Good morning, 

The weather is finally starting to warm up. Will the State Legislature follow suit? Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Brandon Waltens 

Monday, February 22, 2021
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• It’s no secret that this session of the Texas Legislature has looked quite different than sessions past.
   

• Restrictions put in place in response to the Chinese coronavirus have severely limited the amount of time lawmakers are spending in session on the House and Senate floors.
   

• Meanwhile, many legislators’ offices are either closed or only open by appointment. Hours spent recognizing visiting groups on the floor of the House and Senate have been stripped away. And last week’s subfreezing weather has canceled plans for this week, with lawmakers unable to make the commute to the capital city.
   

• Today marks 98 days left in the Legislature’s 140-day session. How long has each chamber spent on the floor so far?

• The Texas House has met for 7 hours and 48 minutes.
   
• The Texas Senate has met for 4 hours and 32 minutes.
   
• The Texas Constitution prohibits the Legislature from passing bills for the first 60 days. An exception is made, however, for the governor’s emergency items, which Gov. Greg Abbott announced during his State of the State address on February 1.
   
• In the Senate, the committees on redistricting and finance have held meetings to discuss the two bills the Legislature is obligated to pass—the budget and redrawing congressional maps. The House is expected to begin scheduling committee hearings this week.

• With the skies clear and temperatures on the rise again, the members of the Legislature will have their work cut out for them.
   

• This time, the runway will be shorter than ever for the business Texans elected lawmakers to address.

Coming Up:

• Both the House and Senate are slated to reconvene on Tuesday afternoon.
   
• On Thursday, the House State Affairs and Energy Resources Committee will hold a joint investigative hearing into ERCOT and the massive outages that left millions of Texans without power last week.

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