Dade Phelan Clearly Continues to OPPOSE School Choice
Dade Phelan signals he intends to work AGAINST school choice, again, with his Democrat Chairs and Democrat members behind him.
He refuses to listen to Republican voters across the state on this important issue. 15 Republican state representatives have already lost their seats, and 9 retired over school choice, impeachment, and appointing Democratic chairs. It's obvious Phelan doesn't care how many Republican members he has to throw under the bus, or about the 24 new members who were elected, almost all of whom support school choice. He doesn’t care about his Republican members or Republican voters who support school choice.
What’s the latest story?
At the beginning of summer before an upcoming legislative session, the Texas Governor, Lt. Governor, and Speaker issue a joint letter with budget instructions to state agencies so they may prepare their legislative appropriation requests (LARs), so the budget writers can begin the long work of writing a budget. This is not a small technical issue, as Dade has said. It is vital that these agencies have direction on preparing their budgets and it is vital for the budget to be written.
Budgetary priorities are normally listed in the letter. For weeks this summer, Speaker Phelan sat on the letter Governor Abbott and I sent him for his signature to send to the agencies. The rumor was the Speaker would not sign the letter because school choice was listed as a priority.
It turns out the rumors are true. After 24 new members were elected, most of them running on school choice, and many members were defeated on that same issue, Dade threatens to create another 4-5 months of special sessions to keep his power. Democrats oppose school choice, and Democrats keep him in power as speaker.
With time threatening to slow down the entire budget process, Gov. Abbott and I moved ahead. We issued our letter to agencies with instructions for the upcoming budget because we could not wait for Dade to sign off any longer. Moments later, Speaker Phelan issued his own letter with a glaring difference: He removed school choice as a priority. Dade Phelan won by 366 votes because thousands of Democrats voted for him in his Republican primary.
With five months to go before the next session, he already threatens to blow it up. House members should not make plans for summer or fall vacations next year, as it appears Speaker Phelan is digging in even deeper to side with Democrats.
He has been the speaker for two sessions. Under his failed leadership, those two sessions have extended into the fall because of his protection of Democrats. In 2021, he let them walk out and go to Washington D.C. over an election integrity bill. Last year, he fought stubbornly over school choice before finally bringing it to the floor and not supporting it. This is not a personal fight between the Speaker and me. This is about parents' rights to give their children the best education possible, rights that are strongly supported by Republicans, Independents, and many Democrats.
Senate Special Committee on Hurricane and Tropical Storm Preparedness, Recovery, and Electricity
Immediately after surveying the damage left by Hurricane Beryl, I announced the creation of the Senate Special Committee on Hurricane and Tropical Storm Preparedness, Recovery, and Electricity.
Texans served by CenterPoint are rightfully upset with their electric utility company's overwhelming failure to restore power in a timely fashion. The small co-op companies and other electric companies impacted by the storm had few complaints; most did their job in a timely fashion. They were prepared in advance and delivered quickly after the storm.
However, CenterPoint was clearly unprepared for the damage of Hurricane Beryl, and because of their lack of preparation, poor communication, and bad management decisions, people were left in the sweltering heat a week or more after the storm. The committee's first hearing was this week. I watched every minute of the hearing, and the testimony was devastating for CenterPoint.
I applaud Chairman Charles Schwertner, Vice-Chair Phil King, and the bipartisan committee of senators for their in-depth and thorough questioning and their preparation for this important work.
I created this committee to review what happened and establish why certain electric utility companies appear to have been woefully unprepared for Hurricane Beryl. The Texas Senate will work to ensure electric utility companies respond more effectively to future storms.
Here is my official statement.
Public Utility Commission Should Claw Back Ratepayer Increase for Dubious $800 Million Generator Lease
During Monday’s 11-hour Senate Special Committee on Hurricane and Tropical Storm Preparedness, Recovery, and Electricity hearing, many questions were raised about CenterPoint’s controversial lease of massive generators that could not be quickly used as mobile generators as intended in Senate Bill 1075 and House Bill 1500 (88th Legislative Session). Those bills allowed companies like CenterPoint and Oncor to lease small mobile generators to quickly get power to hospitals, vulnerable populations, and cooling/warming centers.
Whether it was potential fraud, deceptive practices, poor money management, or whatever you wish to call it, CenterPoint disregarded the legislature’s clear direction, choosing profit over actually helping customers during a crisis. I will write a letter to the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) this week urging them to claw back the previous rate increase they granted to CenterPoint for leasing massive useless generators. The ratepayers should not be on the hook for this money. The $800 million should come out of CenterPoint’s company profits, not their customers’ pockets.
Here is my official statement.
CenterPoint Pulled a Bait and Switch
In this document, CenterPoint supported small emergency generators along with Oncor, AEP, and TNMP. Once it became law, Oncor, and AEP followed it and leased only small mobile generators.
Not CenterPoint.
CenterPoint did a bait and switch. They supported the small mobile generators and then, some think to make a much bigger profit, leased massive non-mobile generators that take heavy equipment to move and are of no use in 99% of disasters.
CenterPoint squandered $800 million of ratepayer money on massive non-mobile generators and only spent .000625% of that on small mobile generators, which would have actually helped their customers during Hurricane Beryl.
CenterPoint clearly should have leased small mobile generators. To prove that point, during Hurricane Beryl, they had to borrow small mobile generators from other companies that actually followed the legislation.
Buying massive non-mobile generators to put profit over serving their customers may have been CenterPoint’s plan all along. The Public Utility Commission of Texas needs to claw back that $800 million. CenterPoint should pay, not the ratepayers.
Thank you all for your support and everything you do to keep Texas red. May God bless you and your family, and may He continue to bless the greatest state of all—Texas.
Sincerely,
Dan Patrick
Lieutenant Governor of Texas
P.S. Feel free to forward this email to your friends and family who may not be on our email list — they can also click here to sign up for future updates.
"Whomever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant."
Matthew 20:26 (NLT)
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for alerts and updates.
This e-mail has been sent to [email protected], click here to unsubscribe.
