Good morning,

We’re 38 days into the legislative session, yet state lawmakers have met for mere hours. What do the numbers actually mean? We’ll explain...

But first, here is today's still-frozen-in Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, February 18, 2021
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• Radio legend Rush Limbaugh passed away yesterday at the age of 70, following a battle with cancer. Rest in peace.

• The mayor of Amarillo, Ginger Nelson, is out defending taxpayer-funded lobbying. Thomas Warren reports that the mayor likened hiring lobbyists with taxpayers’ dollars to hiring a plumber to “make flushing toilets or non-flushing toilets flush again.” 
     
• Something needs to be flushed...

• Action by the Texas Legislature, combined with poor decisions by the body managing our state’s power grid, led to millions of Texans losing power during severe winter weather. Robert Montoya reports on the series of decisions that went into this foreseeable disaster.
     
• “Foreseeable” is the word used by former Republican State Rep. Jason Isaac, who now heads the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s “Life:Powered” project.
     
• According to Isaac, the state’s power grid operator “waited too long to initiate conservation measures to meet increased demand as the weather turned colder. However, this delay wouldn’t have been a problem at all had Texas not put so many eggs in the renewable basket.”
     
• “So-called green energy and the corporate welfare incentives it receives are a bad deal for taxpayers on two fronts. In the best times they hurt taxpayers’ wallets and in the worst times they leave consumers out in the cold.” – Cary Cheshire of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility

• Late last week, school districts across the state made inclement weather plans, with many opting to go virtual instead of losing time in the classroom. Our education reporter Tera Collum finds those plans were dashed by the winter strain on Texas’ mismanaged electrical power grid.
      
• Many thought the Chinese coronavirus killed the snow day, but ERCOT managed to resuscitate it. 

• State Sen. Bob Hall (R-Edgewood) has updated a prescient commentary he wrote for Texas Scorecard two years ago about the lack of planning for a catastrophic long-term loss of the electric grid. It was true then, and Texans are living with the consequences today.
   
• “A prolonged power outage today would result in a complete breakdown in the fabric of society as we know it. Without power, communications systems would go down, creating a chaotic response to the situation.” – Bob Hall, writing in 2019

• I have been watching leftwing media apologists for the green energy industry explain how Texas GOP lawmakers’ reckless spending on wind turbines and “renewables” wasn’t the problem this week... It’s a bit like a drunk explaining profusely his drinking didn’t cause the accident, it was actually the unicorn he avoided running over.
     

• The $19 billion spent subsidizing an inefficient and ineffective industry over the last 15 years could have been spent weatherizing, securing, and strengthening our power grid. Instead, we paid for 19th century technology at 21st century prices.

Y’All Answered

In yesterday’s Texas Minute we asked if lawmakers should continue subsidizing wind turbines and renewable energy. The response was an overwhelming “No.”

And by “overwhelming,” we mean... 98.4 percent of those participating want lawmakers to reject more subsidies for renewable energy.

• “This disaster is 100% at the feet of [Gov. Greg Abbott]. Here’s his office number if you’d like to tell him what it’s like to sit in 40 degree temps: (512) 463-2000.” – Former State Sen. Don Huffines
     
• “$19 Billion in taxpayer subsidies to the Wind Oligarchs is unconscionable, and the Deep Freeze fully revealed the folly of such excessive public largesse.” – Gary Brush
      
• “Mother Nature doesn’t think too much of the Green New Deal.” – David Holden
         
• “Demand natural gas, oil, and coal! We have an over abundance of NG. We need to use it! Get rid of wind and solar! It’s time for our representatives to speak for the people and stop listening to electric lobbyists!” – Sharon Nelson
     
• “I am 100% in favor of alternative energy.  I am NOT in favor of subsidies! We can NEVER truly know what works and what doesn't when the economies of all energy sources are so heavily subsidized and/or are stifled by government regulations.” – Roger Taylor
      
• “We do not need a Texas Solyndra to suck up all of our hard earned taxes and go into the pockets of mostly out-of-state consortiums and oligarchs.” – Gene Cagle

By The Numbers

• Do Texans’ legislative priorities seem to be frozen as solid as your driveway? With 38 days down, there are now 102 days remaining in the 87th Session of the Texas Legislature. When will the thaw begin?
     
• Brandon Waltens estimates that in those 38 days the Texas House has met for 7 hours and 48 minutes and the Texas Senate for 4 hours and 32 minutes. He puts those numbers into constitutional and legislative perspective.

Legislative Priorities Tracker

An updated listing of where Republican and Democrat priorities are in the Texas Legislature.

• Who in public office is working on behalf of the taxpayers? Support the work of Texas Scorecard so we can help the citizens keep score!

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