This week seemed like a game show wherein the focus was less about winning than it was about making a point… and winning. The House and Senate took turns letting each other’s priority bills either die or get incredibly close. They then exchanged reassurances seemingly contingent on the other chamber’s conduct. The Conferees on the budget, SB1, announced that they reached a compromise, but removed an amendment that guaranteed the Legislature some oversight over the allocation of federal COVID-19 funds - an amendment which had unanimous support in the House. Gov. Greg Abbott followed the announcement by reassuring the Legislature that it will have a role in that process during a special session in the fall. But with just seven days left in the Regular Session, the tension between the two chambers is reaching critical mass, and any issues left unresolved during the final week could be deferred to an incredibly tense, fast-paced special session.

This week was an important deadline week, as evidenced by the long hours and contentious scramble to finalize legislation and get it to the Governor. Thursday was the last day for the House to consider second-reading HBs and HJRs on the daily or supplemental calendars. Friday was the last day for the House to consider ALL third reading HBs and HJRs on the supplemental calendar, and second- and third-reading consent HBs on the local & consent calendar. Next Saturday will be the last day for House Committees to report SBs and SJRs, and many of the Senate deadlines will take place during the final week of May…

With just 21 days left of the 87th Legislative Session, collective fatigue and the race to the finish line are creating their usual confusion. Some committees have restricted their upcoming meetings to referred or pending business, and others are working through only two or three bills. Monday, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Glenn Hegar issued a revised Biennial Revenue Estimate (BRE), projecting significantly more positive estimates for 2020-21 and 2022-23 ending balances ($113.88 B and $115.65 B, respectively) as well as the Economic Stabilization Fund’s 2022-23 ending balance ($12.12 B). Though uncertainty remains, Comptroller Hegar said Texas is well-positioned to recover from COVID-19 and its accompanying economic crisis. Though we’ve heard no updates from the Conference Committee for SB1, a little extra change can’t hurt, given the relative symbiosis with which they entered deliberations…

The Conference Committee for the House and Senate committee substitutes to Senate Bill 1 convened this week to hear a brief overview from the Legislative Budget Board on the differences in the two bills before recessing to get to work…

The highlight of this week was the full House marking up the biennial budget - House Committee Substitute to SB 1. There were 240 amendments filed ahead of the hearing. Those withdrawn or rejected included an attempt to expand the state’s Medicaid program, and an amendment to prohibit the Attorney General from using taxpayer dollars to contest election results in other states. Those adopted included an amendment requiring the Legislature to meet in a special session to appropriate incoming federal funds, an amendment prohibiting the use of state dollars on school vouchers, and an amendment liquidating the Texas Enterprise Fund and moving those dollars to the property tax relief fund. At this point, both chambers’ substitutes will go to a Conference Committee to work out the differences between the bills…

The Senate’s Committee Substitute to SB 1 was passed out of the House Appropriations Committee on Monday and the House has since released its substitute. While more compromises will be made moving forward, HAC Chair Rep. Greg Bonnen indicated that the bill will likely be taken up by the full House on April 22nd. An important spending item to watch will be Medicaid, as in a surprise development, the Biden administration on Friday rescinded approval for the roughly $100B 1115 Medicaid Waiver. Texas budget-writers will have to consider the implications to health and human services programs under the waiver for the 2022-23 biennium…

As part of an ongoing discussion regarding state administration of federal relief funds, Rep. Greg Bonnen’s CSHB 2021 was debated at length in House Appropriations on Thursday, which creates a Board of Administration of Federal Funds to advise the Governor when the Legislature is not in session. The board would consist of 10 members, including House and Senate presiding officers, the Chairs and Vice Chairs of each chamber’s budget committee, and an additional two members from each chamber. The debate centers on the constitutionality and efficacy of this particular mechanism, as opposed to other collaborative solutions…

Both the House and Senate advanced legislative responses to Winter Storm Uri this week, with the Senate’s SB3, and a six-bill package in the House: HB10, HB11, HB12, HB13, HB16, and HB17. The cumulative total of the legislation from both chambers would provide for a new energy alert system, prohibit variable-rate plans, mandate weatherization, require Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) Board members to be based in Texas, create a Texas Energy Reliability Council to assist in fuel delivery during disasters, require mapping of the energy supply system, and more…

Legislative focus shifted this week to the other priorities enumerated in Governor Greg Abbott’s list of emergency items. Logistical scuffles resulted in the delay of House Bill 6 and Senate Bill 7, two controversial elections bills filed in accordance with Gov. Abbott’s emergency item regarding “elections integrity.” Monday, Democrats pushed back against SB 7 by “tagging” the bill, meaning they delayed the hearing for 48 hours. However, the bill has since passed out of the Senate State Affairs Committee and is headed to the full Senate…

Following last week’s testimony from then-Public Utility Commission (PUC) Chair Arthur D’Andrea that any action to retroactively change the price of wholesale electricity must come from the Legislature, the Texas State Senate filed and passed SB 2142 within a day. As introduced, the bill would reset electricity prices to pre-storm market levels for the period beginning 11:55 p.m. on February 17th and ending 9 a.m. on February 19th. SB 2142 has been sent to the House and referred to the Committee on State Affairs, but no companion legislation has been filed…

Following Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to lift the statewide mask mandate, the State Preservation Board (SPB) this week amended the Capitol guidelines for visitors to say that masks are “strongly encouraged” rather than “required.” This recommendation applies to public areas of the building; visitors must adhere to House and Senate COVID-19 rules when in the chambers. Neither the House nor the Senate have taken any official steps towards revising their rules, so previously established COVID-19 restrictions still stand…

Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order rescinding his statewide mask mandate and permitting all businesses and facilities to open at 100% capacity. The Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the House have both issued statements in support of the order. Speaker Dade Phelan also indicated that COVID-19 rules may be relaxed in the Texas House, pending a vote of the full body. It is unclear exactly what this will mean for legislative activities, as we have not yet seen updated Capitol guidelines from the State Preservation Board, nor can we be certain of the outcome should the House and Senate hold votes to revise the rules…

The chaos caused by Texas’ winter storm didn’t die down this week so much as it shifted its focus and expanded its reach. Legislative activity resumed and intensified in the midst of the ongoing fallout of Texas’ winter storm, and committees of both the House and Senate held marathon meetings to determine root causes and assign accountability for the crisis. Legislators pressed for answers regarding what went wrong and who was at fault, but largely confronted the reality of systemwide failures and more than enough blame to go around…

This week was dominated by the severe weather that swept through Texas, nearly overwhelming the state’s energy grid. Millions of Texans went days without power and/or water and only Friday did the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) announce an end to the emergency blackouts. Water, however, continues to be an issue. Cities across Texas have warned of dangerously low water levels and millions of Texans have received boil water notices. The infrastructural aftermath of the storm will take weeks or more to sort through, and Gov. Greg Abbott has called on the state legislature to prioritize preventing similar catastrophes in the future this session…

Senate Finance Committee meetings commenced this week with updates from the Comptroller of Public Accounts (CPA) and the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) on the financial condition of the state…