Here’s a quick recap of what happened over the last week:
Texas House Selects Rep. Dustin Burrows to Lead Chamber
On Tuesday, the opening day of the legislative session, House members elected Lubbock Rep. Dustin Burrows to be the Speaker of the Texas House. Burrows won on the 2nd ballot by a vote of 85 to 55. The final tally had 49 Democrats joining only 36 Republicans to give Burrows the victory over Rep. David Cook, who had been the nominee of the House Republican Caucus. On the first ballot, Cook only received the support of 56 of the 88 Republicans in the chamber.
The vote by the House was a rebuke of the Republican Party faithful and grassroots activists who had tried in vain to persuade all 88 Republican House members to support the caucus nominee. The party had sent out mailers and operated phone banks targeting members who had rejected the Cook candidacy. In the end, there were enough Republicans to join with a large majority of the Democrats to give Burrows the gavel for the session.
The House Speakership was open this year after incumbent Rep. Dade Phelan announced in November that he would not seek reelection to the Speaker’s office due to wide opposition from similar GOP activists, many of the statewide elected officials, and influential donors to the party. Phelan’s critics pointed to his unwarranted impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton and his continued appointment of Democrats to positions of leadership in the House as the basis for their frustration and opposition to Phelan’s reelection as Speaker.
The election of Burrows ensures the continuation of the traditional leadership style in the House that relies on bipartisanship and stresses the importance of working across the aisle to reach agreements on priority matters. This conflicts with the philosophy of the more conservative members of the Republican party that believes the party in power should be able to form and pass legislation that reflects the core beliefs of the party and its constituents.
Criticism of Burrows Election
This difference in philosophy has led to the belief that once again, the House will fail to pass strong conservative legislation reflective of the party platform. Lt. Governor Dan Patrick was quick to criticize the House’s selection of Burrows, releasing a statement that despite having a clear Republican majority in the House, “Burrows was handed the Speakership by Democrats”. Patrick went on to say he believes this is the first time in the nation’s history that a minority party openly elected a Speaker in a legislative body. Patrick also laid out a series of priority items that he committed to pass in the Senate – school vouchers, bail and criminal justice reform, ban on taxpayer funded lobbying, and election reform – that he expects the House to pass.
Other House members that came out on the losing end of the vote expressed similar frustration. Many expect the session to be “chaotic” and expressed concern that Burrows will have to rely on Democratic support which they believe will make it impossible to pass conservative legislation.
Comptroller Issues Biennial Revenue Estimate
On Monday, the day before the Texas Legislature convened for the start of the 2025 legislative session, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced the state is estimated to have $194.6 billion available in state funds for the 2026-2027 budget that will be written during this session. This number is about $2 billion less than the 2024-25 budget cycle due to an approximately 1% decrease in the beginning cash balance compared to the previous budget cycle and not a decrease in state revenue. Overall – including federal funds – the state will have $362.2 billion to spend on the upcoming budget cycle.
The estimate also includes nearly $24 billion in leftover funds from the 2024-25 budget cycle. Part of the leftover dollars include $4.5 billion that was allocated for public education, including an estimated $500 million for education savings accounts, which was not approved due to lawmakers failing to compromise on a program. With this huge surplus, lawmakers will have the opportunity to fund projects and priorities at levels not previously seen. Competing for the extra available dollars will be further cuts to property tax rates, increased funding for water infrastructure, further attempts to fund a state school voucher program, increased public school funding, and increased border enforcement measures.
Minors and Social Media
One of the last hearings of the interim that took place earlier this week was to discuss legislative solutions for protecting minors from the potentially harmful effects of unlimited access to social media and the digital world. Testimony before the joint House/Senate committee included a focus on the damage that violent depictions and the viewing of pornography can have regarding addiction and other mental health issues. Parents testified that abuse by social media users can lead to substance abuse, sex crimes, and suicide among teens that are not mentally mature enough to process inappropriate material.
