Here’s a quick recap of what happened over the last week:
Fourth Speaker Candidate Joins Race
Republican state Rep. James Frank of Wichita Falls became the fourth declared challenger to incumbent Dade Phelan in the race for Speaker of the Texas House. Frank said in a statement that he felt the voters sent a clear message in the March Republican primaries – when 15 incumbent House Republicans were defeated – they want the House to move in a different direction. Frank announced his candidacy in a letter to all House members where he outlined three major areas where he feels reform is needed – communication, member empowerment, and floor management. Frank also stated his support for only Republican members to serve as chairs of committees. Phelan’s appointment of several Democrats as committee chairs created intense criticism that he is ceding too much power to the Democrats.
Frank currently serves as Chairman of the House Human Services Committee, that oversees state laws relative to nursing home regulation, social workers, and child welfare. He was first elected to the House in 2012 and represents 14 counties northwest of Fort Worth. He joins Rep. Tom Oliverson, Rep. David Cook, and Rep. Shelby Slawson as challengers to Speaker Phelan.
Additional Interim Charges Released
Lt. Governor Dan Patrick released an updated list of charges for Senate committees to study in preparation for the upcoming regular session beginning in January. Most of the charges are priority issues for Republican voters, and address issues ranging from elections and voting to diversity to property tax relief. Regarding elections, the State Affairs Committee is directed to study the laws and timing of runoff elections including an examination of the 50% threshold currently needed to avoid a runoff and whether that mark should be lowered. The committee is also tasked with establishing safeguards to prevent noncitizens from voting and evaluating the Secretary of State’s process of auditing elections. The State Affairs committee – receiving the bulk of the new charges – is also directed to look at reforming the impeachment process in the state and addressing homelessness issues in the state.
Other highlights of the new charges are to study the effects of retail crime – shoplifting, review of the advanced placement and dual credit course offerings in public schools and improving the methods of protecting the elderly and vulnerable during times of natural disasters.
Polls Show Close Races
The University of Texas Politics Project released a poll this week showing Vice-President Kamala Harris has more support in Texas compared to President Biden but she still trails former President Trump by 4 points in a poll conducted during the last week of August. Trump is the preference of 49% of the respondents compared to 44% for Harris. In a June poll, Trump lead Biden by a 46% to 39% margin. The same poll also showed incumbent Republican US Senator Ted Cruz continuing to lead Democratic rival Colin Allred by a 44% to 36% margin. That margin is virtually unchanged from the same poll conducted in early June.
The poll also questioned voters about issues most important to them heading into the election. Topping the list of concerns was inflation at 22% followed by the economy at 18% and immigration at 8%.
The poll was conducted among 1,200 registered voters, not likely voters, so the numbers may not be completely reliable. Full results of the poll can be found here:
In a poll done nationally – before the debate — by the New York Times and Siena College, Trump has retaken the lead nationally over Vice-President Harris, who seems to be losing some of her momentum she enjoyed at the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention. In the poll, Trump was favored by 48% of the respondents compared to 47% for Harris. In an interesting highlight, the poll shows that nearly one-third – 28% — of voters said they need to know more about Harris before she can get their support. Only 9% indicated the same about Trump. When asked if “major change” was needed, 60% of the respondents answered affirmatively. Of those, 53% said Trump represented the best chance for major change while 25% said Harris would represent a change.
This poll was conducted among 1,695 likely voters from September 3rd-6th, and dives into great detail regarding voter attitudes regarding direction of the country, issues, job approval, etc. The full poll numbers can be found here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/09/08/us/politics/times-siena-poll-likely-electorate-crosstabs.html
Hurricane Francine
In preparation for Hurricane Francine, CenterPoint Energy positioned nearly 3,500 line workers on Tuesday ready to restore power should outages occur due to the storm. Francine was the Houston area electric provider’s first test since Hurricane Beryl, when they were admittedly caught off guard regarding their preparations which led to over 2 million customers losing power, some for as long as two weeks.
Southeast Texas was able to escape the worst of the storm that made landfall near New Orleans late Wednesday afternoon packing winds near 100 MPH and dumping 6-8 inches of rain. Some coastal communities such as Surfside in Brazoria County experienced flooding due to heavy rainfall and storm surge early Wednesday, but overall, the impact from Francine was minimal.
