Legislative Update
The 89th Session begins Tuesday, January 14th, 2025, at 12:00pm, here is everything you should know until then.
Tuesday, March 5th, 2024: 59 of the 86 Republican seats in the Texas House were contested resulting in major changes to the politics of our legislature and pushing many to runoffs. Notably the largest number of incumbent defeats since 2012, breaking down to 8 incumbents losing their seats, seven went to run-offs, and 18 won their respective primary battles. Also, the first time since 1972 when a sitting Speaker of the House was pushed into a run-off.
Thursday, March 21st, 2024: Rep. Tom Oliverson HD-130 announces campaign for Speaker of the House citing Phelan’s “dysfunctional leadership.”
Thursday, April 11th, 2024: Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick releases the 2024 Senate Interim Charges for the 89th Legislature.
Wednesday, May 8th, 2024: Speaker Dade Phelan releases the 2024 House Interim Charges for the 89th Legislature. Assigning the House Committee on Insurance two charges related to ferris wheels and rollercoasters. Meanwhile, State Affairs received two charges related to insurance premiums and the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA). It should be noted that Rep. Tom Oliverson is the Chairman of the House Committee on Insurance.
Tuesday, May 28th, 2024: The seven House Republicans pushed to run-offs are Gary Vandeaver, Dade Phelan, Justin Holland, John Kuempel, Frederick Frazier, Lynn Stucky, and Stephanie Klick. All but Gary Vandeaver and Dade Phelan win their races. Historically, Dade Phelan is the first House incumbent to finish second in the primary but win the run-off since 1992 (winning by a 366-vote margin).
Tuesday, November 5th , 2024: General Election
Monday, November 11th, 2024: First day legislators and legislators-elect may file bills for the 89th Legislature.
For the Senate, little change happened in the makeup on the body as John Whitmire (D) returned to Houston to be Mayor, now replaced by Molly Cook (D) who beat Jarvis Johnson for the seat. For Republicans, Drew Springer retired his seat leaving a race between Brent Hagenbuch and Jace Yarborough where Hagenbuch took the seat for SD-30.
Meanwhile the Capitol is in full swing of interim hearings as they gear up for the 89th session. Today I’ll cover the two biggest hearings that have happened so far, and I’ll include a chart below showing the breakdown of what makes those two hearings so notable.
Both the House and Senate have been charged with legislative priorities by the Speaker and Lt. Governor for the 89th and will be expected to hold hearings during the interim. Garnering the most attention, on May 29th, 2024, Senate State Affairs chaired by Senator Bryan Hughes SD-1 authorized subpoenas on Facebook, Google, and TikTok. Whistleblowers from Facebook, Google and national news media testified as Dr. Robert Epstein, a Senior Research Psychologist said, “Google is sending ‘register-to-vote’ reminders to Democrats at 2.5 times more at which they are sending to Republicans.” Later the body addressed the topics of “Protecting Texas Land and Assets” and “Banning Delta 8 and 9.”
Senate State Affairs is comprised of Bryan Hughes (Chair), Angela Paxton (Vice Chair), Paul Bettencourt, Brian Birdwell, Morgan LaMantia, Jose Menendez, Mayes Middleton, Tan Parker, Charles Perry, Charles Schwertner, and Judith Zaffirini
Two weeks prior on May 14th, 2024, the Subcommittee on Higher Education held hearings in the wake of two notable events.
• Wednesday, March 27th: Governor Abbott issues an Executive Order tofight the increase in acts of antisemitism at college campuses.
• Monday, April 29th: UT Austin envelops in chaos after a pro Palestine campus protest. DPS was dispatched by Governor Abbott and 79 people were arrested for criminal trespassing.
Chaired by Senator Brandon Creighton the committee opted to halt the Senate Education interim charges and instead held a hearing on “DEI Policies, Antisemitism on Texas College Campuses, and Campus Free Speech.” If you would like to read more about that hearing there’s a few articles. In the meantime, plenty of other committees have begun posting notices for upcoming hearings. I’ve attached those below, but more will be announced as we get closer to the 89th.
