Gavel To Gavel 87th Legislative Session: February 5, 2021
Governor Greg Abbott started our week with his virtual State of the State address, outlining five emergency items for legislators to prioritize this session: expanding broadband access, preventing cities from “defunding” police departments, changing Texas’ bail system, ensuring elections integrity, and protecting businesses from COVID-19-related lawsuits. This address was followed a few days later by his 2022-23 budget which included and built on his priorities in the State of the State, recommending that the Legislature increase the availability of teleservices, continue the progress made on school finance and property tax reform, and continue to attract jobs and capital investments to the state.
Thursday, House Speaker Dade Phelan released House Committee Assignments for the 87th Legislative Session. Some noteworthy changes were made to the leadership of certain powerful committees: Rep. Greg Bonnen (R) will replace Rep. Gio Capriglione (R) at the helm of House Appropriations; Rep. Briscoe Cain (R) now chairs the House Elections Committee, replacing Rep. Klick (R) who now chairs the Committee on Public Health; Rep. Harold Dutton (D) takes Rep. Dan Huberty’s (R) place as Chair of the Public Education Committee; the House Redistricting Committee, previously overseen by Rep. Phil King (R), will now be led by Rep. Todd Hunter (R); Rep. Four Price (R) has been relocated from his lead position on the Calendars Committee and replaced by Rep. Dustin Burrows (R); and Rep. Chris Paddie (R) now oversees the State Affairs Committee—previously chaired by the Speaker himself. No Committee meetings have been scheduled as of yet.
Also in the House, Governor Abbott has set February 23 as the special runoff election in House District 68. Republicans Craig Carter and David Spiller will face off to see who will replace former Representative (now-Senator) Drew Springer. Early voting will begin on February 16th.
In the Senate, remember that Senate Finance Committee meetings will kick off on Monday.
In better-than-usual federal economic news, the Congressional Budget Office has projected continued economic recovery and strengthening over the next five years even without another significant infusion of emergency aid, which the U.S. Congress appears on-track to pass.
The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) announced Friday that we can expect 401,750 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine for Week Nine of vaccine distribution. Those doses will be shipped to 358 providers in 135 counties across the state, including 85 hub providers. Additionally, AstraZeneca (UK) and Novavax (US) announced positive results from Phase III trials of their COVID-19 vaccines, and Johnson & Johnson (US) announced Thursday that it would be seeking an Emergency Use Authorization for its investigational single-dose Janssen COVID-19 vaccine candidate.