The Senate took up its version of the budget bill this past Tuesday March 25^th.  It passed without opposition. The House version is several weeks behind.  The mechanics of this process are the Senate will send their version of the bill over to the House, the House will replace it with the House version, pass it and send it back to the Senate.  The Senate will not accept the House version and call for a conference committee and that is when the real work will begin.  They will spend a good portion of the month of April hashing out the details before a final compromise version is put before the membership of both bodies.  Keep in mind the ONLY bill that is required to pass during the legislative session is the budget. 

This past March 14^th (midnight) was the bill filing deadline.  From this point forward only local bills or bills with unanimous consent can be introduced.  It looks like a total of around 8,700 bills and resolutions  were introduced.  You may recall that at the beginning of this session I reported that about 15% actually get signed by the Governor or allowed to become law without his signature.  We will see if that trend continues this session. The ultimate success of any particular bill may very well depend on who votes in favor of vouchers.

While the Senate has had a floor calendar along with a variety of Senate bills already passed, the House has yet to have a real calendar.  This discrepancy between the Senate and the House processes is normal for this time of year.  The House takes longer to get organized, longer to pass a bill out of committee and longer to get through the process and get it to the floor.  While the Senate does not have a “calendar” committee (the Lt. Governor determines the calendar) the House has an extra step.  Once a bill has been voted out of the committee to which it was referred, it must go to the Calendars committee which sets the final schedule for the floor.  At that point the bills are taken in the order in which they appear on the calendar and are considered and either passed and/or amended and passed on second and third reading or not.  If they fail passage that is the end of that particular bill.  Although, it is not unusual to see the language once again as an amendment on another bill.  If it is a House bill it then goes to the Senate and the process begins again.  If it is a Senate bill and it us unchanged in the House it can go straight to the Governor for his consideration.  If it is amended, it returns to the Senate to consider the House changes.  If the Senate agrees to the House changes it goes to the Governor, if the Senate does not agree to House changes they can request a conference committee to work out the differences.  Once the conference committee comes to an agreement it then goes back to both Houses for final approval (or not) and if it is approved then it goes to the Governor for his consideration.

It sounds complicated (and it is) but the system ensures that we are not flooded with new laws every 2 years.  As a taxpayer that is probably a good thing.

On March 4^th, Texas Desal hosted our 2^nd TXD Legislative Workshop in Austin, at the Austin Club. (Same site as last session).  We needed a bigger room.  Interest in desalination and its future has become “a thing”.  We had an excellent lineup of presentations including House Natural Resources Chairman Cody Harris and Andrew Parks, Senator Perry’s Committee director.  While the accommodations were a little cramped, I think everyone walked away feeling good about the increased interest in desalination and better informed as to the water availability (or lack thereof) in Texas and potential solutions on the horizon.  

The 2 main water bills this session, SB 7 and HB 16, have been filed and referred.  The SB has already been heard and voted out of committee.  The bills are different so lots of wrangling to go but the level of interest and focus by the members in both chambers bodes well for the ultimate success of new water focused legislation.  We will continue to monitor the progress of both bills. 

The Texas Desalination Association has testified (TXD president Bill Norris) on both bills and will continue to participate at the committee level as these bills move through the process.

As always there are several bills that your association monitors throughout the legislative session.  We will keep our members informed as to the intent of these proposed bills and how they might impact our future water needs and the state of Texas as a whole.  Water is a focus this legislative session, we will take advantage while the iron is hot.

So, the session will finally get going.  It has been going, it will now really get going.  The jigsaw puzzle that is naming the House committees is always a thing, it is even more of a thing when you have a new Speaker and 52 (count ‘em) 52 House members vote against the winner.  The Speaker and his team addressed that unique situation in an interesting way, reaching across the divide by giving important positions (read chairs) to some of those who voted against him, employing veteran legislators in key areas and doling out workhorse committee spots to some of his more vocal opponents.

The Speaker also seems to have established a potentially effective floor leadership group that will make itself felt as the session progresses.  For those of us who appreciate stability and predictability these actions have been well received.  Having an idea about what to expect is always a good thing.  It does not mean you always get what you want but maybe we will get what we need (paraphrasing Mick a bit).

