AG Paxton to Investigate CenterPoint
Texas AG Ken Paxton announced this week that he has launched an investigation into CenterPoint regarding their conduct during Hurricane Beryl. CenterPoint supplies power to all of Harris County and other surrounding areas including parts of Brazoria and Montgomery Counties. The company has come under intense scrutiny after over 90% — 2.6 million customers – were left without power for days after the storm made landfall in Houston on July 8th. Paxton said his office has been contacted regarding “allegations of fraud and improper use of public money.”
Since the storm, legislators have held hearings to publicly criticize CenterPoint for the numerous power outages that lasted more than a week for most Houston area residents. Furthermore, the company’s $800 million purchase of generators that sat idle and unused during the power outages have been a source of questions and allegations from many lawmakers. Several Houston area lawmakers have questioned the purchase of the generators as a fraud on taxpayers, who are the ones that will ultimately pay the price for the generators through rate increases.
Beryl caused an estimated $1.3 billion in damage to the company’s infrastructure – transmission lines and poles – throughout their service area. CenterPoint says it intends to request a rate increase of 2% to be effective over the next 15 years to pay for the rebuild of their affect supplies.
Paxton to Complete Community Service for Fraud Case
AG Ken Paxton will work at a food bank as part of the deal he struck with prosecutors earlier this year to have charges dropped related to a securities fraud case. Earlier this year, Paxton agreed to complete 100 hours of community service, complete 15 hours of ethics classes, and pay $300,000 as part of the plea deal to have the charges dismissed. Paxton was indicted in 2015 for failing to register with the state as an investment advisor and inform potential clients that he would make commission from investments in a tech startup company. The case went through nearly 8 years of legal delays before prosecutors agreed to the plea deal in April. Details of the location of the food bank and timing of the service were not released.
House Committee Debates Controversial Topics
The debate over a state funded program for private school vouchers has once again begun in preparation for the upcoming regular session. The establishment of a voucher program in Texas has been a top priority for Gov. Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick for the past two sessions. The Senate has passed relative legislation only to see it die in the state House. The issue was also front and center in many of the Texas House Republican primary races this spring that led to the defeat of several House Republican incumbents that had opposed voucher legislation. House Republicans representing rural areas of the state have teamed up with House Democrats to defeat the legislation.
The House Public Education Committee met this week in Austin to further “evaluate the use of Education Savings Accounts in other states and make recommendations for a Texas program”, according to the committee chairman. The committee heard testimony from education experts in other states that touted the benefits of the programs, while several interest groups representing teachers and administrators in Texas testified over concerns regarding a lack of funding for public schools that will inevitably occur of a voucher program is established.
In 2023, proposals to establish a voucher program included the establishment of a state fund that would allow parents to access up to $8,000 to go towards private school tuition. After failing in the regular session, legislators were called back on two different occasions in the fall to try and pass the legislation, only to see the bills fail in the House. Gov. Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick have vowed to once again make the issue a top priority when the lawmakers convene in January.
After the testimony on voucher legislation, the committee also addressed the role of religious studies in public schools. In 2023, the legislature passed a bill calling for a more stringent review of classroom instructional materials and called on the Texas Education Agency to create a new standard for curriculum in public schools. In response, TEA unveiled options for new curriculum that includes references to the Bible and Christian based learning. Several groups provided testimony to the committee that raised concerns over the suggested curriculum, saying it violates the constitutional requirement of separation of church and state. Furthermore, groups also questioned why Christianity was being suggested as part of the school curriculum while other religions were being omitted.
Staff from the TEA reiterated the new resources that were issued for curriculum were suggestions for public schools and were not required to be used in classrooms. Further, the agency will continue to receive feedback and information from all interested parties prior to making recommendations for legislation to solidify the new curriculum in legislation this session.
Lawmakers Push Back on State Fair Gun Free Policy
The Texas State Fair announced this week that all firearms will be prohibited at the month-long festival that takes place in Dallas beginning in late September. This reverses the policy that had been in place that allowed concealed carry permit holders to bring their weapons to the event. According to fair organizers, the change is necessary after a shooting at the fair last October left three people wounded.
In response, 61 Republican state lawmakers and 10 Republican candidates for the legislature signed a letter urging the board of the State Fair to reconsider its prohibition on firearms. The letter calls the establishment of gun free zones are a “magnet for crime” and that “law-abiding citizens use firearms daily to defend themselves against criminals.” The lawmakers reiterated throughout their letter that prohibiting firearms will simply make the Fair less safe. The letter also threatens legislation next session to enhance the right to carry firearms on public lands during public events if the prohibition is not lifted.
AG Ken Paxton joined in on the opposition this week by sending a letter to the board members of the Fair saying the prohibition violated Second Amendment rights and cited state law that states anyone with a license to carry cannot be prohibited from carrying a weapon on any property owned or leased by the government. The city of Dallas owns Fair Park. State Fair officials said in interviews this week in response to Paxton’s letter that they consider this a privately operated event, similar to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The Houston event has prohibited firearms since 2016, even though they operate at the NRG Stadium complex, which is publicly owned. Paxton has given Fair officials 15 days to “fix the issue”, but he did not cite what the consequences would be.
