Gavel To Gavel 87th Legislative Session: January 29, 2021
Gov. Greg Abbott announced this week that he will give the 2021 “State of the State” address on Monday, February 1, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. CT. This address will include an update on Texas’ response to COVID-19, commendations of exceptional Texans, and the Governor’s priorities for the 87th Legislature—setting up the possibility of a handful of emergency items for the Legislature to consider immediately.
Senate Redistricting Committee hearings got underway this week, facing all the same challenges as the rest of the legislative process. Usually conducted during the interim and all throughout the state, these meetings will be held in Austin and the witnesses will testify via two-way videoconferencing. While Committee members were already flying blind without 2020 census data, this week delivered a further blow to their efforts when the U.S. Census Bureau announced that updated population estimates will likely not be available until the end of July. Though hardly a surprise, this does almost guarantee that the Legislature will have to reconvene for a special session.
House Speaker Dade Phelan indicated that we can look for House Committee Assignments next week, meaning that legislative deliberations over the House and Senate base budget bills can begin in earnest. It is expected that we will see Appropriations Committee meetings align with those of the Senate Finance Committee, which is scheduled to have its first hearing February 8th.
Also in the House, the five-man special election for House District 68 yielded a runoff between Republicans Craig Carter (18.07%) and David Spiller (43.88%). A date for the run-off has not yet been set. HD68 was formerly held by now-Sen. Drew Springer.
Over the weekend the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) announced that the state would receive 332,750 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine for the seventh week of vaccine distribution. Those doses were shipped to 212 providers across the state, including 82 large hub providers. The state is ordering 216,350 second doses for individuals that received their first dose a few weeks ago.