And a final note on Hurricane Beryl. The city of Houston is considering raising the property tax they levy to pay for the nearly $40 million in recovery costs related to damage caused by Beryl and the derecho storms earlier in the spring. The two storms left a bill of over $210 million to cover costs associated with debris removal and an increase in emergency services and personnel. FEMA will cover roughly $158 million leaving the city responsible for the remainder. Houston already faces a severe budget shortfall due to the recent agreement with the city’s firefighters to increase their pay and pension. The mayor’s office is proposing an increase of 3.2 cents per $100 valuation to cover the extra costs, which amounts to about $166 a year increase to the average Houston homeowner.
Election/Voting Issues
Following the lawsuit filed against Bexar County last week challenging their effort to increase voter registrations, AG Ken Paxton has now sued Travis County, accusing county officials of using funds for partisan purposes to increase voter registrations. In late August, the Travis County Commissioners Court approved a contract with Civic Government Solutions (CGS) to assist the county with voter registration efforts. In the suit, Paxton claims that the Texas Election Code does not allow counties to contract for services “that identify and target potentially unregistered voters.” Paxton is claiming that the county is using public taxpayer funds to pay a group associated with the Democratic Party to identify people that are eligible to vote but not registered through demographic and political criteria. Similar to the lawsuit filed against Bexar County officials, the lawsuit seeks an injunction on the contract.
Political Notes
Vice-Presidential candidate Tim Walz was in Dallas Monday night for a fundraiser for the Harris/Walz campaign. Walz discussed several issues but what received the most attention was his prediction that the race between incumbent Republican US Senator Ted Cruz and Democrat Colin Allred was winnable for the Democrats. All polls have shown Cruz with a comfortable lead over his rival. Cruz defeated Democrat Beto O’Rourke by a slim margin in 2018 which led Democrats to see Cruz as vulnerable in 2024.
However, the next day, the head of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee said the Texas race was not a priority. Senator Gary Peters of Michigan – who leads the DSCC – said while there are some promising signs in the Texas race, the priority is to reelect vulnerable Democratic incumbents, and the group has made no commitment to support Allred in his challenge moving forward.
The Republican Party of Texas announced this week that Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne of Irving has been named chair of the Victory Committee, which leads the party’s efforts for the November elections. Van Duyne was elected to Congress in 2020 after serving in the Trump administration’s Department of Housing and Urban Affairs. She also served two terms as Mayor of Irving. She replaces Alex Mealer – the former candidate for Harris County Judge – who recently resigned after she was appointed to Houston’s Metro Transit Authority Board.
And finally, in the “yes that really happened department” a House committee hearing video feed was hacked during a live broadcast. A special committee tasked with studying the impact of foreign ownership of state lands was having a hearing in Tyler on Tuesday when the live feed of the hearing was replaced with what appeared to be Russian military exercises with accompanying music. The bizarre video only lasted a few minutes before the live feed was resumed. No one has taken responsibility for the hack job.
What’s Next??
There are several hearings on both sides of the rotunda next week:
The House Criminal Jurisprudence meets on Monday to review legislation related to increased penalties for the distribution of fentanyl and legislation relating to offenses created for street racing and reckless driving exhibitions.
The House State Affairs Committee meets on Tuesday to review state policies and recommendations in response to the Panhandle wildfires and to examine the impacts of increasing home insurance rates.
The House Committee on Youth Health and Safety will meet Wednesday to review the implementation of the school safety law passed last session.
The House Pensions and Investments Committee meets on Thursday to examine the effects of environmental, social, and governance policies on state investment strategy.
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee meets on Wednesday to review state care access for children with behavioral health needs and to evaluate the overall access to mental health care in Texas.
The Senate Transportation Committee meets on Wednesday to assess the funding needs for aviation, ports, and other points of entry and to examine the operation of autonomous vehicles in the state.
The Senate Border Security Committee meets on Thursday to review criminal activity related to migration at the southern border and to examine the impact on border security personnel.
Here is a link to the full list of hearings later this summer and fall, and the agenda for each hearing: https://capitol.texas.gov