89TH TEXAS LEGISLATURE - WEEK 4
This is the abridged version of the Friday Message. If you want all the details, please click here.
THIS WEEK: Governor Abbott kicked off the week with his State of the State Address, where he outlines his emergency issues for the 89th Legislature. He identified 7 emergency issues: These emergency items are important because constitutionally, the legislature cannot debate or vote on any bills during the first 60 days of session, except issues on the Governor’s emergency list. If you click on the link to the Governor’s address above, there are links within for each issue containing specific plans and expectations. They also contain a bit of bragging on the Governor’s part about what he has done as governor on that issue. But, hey! Can’t blame a guy for tooting his own horn, right? We had a good turn out for TTP Tuesdays this week. There were about 45 to 50 people joining us as we delivered legislative priority papers for TTP, TXGR, and TURF to all 108 Republican House Members and Senators. Several groups also enjoyed a visit with legislators or staff. Julie had a lovely encounter with her State Rep, Gio Capriglione. Here's what she posted on Facebook: "My own State Rep, Gio, was on my assigned list of offices to visit, totally by chance. I dutifully led my little group into his office but told them they'd have to do the speaking because I'm not good at faking pleasantries. We awkwardly smiled an uncomfortable hello, and then he started spewing out lies to the people I was with, including children. I tried... I really tried... to bite my tongue. Then I slipped in one "clarification" to something he said. He kept rattling on lies as if *I* was the one incorrect so I got a little more determined. Finally I put up my hand and said to the group, "I can't do this." And to Gio I said, "You are from Satan." And I walked out. Gio was visibly shaky from the moment he saw me... with good reason. We are taking him down next election." In The Senate: The Senate has been busy since almost first week of session. Committees were appointed very quickly, SB2, the ESA bill was filed, assigned to committee, testimony taken at hearing, and the Committee voted it out - all during week 3. Don’t ever let them tell you they ran out of time! They find time for whatever they want to pass. Following the Governor’s address that included school choice as an emergency item, the Senate then passed SB2 on Wednesday. There were 37 amendments filed, 19 of which were passed. I have not yet had time to dig into the amendments to see what was changed, but you can see for yourself at the TLO. Click on the text icon on the far right to read the amendment. In The House: The House met Tuesday for 1hr 22 minutes; Wednesday for 1 hr 13 minutes, and Thursday for 31 minutes. Let’s be clear – we know that even when they are not on the House floor debating and voting, they are still working. And until the Governor does his emergency items, there’s not a lot they can do. BUT…. The Senate has given us an excellent example of what can be done early and how it can be done. Speaker Burrows seems to be deliberately dragging his feet on moving the agenda, and we believe it is so he can run out the clock. Now that we know the emergency items, there is plenty that can be done, but we don’t even have committee assignments yet. So we wait. They actually did accomplish something on Thursday. They published the list of House officers, and swore them in. Click here to see the list of officers. It’s on page 218 of Thursday's journal. On Tuesday, another motion was made to adjourn for more than 3 days, from Thursday to Tuesday. Representative Brian Harrison, with several other grassroots conservative members standing with him, gave a passionate objection to the motion. Watch the video clip here. Harrison and his colleagues are ready to get to work, like the Senate is doing, but their hands are tied by the Speaker’s brief scheduling and lengthy days off. As I’ve mentioned, they still have work when not on the floor, and the devoted ones will be working diligently. But the slackers will go home for a 4 day week-end. It’s time to start doing actual House stuff! Also on Tuesday, they passed HR 161, Congratulating Beyoncé for winning three Grammys at the 2025iGrammy Awards Maybe the biggest news out of the House this week is that the Freshmen beat the Veterans in the annual House football game on Tuesday. Go Freshmen! NEXT WEEK: We will be at the Capitol again on Tuesday Feb 11. I plan to set several appointments with House members to discuss priorities and how we can work together. I can take one person with me to those appointments. If you’re interested, let me know. Other work we can do is address some things coming up in Committee during the week. I’m changing the meet up location to the East Corridor on one of the benches. We’ll meet up at 10 am as usual. (They took all the benches out the rotunda last summer. I have no idea why, but probably just to irritate me. We need benches to organize hand outs and stuff, so East Corridor it is.) I had originally planned to do a mini training this week, but I’ve been unable to reserve a room, so we’ll have to postpone that. More to come soon. What YOU can do if you can’t go to the Capitol 1) Contact Speaker Burrows office and tell them to get to work! Get committee assignments done, refer bills to committees, start scheduling hearings on emergency items. 2,738 bills have been filed in the House so far, and NONE of them have been referred to a committee. Speaker's Office (512) 463-1000
- Bob Duncan, Chief of Staff
- Zak Covar, Deputy Chief of Staff
- Tracy King, Sr. Advisor
- Paige Holzheauser, Director of Speaker Operations
- Matt Crow, District Affairs Coordinator
Mail a card or letter: PO Box 2910, Austin, TX 78768 2) Contact members of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee and ask them to favorably consider SJR17 and SJR49 in the hearing on Wednesday. 3) Contact the 18 House members who voted against the motion to recess for a long weekend to thank them for doing the right thing. Pray for them – they are facing huge opposition in trying to do their work. They need your prayers. Nays — Cain; Harrison; Hickland; Holt; Hopper; Kerwin; Little; Lowe; Luther; Money; Morgan; Olcott; Pierson; Richardson; Schatzline; Tinderholt; Toth; Virdell. 4) Pray for our efforts and our legislators. There’s always something you can do! It doesn’t require a trip to Austin. You can make phone calls, write letters, and visit with field staff in the field offices. Just be sure you’re doing something! Stay engaged! Fran Rhodes, President. GET REGISTERED! Special True Texan Days: Be sure to register for the True Texan Day at the Capitol and True Texas Kids at the Capitol. There’s no fee, but we need to know how many are coming so we can be prepared for you. Here are the registration links.
SAVE THE DATES! Tuesday Feb 11 - TTP Tuesdays at the Capitol – including mini-training on Lege process Tuesday Feb 18 - TTP Tuesdays at the Capitol – WITH TFVC rally & 10th anniversary celebration Monday Mar 3 - TRUE TEXAN DAY AT THE CAPITOL (rsvp required) Tuesday Mar 4 - NO TTP Tuesdays (since we just did our day on Monday) Tuesday Mar 11 - BIG TXGR engagement day, PLUS Buses from Frisco/Waxahachie; Kerrville/Fredericksburg; Corpus Christi/San Antonio
Tuesday Mar 18 - TTP Tuesdays at the Capitol – including mini-training on using the TLO Tuesday Mar 25 - TRUE TEXAS KIDS AT THE CAPITOL (rsvp required) Tuesday April 1 – TTP Tuesdays at the Capitol PLUS Bus from Grapevine/Burleson Tuesday Apr 8 - TTP Tuesdays at the Capitol Tuesday Apr 15 - TTP Tuesdays at the Capitol Bus Registrations can be found on the TTP Website We do our best to offer citizens opportunities to be engaged in our State Government in Austin. Can you help cover some of the costs? Your donation of $25, $50, or $75 will help us to continue these opportunities.
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