Last session, the legislature passed a bill to require age verification to access pornography sites, which is being challenged by free-speech advocates. The constitutionality of the bill was argued this week before the US Supreme Court. There are also bills this session that prohibit minors under the age of 16 from using social media. Other proposals include banning phones from public school classrooms and requiring parental consent before schools can subject students to any online psychological testing.
Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit this week against the controversial app TikTok accusing the platform of endangering minors and deceiving its users about the safety of its content. According to the lawsuit, TikTok advertises that its app claims content depicting drugs, nudity, and alcohol is “infrequent”. The AG argues that any user can easily follow an endless stream of inappropriate content that is harmful to minors. The lawsuit goes on to accuse TikTok of exacerbating mental health issues in young girls by allowing girls of any age to access materials that lead to eating disorders and body-image problems.
Abbott Threatens Texas A&M President
Gov. Abbott is threatening to force Texas A&M University President Mark Welsh to leave office over the university’s attempt to send staff and students to a recruiting conference focusing on Black, Hispanic, and Native American students. A state law passed in 2023 bans all diversity hiring programs at public universities in the state. However, the university’s general counsel had deemed the conference as permissible due to its focus on student recruitment. A conservative activist at the university posted the details on the conference online which gained Abbott’s attention. Abbott responded on Twitter by saying he was not aware of the conference and said that attendance at the conference would violate state law. Abbott went on to say that “it will be fixed immediately, or the president will be gone.”
Abbott cannot directly fire a university president, but he does appoint the board of regents that oversees the universities and to whom each president reports. Welsh has since released a statement saying the university will adhere to state law. Several other universities in the state including the University of Texas and Texas Tech University have sent representatives to the conference in previous years but chose not to send anyone this year because of the new law in place. Lawmakers will undoubtedly revisit the 2023 law and attempt to make further changes that will restrict any activities relative to diversity even stronger.
Winter Weather Coming to Texas
As you all are aware, a polar vortex fueled by arctic air is making its way to Texas. The storm could bring snow, sleet, and freezing rain deep into the state by Monday evening. Bitter cold is expected to arrive in Texas by tomorrow night, causing massive temperature swings. Austin is expecting sunny skies on Saturday with highs near 60, but temperatures will remain in the 40’s on Sunday during the day with lows in the mid 20’s Sunday night into Monday morning.
Moisture will begin to spread across the state by Monday afternoon with freezing precipitation falling and affecting areas as far south as Del Rio and moving east to Houston. Highs in the Austin area will be just above freezing on Tuesday and then there will be another hard freeze Tuesday night. By Wednesday afternoon, temperatures are predicted to finally climb into the 40’s where most areas will hopefully start to see relief from the freezing precipitation.
Wrap your pipes, bring your pets and plants inside, and please be careful!!
Political Notes
Newly elected Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows has named Robert Duncan to be his chief of staff. Duncan is a veteran of the Capitol and the political world. A Republican from Lubbock, he was first elected to the Texas House in 1988 and served three terms before being elected to the Texas Senate in 1996. He served in the Senate until 2014 when he left to become chancellor of the Texas Tech University System.
Burrows has also hired former Rep. Tracy King of Uvalde as a special advisor. King, a Democrat, served 18 years in the House before choosing not to seek reelection in 2024.
Campaign finance reports have just been filed covering money raised for the last half of 2024. Gov. Abbott reports raising $22 million and has a war chest of $69 million. Lt. Governor Dan Patrick reports raising $7 million and has $33 million cash on hand. For other statewide officials – AG Ken Paxton reports having $2.8 million cash on hand; Comptroller Glenn Hegar has $10 million; and Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham reports $2 million cash on hand.
State level elected officials cannot raise money during the regular session. These figures represent their respective war chests as they gear up for the next election cycle. All statewide offices are up for reelection in 2026.
What’s Next??
Both the House and Senate have adjourned until next Wednesday, January 22nd due to the holiday Monday and the Trump inauguration in Washington, DC. On Wednesday, the House will debate and adopt their set of rules under which they will operate for the session. At that time, the most contentious item will be the consideration of appointing Democrats to chair committees in the Republican led House.