With the naming of committees, bill referrals and hearings in the House will soon begin.  We can also expect the bill filing pace to pick up, even though we are already at around 4,600 bills filed (House and Senate) as of Friday, Nov. 21^st.  When talking to staff, rumor is there are probably still around 7K bills yet to be filed.  Filing deadline is Friday, March 14^th so plenty of time for many more important pieces of legislation to drop.  I do remember when 3,500 bills were considered a “busy” session.  Oh for days long past…

The Senate is going full blast working to pass the Lt. Governor’s priority bills, several of which have already been heard in committee and passed on the Senate floor, including the Education Savings Acct. (Vouchers) an increase in the Homestead exemption ($140K) and bail reform.  It is probably safe to say that the House version of these bills will look somewhat to completely different so stay tuned.  As an aside, the Senate has always organized itself at the beginning of the session, more quickly than the House, so this pace is not completely unheard of.    

An issue that seems of universal interest this session is water.  This is not a new problem, certainly our ag producers in the high plains understand the increasing scarcity and expense of water.  The Ogallala aquifer, from which much of the water utilized on the high plains for all agriculture is pumped, is slow to recharge, and continuous and expanded use over the last 100 years have lowered the water table to the point that in some cases the water can be too expensive to withdraw.      

We have already seen how lack of water impacts the local agriculture economy.  I can remember when citrus was a massively important crop in south Texas.  The so called “winter garden” of Texas.  Citrus plays a much smaller role in the south Texas economy than it once did.  Water scarcity is part of the reason.  Another example was the closing of our last sugar cane processing plant in south Texas.  Unable to acquire the necessary irrigation water meant that sugar cane was no longer a viable crop.  Our farmers stopped growing the crop and the need for the processing plant went away. 

The need to address our lack of water and the ever-increasing population needing that water seems to have finally bubbled to the surface and become of importance to more than just a handful of legislators.  A long time coming.

An interesting addition to the water equation this session will be the on-going work of the Produced Water Consortium.  Capturing this fracking byproduct and making something useful could be truly impactful.  Seeing the increasing number of stories regarding earthquakes and polluted water being forcefully ejected from abandoned wells should make all of us take note.  Taking this polluted water, cleaning it and using it to irrigate suitable crops may offer a solution where the current practice is no longer practical.

Another “headline” issue is the whole “voucher” question which may be resolved this session.  Even though the Senate has passed a pretty straightforward Education Savings Account (ESA) bill, expect the House version to be a bit more nuanced and connected to significantly increased public education funding.  Hashing out those differences will not be straight forward or easy, expect that discussion to continue throughout the remainder of the session.  The Texas Desalination Association is hosting our Legislative session workshop on March 4^th.  The agenda is set and looks to have something of interest for everyone.  If you have not already registered to attend take a moment to do so.  Space is limited, the presentations will be impactful.  I hope to see you there.

Last session approximately 8,530 bills and resolutions were filed during the course of the session.  Of those, the number of bills that actually got to the Governor’s desk was 1,357 that he either signed or allowed to become law without his signature or right at 16%. 

So far this session around 2,400 bills have been pre-filed as of 1/6/24.  The final day to file bills during the legislative session is March 14^th, so there is plenty of time to exceed last year’s total.  The subject matter of the bills so far is fairly random, although the majority fall into several predictable categories:

Healthcare related……568

Education/Teachers….375

Courts/Civil matters…259

Taxation……………………..216

Insurance…………………..108

These numbers are not a complete surprise, heath care and education are the 2 largest budget items for our state.  The taxation number (which includes property tax bills) is lower than I would have thought, but there is plenty of time for that number to increase. 

These numbers show that successfully passing a bill and getting it to the Governor’s desk is extremely rare.  This session may prove to be even more challenging than usual. 

The Speaker’s race.

Much has occurred since last we checked in on the ever-changing race for Texas Speaker of the House.  And in this season of giving, like a good “sock of the month club,” for those of us who enjoy speculating, this race is the gift that keeps on giving.

First, we have the current Speaker, who, after a difficult nail biter of a primary and relatively quiet through most of the summer, decides to withdraw from the race as head of the Texas House of Representatives.  He withdraws, one would assume because he no longer had the votes.  The “whys” of his withdrawal are a mystery but there are some clues if one looks.

