Starts, The House Waits
By Kenneth Besserman
Director of Government Affairs and Special Counsel
February 6, 2025 | Issue 4
AUSTIN - The third week of the 89th Session of the Texas Legislature began with Governor Greg Abbott announcing his emergency items in his State of the State speech thereby putting a number of legislative issues on the fast track to be formally considered and voted upon in the first 60 days of the session. Among the emergency items declared by Governor Abbott were school choice, bail reform, water infrastructure, property tax relief, teacher pay raise, creation of the Texas Cyber Command, and life-changing career training.
The week concluded with the Senate passing Senate Bill 2 – commonly known as school vouchers, educational savings accounts, or school choice – which will provide up to $10,000 per year per student to use for private schools. The school choice program has engendered much debate and division for a few sessions and special sessions. While the final scope and breadth of a school choice program is still uncertain – the House may change the program, limit its scope, and adopt some guardrails or limitations on the program – there is a very high probability that school choice will pass this session. The public-school community and public-school advocates have fought long and hard and the debate will continue in the House in the coming months. The Governor and Lt. Governor have supported increased funding for public schools and pay raises for teachers, so there will be a lot more discussion about public schools during the session.
Senate committees have been appointed, and a few committees have started to have organizational meetings – bringing state agencies before their respective committees for an update about operations and issues. Bill hearings in the Senate will likely start before the end of February.
While the Senate was debating and passing school choice, the House continues to organize under the new Speaker Dustin Burrows. House members have submitted their committee requests and the Speaker’s team is currently determining committee chairs and committee membership. With 150 House members, juggling committee membership among 35+ committees is a gargantuan task. While it might seem late in the legislative calendar for House committees to have not yet been formalized, it is customary for the House to wait until mid to late February to name committees.
The big news in the House this week was the continuing internecine battle among Republican House members that pits the 20+ upstarts and newcomers against the more traditional and established Republicans. The current standoff between the different factions centers around how quickly the House should organize themselves and start doing substantive work versus the traditional operations of the House. As is the case in almost every legislative session, the House will organize themselves in committees in due time and start hearing bills in March.
TXCPA’s legislation – SB 262 (Pathways) and SB 522 (Mobility) – have now both been referred to the Senate Business and Commerce Committee. TXCPA has been working closely with the bills’ author, Senator Charles Perry, and Senate B&C Chair Senator Charles Schwertner to get both bills set for a hearing quickly. We are hopeful for a bill hearing in the coming weeks, if not sooner. As TXCPA members walked the Capitol on January 28 as part of our 2025 Advocacy Day, we received a lot of great comments about our legislation. TXCPA continues to follow up with legislative offices and Senate/House leadership to ensure that our legislation is properly understood and is in good shape.
As we get close to committee hearings and floor debate, we will be reaching out to our Key Persons and all of our TXCPA members to engage with your Senator and Representative to ask for their support. Be on the lookout for communications in the coming weeks about how you can continue to make your voice heard on these important issues. Your voice is instrumental in our advocacy efforts.
Only 114 days until the end of session!