Dear John,

The Texas Legislature has adjourned sine die, meaning without any further date. Over the next few weeks in this multi-part Sine Die edition of the Bucy Bulletin we'll cover big items like the budget, the electric grid, and the state of voting rights, as well as discuss the good, bad, and ugly of the 87th Legislative Session, highlight some of our favorite moments, and provide an update on the status of our legislative agenda. Today's version focuses on the budget, the winter storm, and the electric grid.

I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve you, House District 136, and the people of Texas. Please do not ever hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or comments or if there is anything my office can do for you.

All the best,

John H. Bucy III

State Representative

House District 136

Every two years, the legislature is only required to pass one bill: the state budget. This legislative session, we passed a $248 billion budget for the next two years that addresses healthcare, public education, housing, disaster recovery, property taxes, and infrastructure.

Highlights from this biennium’s budget include:

• Maintained funding for teachers and public schools in H.B. 3, the transformative school finance legislation passed in 2019
• Increased the state contribution for the Teacher Retirement System from 7.5 percent to 7.75 percent in 2022, and to 8 percent in 2023, which will result in $1 billion to maintain the actuarial soundness of the pension system
• $200 million for graduate medical education to increase residency spots
• $118 million for the Texas Child Mental Healthcare Consortium
• $8.4 billion for behavioral health services to support mental health in Texas
• Additional $123.5 million for rural hospitals to stave off closures and increase access to care
• $86 million for new state mental health hospital beds
• $57 million to combat human trafficking
• $30 billion to TxDOT for highway planning, Right of Way acquisition, and construction, maintenance, and preservation
• $4.2 million to enhance the Public Utility Commission (PUCT) and other regulatory responses to The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)
• Maintained funding level for Texans Feeding Texans, including $20 million for home delivered meals and $10.2 million for the surplus agriculture products grant program
• $34 million to counties for enhanced voting machines and $1.4 million to train county election officials
• $3 billion for Hurricane Harvey-related disaster recovery

While the Winter Storm was ongoing my office worked with local elected officials and state agencies to get power and water back on and food, water, and other supplies sent into western Williamson County. Some of our efforts in this regard included:

• Liaising with the Texas Department of Emergency Management and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to help restore power to critical infrastructure in Leander.
• Coordinating shipments of bottled water for dispersal by local communities.
• Assisting in securing diesel for Brushy Creek MUD's backup generator for their water plant.
• Working with Hill Country Community Ministries to provide boxed meals and a water filling station.
• Helping deliver non-potable water to apartments and retirement communities.
• Confirming with PEC and Austin Energy, the two energy providers for HD 136, that customers would not experience higher rates in the middle of the storm.
• Serving as a hub of communication to help get key information out to constituents concerning power, water, and more.

In addition to constituent services and helping with response efforts, as a policymaker, my biggest responsibility was to look at legislation aimed to ensure nothing like this happens again. With the filing deadline coming just after the storm hit, we went to work on developing proposals.

I'm most proud of H.B. 3711, which would create a medically fragile registry and establish procedures for wellness checks to be conducted by local jurisdictions in times of disaster. The registry would include those with Alzheimer's, on dialysis, dependent on oxygen, diagnosed with a debilitating chronic condition, or who have a medical condition that requires 24-hour care from a skilled nurse, who voluntarily opt themselves in to wanting a wellness check, which would be conducted by an automated text or phone call, a live phone call, and then an in person visit if there is still no response by the registrant.

I was able to work with Chairs Stephanie Klick and Dr. Tom Oliverson as well as Sen. Lois Kolkhorst to amend the provisions in full into S.B. 968, which has been sent to the Governor for his signature. While many times the Legislature can feel more and more like Washington, I was honored to work in a bipartisan fashion with my colleagues to get this done.

My office also filed legislation to establish best practices and procedures for weatherization for power generation companies, electric coops, municipally owned utilities, and transmission and distribution utilities in the ERCOT power region. H.B. 4224 would have also provided for requiring these entities to submit plans reflecting changes and improvements to their facilities as well as regular inspections and enforcement by the Public Utility Commission to ensure compliance.

Other bills filed included H.B. 2861, which would have classified dialysis centers as critical infrastructure in order to try and keep them online in times of load shed and have them prioritized in restoration of power if they do go offline, as well as H.B. 4225, which would have required dialysis centers to have a back-up generator on site.

Texans faced one of its toughest winter storms on record this past February, with its impact revealing how our electric and gas supply chains are vulnerable to extreme weather conditions. Among the many problems resulting from the storm, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), as well as many electric and gas companies, are facing high amounts of debt. We addressed this issue by passing H.B. 4492, which allows electric companies to finance up to $2.1 billion for electricity that was paid for, but not received, during the storm. ERCOT will also receive an $800 million loan through the State Economic Stabilization Fund, to pay for debts to the grid operator.

To prevent another catastrophic event and improve the State's response to emergencies in the future, both the Senate and House have worked together to pass multiple bills relating to the supply of electric and gas services, and the responsible governing bodies.

As our State recovers from the storm, progress has been made toward preventing future emergencies through the passage of S.B. 3. This bill establishes the Texas Electricity Supply Chain Security and Mapping Committee, which would be responsible for mapping the State's electricity supply chain. The committee will have the crucial role of identifying critical infrastructure sources in the electricity supply chain, so they may provide best practices for the preparation of electric and gas facilities in the event of another extreme weather event. S.B. 3 would also require certain gas supply chain facilities and certain gas pipeline facilities to upgrade their assets so they are prepared to provide services during a weather emergency, a process known as weatherization. And for those that do not follow the regulations put in place, they may be fined. Additionally, S.B. 3 creates an alert system for Texans that provides notification in the instance that the power supply in Texas is inadequate to meet demand.

The legislature also passed S.B. 2 and S.B. 2154 in an effort to increase oversight on the selection of members for governing bodies such as ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission (PUCT). S.B. 2 reduces the number of people on the ERCOT board of directors from 16 to 11 and would require those members to be a Texas resident. S.B. also 2154 increases the number of board members selected by the Governor and approved by the Senate for the PUCT from three to five.

While these bills are a great first step towards keeping Texans safe in the event of another weather emergency, I do not believe we have done enough to guarantee protection from the next winter storm. We failed to require all gas supply chain entities to weatherize, as gas industry advocates pushed for lesser requirements. Instead, we rely on the Texas Railroad Commission to determine the necessary weather-related upgrades needed at certain facilities identified by the Texas Electricity Supply Chain Security and Mapping Committee.

This lack of weatherization for all gas suppliers is concerning, as ERCOT found that failures in the gas supply chain may have accounted for at least one fifth of freeze related power outages during the storm. Furthermore, the timeline for the weatherization of these facilities is unclear. Without a strict deadline for facility upgrades, we cannot guarantee that improvements will be fully operational by the next weather emergency, potentially putting Texans at risk.

But even though these bills may not solve every issue with the power grid, they open the door to future policy reform that I hope will prevent Texans from having to face another tough winter storm in the dark.

Political advertising paid for by John Bucy Campaign, Hon. Heather Jefts, treasurer.