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Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

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But first, a special note of appreciation to everyone participating in last night’s Legislative Report call. These special briefings are made available to Texas Scorecard’s active donors.

The next Legislative Report call will be on Monday, March 22. (Not yet a donor? You can be starting today [[link removed]]! 😀) Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced he’s launching an investigation to “pursue justice for Texans” following last week’s power outages during the winter storm. Jacob Asmussen has the details [[link removed]].

Paxton has issued civil investigative demands to a handful of Texas power companies as well as ERCOT, the state government’s power grid management agency. Paxton is requiring them to hand over an array of documents related to last week’s disaster, such as recent communications between ERCOT and power companies, emergency plans and safety protocols for cold weather operations, and evidence of their efforts to winterize the power grid.

“I’m using the full scope of my constitutional powers to launch an investigation into ERCOT and other entities that grossly mishandled this week’s extreme winter weather. While Texans pulled together to get their communities through this disaster, they were largely left in the dark.” – Ken Paxton Energy policy expert Bill Peacock analyzes [[link removed]] the coordinated messaging being employed by the mainstream media and leftwing interest groups in the wake of last week’s energy debacle. They are quick to point the blame at everything except the real problems, Peacock writes.

“The Texas Legislature can restore sanity to the Texas electric grid by eliminating all subsidies and benefits for renewables in Texas, directing the PUC to require that wind and solar operators rather than consumers bear the costs their intermittency and federal subsidies impose on the grid, and ending the PUC’s constant intervention in the Texas electric market—like the electricity tax that cost Texans $3.6 billion in 2019.” – Bill Peacock [[link removed]] The Texas House will gavel into session at 2 p.m. today. The Texas Senate will gavel in at 4 p.m.

On Thursday there will be a joint hearing of the Texas House Energy Resources Committee and State Affairs Committee to discuss last week’s electrical blackouts. As millions of Texans suffered last week during historic winter storms and catastrophic power outages, city officials in Austin left a $1 billion power plant completely offline. Jacob Asmussen has the details [[link removed]].

The city’s East Texas biomass power plant—a facility that burns wood waste to generate more than 100 megawatts of power—was not turned on a single time during the crisis week. It could have powered more than 20,000 homes. A spokesman for the city-owned Austin Energy said the plant was turned off because they switched the facility last year to only seasonal use.

A recent study of local government financial reports found Plano was the only major Texas city to enter last year’s COVID-19 shutdowns in good fiscal health. The rest were already “sinkhole cities” needing more money from taxpayers to pay their bills—coming mostly from growing unfunded retirement obligations. Robert Montoya reports [[link removed]] on the latest report from the watchdog group Truth in Accounting.

Democrat-run Dallas earned the worst ranking in Texas, scoring 61st out of the 75 cities studied nationwide. New court filings show Facebook played a bigger role in the Capitol riots than Parler, writes Rachel Bovard [[link removed]] in a new commentary.

“If any single platform can be fingered as the favorite of the rioters, it appears to be Facebook.” – Rachel Bovard [[link removed]] Speaking of which... you can find me on Parler [[link removed]], MeWe [[link removed]], Facebook [[link removed]], Instagram [[link removed]], and Twitter [[link removed]]. ONE CLICK SURVEY

Are you concerned about your upcoming electric bill?

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Trying Not To Think About It [[link removed]] Number of the Day

17

Members of the Texas House have just 17 days to file legislation. Has your legislator written, or signed on to, legislation important to you?

[Source: legislative calendar]

Today In History

On Feb. 23, 1945, Marines famously raised the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima. One of those Marines was Cpl. Harlon Block of Weslaco, Texas. He was killed in action on March 1, 1945.

Quote-Unquote

“Some people wonder all their lives if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem.”

– Ronald Reagan​

John xxxxxx’s State & Federal Lawmakers

The Texas Directory [[link removed]] of elected officials now includes links to their social media accounts.

​U.S. Senator

John Cornyn - R

(202) 224-2934

U.S. Senator

Ted Cruz - R

(202) 224-5922

Governor of Texas

Greg Abbott - R

(512) 463-2000

Lt. Governor

Dan Patrick - R

(512) 463-0001

Attorney General

Ken Paxton – R

(512) 463-2100

Comptroller

Glen Hegar – R

(512) 463-4600

Land Commissioner

George Bush – R

(512) 463-5001

Commissioner of Agriculture

Sid Miller – R

(512) 463-7476

Railroad Commissioners

Wayne Christian – R

Christy Craddick – R

Jim Wright – R

(512) 463-7158

U.S. House, District

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Texas Senate, District

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Texas House, District

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PO Box 12862, Odessa TX 79768 Produced by Michael Quinn Sullivan and Brandon Waltens, the Texas Minute is a quick look at the news and info of the day we find interesting, and hope you do as well. It is delivered weekday mornings (though we'll take the occasional break for holidays and whatnot).

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