In the case of outstanding assignments, submitted legislation can be referred to committees for potential hearings. The public education, budgeting and redistribution committees are among those with new chairs.
by Cassandra Pollock
February 4, 2021
Updated: 2 hours ago
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Texas Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan chaired the committee Thursday Chamber shakes, signaling who its best lieutenants will be during its first session overseeing the lower chamber.
State Representative Greg Bonnen, a Republican from Friendswood, will now oversee the House Budget Committee and the Replacing MPs Giovanni Capriglione from R-Southlake. Bonnen is the brother of former Speaker of Parliament Dennis Bonnen, who retired after a term in office after a scandal over secretly recorded comments to other members of the House of Representatives.
In a further step, Houston Democrat Harold Dutton will now chair the committee lead to public education. Dutton replaces Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Houston, the longtime chairman who helped massively reform the state’s school funding system in 2019.
Dutton’s appointment is particularly noteworthy as it has shared with Republicans the growth of charter schools and others Has supported school forms outside traditional public schools – often an important point in educational policy. In previous sessions, Dutton passed laws giving charter schools more government funding and authority to run programs for students who have dropped out or are at risk of doing so. Many other House Democrats are opposed to the expansion of charter schools, which have more freedom from government regulations than traditional school districts.
The House Redistricting Committee, which will be particularly powerful this year, will also have a new chair: MP Todd Hunter , R-Corpus Christi. Hunter replaces Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford. Hunter will lead the reshaping of the state’s political maps for the House, a one-time process that lawmakers are expected to address in a special session later this year. Federal judges previously determined that state lawmakers were tasked with redesigning these maps in 2011, « including, in particular, Rep. Hunter, » racially-engineered counties in Nueces County, « to further undermine the electoral power of Latinos. » Others Major changes in the committee included Rep. Briscoe Cain, a Republican from Deer Park and a member of the Conservative Freedom Caucus, who now chairs the House Election Committee. Cain flew to Pennsylvania after the November election to help former President Donald Trump’s legal team unsuccessfully question the state’s election results. Some of the most prominent Republican politicians in Texas joined Trump in reinforcing the misinformation about the election following his loss to President Joe Biden. Despite resigning, Trump is currently facing impeachment charges accused of instigating the violent uprising in the U.S. Capitol last month. Cain replaces Rep. Stephanie Klick, R-Fort Worth, as Chair of the Election Committee.
Another member of the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Matt Krause from Fort Worth, will now chair the General Investigating Committee and Rep. Morgan Meyer, R-Dallas, who will serve as chairman of the House Ways and Means for Tax Writing Committee.
wrote in an email to House Members announcing the assignment of committees Phelan that he « could never have foreseen how difficult it would be to assign committees » before winning the speaker’s gavel.
« Please note that I have always considered requests from my office throughout the process , and although it would be impossible to process every request, each request was thoughtfully and duly considered, « he wrote.
Since the assignments are not yet completed, submitted R rules for a possible hearing are referred to the committees. In the Senate, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick submitted committee assignments for the 2021 meeting last month. Meanwhile, Rep. Will Metcalf, R-Conroe, replaces Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, chairman of the House’s Administrative Committee, and Rep. Chris Paddy, R-Marshall, will chair the House State Affairs Committee, which Phelan chaired during the 2019 session. Dustin Burrows State Representative, R-Lubbock, will now chair the House Calendar Committee, who oversees the schedule and order in which the bills arrive on the floor of the house for debate, replacing Four Price State MP, R-Amarillo. Burrows was also implicated in the 2019 political scandal that led to Bonnen’s resignation, stepping down as chairmen of the House’s GOP caucus after alleging the two wanted to take political action against other Republicans in the House in the 2020 primaries.
According to the speakers’ office, 21 chairmen of the Chamber’s 34 standing committees are Republicans and 13 are Democrats. And one Democrat – El Paso State MP Joe Moody – is again serving as the speaker, a position he held during the 2019 session under Bonnen.Five committee chairs and 14 vice-chairs are women, while 14 are women Vice-Chairs are Black, Hispanic, or Asian-American.
Compared to 2019, the Democrats will have an additional Chair and three additional Vice Chairs on committees at this session, although the division of 83-67 in the Chamber remains unchanged. Edinburgh Democratic MP Terry Canales will re-chair the House Transportation Committee and Houston Democratic MP Senfronia Thompson, who previously chaired the House Public Health Committee, will now oversee the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee. p> Two other senior executives – Rafael Anchía of Dallas and Chris Turner of Grand Prairie – will chair the committees on Home Pensions, Investments and Financial Services, and the Committees on Business and Industry. Anchía, who serves as President of the Mexican-American Legislative Committee, previously chaired the Committee on International Relations and Economic Development. And Turner, who chairs the House Democratic Caucus, was the chairman of the House Higher Education Committee.
Updated: January 16, 2021
Updated: January 12, 2021
January 12, 2021
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