The State Fair of Texas is held annually at the State Fairgrounds in Dallas and is scheduled to begin on September 27th and will run until October 20th. The Fair drew more than 2.3 million visitors last year.
Turner Picked to Succeed Congresswoman Jackson Lee
Harris County Democratic Party leaders selected former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner on Tuesday night as the party nominee for Congressional District 18 in Houston, following the death of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who passed away in July. She her death came after the primary election, the special meeting of the party was necessary to replace her name on the November ballot as the official Democratic nominee. Turner narrowly defeated former city councilwoman Amanda Edwards in the voting among Democratic precinct chairs. Turner served 27 years in the Texas Legislature before being elected mayor in 2015 and was not able to seek reelection as mayor in 2023 due to the city’s term limits.
Turner was picked as the nominee for the November election where voters will elect the new member of Congress to begin serving the new term that begins in January of 2025. On Monday, Congresswoman Jackson Lee’s daughter Erica Lee Carter announced she is running to finish her mother’s current term in Congress. Lee Carter said that she has been encouraged by political activists in the district to run to finish the term. Lee Carter has not run for political office before. If she is elected without a runoff, she can begin to serve as soon as the votes are canvassed, a few days after the election. If there are other candidates and no one receives a majority, then there would not be a runoff election, and the remainder of the term will remain unfilled. State law calls for runoffs to take place 70-77 days after the general election. Therefore, there would not be time to hold the runoff election prior to the new members of Congress being sworn in on January 3rd.
Border News
Texas has joined 14 other states in suing the Biden administration over a rule that is expected to allow 100,000 migrants that were initially brought to the US illegally as children to obtain health insurance through the Affordable Health Care Act. Known as “dreamers”, the proposal would apply to children brought to the US with their parents and have remained here. The “dreamers” would also have the ability to access tax breaks and other subsidies when they sign up for the coverage. Not coincidentally, the rule is proposed to take effect on November 1st, four days before this year’s Presidential election. The states allege that in addition to violating the original intent of the Affordable Care Act, this rule would also encourage more illegal immigration into the US. Migrant groups in favor of the rule say that those brought here as children came here not by their own choice, and most have assimilated into their communities as adults. The lawsuit was filed in North Dakota, and all states involved have Republcan Attorneys General.
Political Notes
State Rep. Doc Anderson, a Republican from Waco, has informed the Governor he intends to resign before the end of his current term. Anderson did not seek reelection in 2024 and will be succeeded by Pat Curry, who won the Republican primary election earlier this year. Anderson said with at least 30 new House members set to take office in January, Anderson wants to resign in time for a special election to be held to fill out the rest of the term that will give Curry gain seniority over the other newly elected members.
Incumbent Republican US Senator Ted Cruz – opposed by Democratic Congressman Colin Allred – posted on X this week that he has held six press conferences in the past month, Allred has not held a press conference in the last 45 days. Allred has stuck to social media to get out his message and Cruz has vowed to continue the attacks on his challenger for not facing the media, calling Allred “Can’t Comment Colin.”
Meanwhile, Allred was in Houston this week meeting with groups from the energy sector to assure them he would be an ally to the oil and gas industry in the US Senate. Cruz has painted Allred as an enemy of the fossil fuel industry due to President Biden’s record of promoting renewable energy to replace oil and gas as energy sources. Allred met with union representatives and while he thinks there can be a harmonious mix of renewables and fossil fuels, his priority will be to protect the existing jobs in the oil and gas sector.
US Senator John Cornyn campaigned in Texas with Trump running mate JD Vance on Monday and Tuesday. The two attended fundraisers in Houston, Laredo and San Antonio. Lt. Governor Dan Patrick joined them at the evening event in Houston. The Trump campaign did not release exact figures but claims to have raised seven figures from the three events.
Texas Rangers have concluded that there was no attempt by Harris County officials to sway any of the results in the November 2022 election. Harris County polling sites were plagued with ballot paper shortages at many polling locations. More than 20 lawsuits were filed by Republican organizations that alleged county officials deliberately allocated an insufficient number of paper ballots to polls only in conservative areas in an effort to sway elections. The Texas Rangers launched their investigation in January of 2023 at the request of Gov. Abbott when he asked the investigative arm of the Department of Public Safety to investigate problems occurring in Harris County. Through the Harris County District Attorney’s office, the conclusion of the investigation was announced, and “revealed no evidence that anyone intentionally acted in any way to suppress voter turnout or to close certain voting locations based on known voting tendencies.”
What’s Next??
The only hearing next week will be the House Defense Affairs Committee, which will meet to discuss issues relating to veteran suicide and training for state personnel that provide mental health services to veterans.
Senate committees have nothing scheduled next week.
Here is a link to the full list of hearings later this summer and fall, and the agenda for each hearing https://www.legis.state.tx.us