This withdrawal comes after raising considerable amounts of money from supporters and the lobby industry.  I wonder if anyone will see any of those funds returned, given as it were to someone who was and intended to be the Speaker.  We can reserve judgement and give the former Speaker the benefit of the doubt on that and see what happens. 

Representative Cook of Mansfield, a relative newcomer to this process, after just being elected to his 3rd term is finding out just how fickle members of the legislature can be.  While he enjoys the support of a significant number of Republican House members, enough to apparently announce support of the caucus as a whole, but not enough to finish the race successfully, at least not right now. 

There are those pesky folks who just won’t go along with what appears to be a slight majority. 

Ah democracy, go figure.

Now we have a newcomer to the game, but only in the sense that he just recently filed paperwork to run for Speaker.  Chairman Burrows is a multi-term member from Lubbock who has most recently been chairman of the Calendars committee.  Clearly a member who understands the power maze through which the Texas House travels.  Apparently (according to outside and inside reports) after several votes of the Republican caucus and its inability to reach a successful consensus a significant number of its members walked out of the caucus meeting and decided to contact some of those on the other side of the aisle. This being the Christmas season and the time of miracles, a list is produced containing 76 names (you will remember that is the magic number) supporting that very same current Calendars committee chair, Chairman Dustin Burrows of Lubbock.  A press release is produced a press conference convened, and a proclamation is put forth, “the race is over, it’s time to work together, etc.” 

For about 30 seconds.

Representative Cook (remember him?) also put out a list, while somewhat shorter than the 76 needed, represents a majority of the Republican caucus (just barely).  And shockingly, there were some names on both lists.  I will leave you to decide the significance of that if any.

Well, this does represent a bit of a pickle.  There are still lots of members whose name do not appear on any list.  In the past, you either wanted to be one of the first 10 of the winning side or number 71-76. 

Those are the keys slots.  You have to have critical mass to begin a Speaker’s race and then the last few to put you over the top.  No one wants to be #83 or #102 those were pretty meaningless slots.  But now there seems to be uncertainty in those final spots for Chairman Burrows, much phone calling and promising going on as we speak, I suspect.

The vote for Speaker takes place on the first day of the legislative session, January 14^th at noon or soon thereafter.  That means for the next 8 days, those Republicans who committed to Chairman Burrows can count on being harassed by the local true believers as to why they are not following in lockstep with the Republican party leadership.  What was once a truly personal vote by a sitting member has now become fodder for local party leadership to make primary hay with. 

Just a reminder, all 150 members get to vote for Speaker, and the winner often has a very long memory. 

The contrast is of course the other side of the building.  Senate leadership is in place and remains virtually unchanged.  The only real difference in the Senate are the 3 new Senators, Senator Cook, Senator Hagenbuch and Senator Adam Hinojosa.  With the leadership intact, we await the Lt. Governor’s committee assignments which could come at any time.  Expect the Senate to hit the ground running and begin hearings fairly quickly.  The Lt. Governor runs a very tight ship and his priorities will begin to move through the process very efficiently. 

How the future Speaker deals with the Senate remains to be seen.  Even a disorganized House, under smart leadership can control the session and the pace.  While the Senate, it is often said has no rules, the House does and it is the Speaker, with the help of the parliamentarian who interprets them.

There was a session where a Speaker did not name committees till early March, creating a shorter even more chaotic session and controlling the pace and what bills ultimately made it to the floor.  How the incoming House speaker approaches his or her dealings with the Governor, Lt. Governor and the Senate will be the most interesting ticket in town and one that everyone will get to watch.  The old saying in the House was “it’s not the opposite party that is the enemy, it’s the Senate”.  Old school sentiment that.

Also in play of course is the approximate $20 Billion surplus recently reported by the Comptroller which as has been discussed in these pages before is not really $20 Billion extra.  There will be the supplemental appropriation which is passed early in the session, (this will eat up a significant amount of the surplus), the now continuing futile attempts to lower property taxes (remember last session), whatever deal is reached on vouchers/public school funding (this could be a very large number). Senator Perry’s water initiative ($5 Billion requested) and dealing with either the retired teacher/state employee retirement shortfall is on the menu this cycle. 

And of course, the current inflation increased obligations that we face with every state budget.

The show starts on January 14^th, tickets are free to everyone.  Thanks to modern technology everyone with access to a computer can watch almost every minute.  Like any good drama there is something for everyone.  Reality TV at it’s finest.