Gavel To Gavel 87th Legislative Session: February 19, 2021
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.
House Speaker Phelan called for a joint meeting of the Committees on State Affairs and Energy Resources to consider the factors that led to the statewide electrical blackouts. That meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, February 25. Senator Joan Huffman, Chairwoman of the Senate Jurisprudence Committee, also announced that the Committee will gather to investigate the legal responsibilities of ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission (PUC) of Texas. Sen. Kelly Hancock has also called a meeting of his Senate Business and Commerce Committee on February 25th. Additionally, Gov. Abbott provided an update Thursday wherein he announced that he will be requesting a Major Disaster Declaration from the White House and that he has added the mandatory winterization of Texas’ power system and the requisite funding to his list of Emergency Items for this session. President Joe Biden has since said that he will be signing the disaster declaration and will visit Texas soon.
Reacting to the extreme weather conditions and responding to the suffering of millions of Texans is rightly the top priority of state government at the moment. However, the crisis has also dramatically affected the ability of the Legislature to conduct the public’s business in the near term. The session is only twenty weeks long, and this week was essentially lost, as members and staff grappled with the crisis. To date, no bills have been referred to committee and no bill hearings are scheduled, which is considerably behind the typical timeline. Between COVID-19 and the weather disaster, not to mention the budget shortfall, the ability for the Legislature to conduct meaningful business is markedly compromised. Securing the passage of legislation – a daunting exercise under the best of circumstances – may prove to be beyond the feasibility of lawmakers for all but the most critical bills.
The Texas Legislative Council has extended the submission deadline for language drafting requests. Executive Director Jeff Archer asked that legislators submit their requests by 6:00 P.M. on Wednesday, February 24.
In other news, the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee Greg Bonnen released Appropriations Subcommittee Assignments for the 87th Legislative Session. Remember also that the special election in House District 68 is on Tuesday, February 23. It is unclear whether the Governor will reschedule given that the early voting period was enveloped by the blackouts.
The COVID-19 vaccination process has been severely impacted by the storm, and last week’s planned vaccine distribution to Texas was postponed due to the weather. The Department of State Health Services (DSHS) has announced that the state will receive 591,920 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine for the week of Feb. 22, to be distributed to 563 providers in 230 counties across Texas.