Besides Governor Greg Abbott’s determination to get his school voucher program passed in the legislative session that begins January 14, political experts say Houston residents can expect to see bipartisan support for bills that will improve storm response and infrastructure maintenance.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has said his priorities include school choice, continued property tax relief and strengthening the Texas power grid. The lieutenant governor announced earlier this month his support of Republican Sen. Charles Perry’s Senate Bill 3, which would ban all forms of consumable THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) from being sold in Texas. Texas cannabis retailers are not at all happy about this.
Jason Moreno, owner of J and I Hemp Farm in Webster, said a ban on the billion-dollar THC industry would be “completely devastating.”
“The way they’re wording it, even just regular CBD would all of a sudden be banned,” he said. “This is something that people use for pain management, PTSD, stress, anxiety and sleep disorders. All of our veterans who are trying to get off opioids and better themselves are going to have to go to the black market.”
J and I has been growing products and selling wholesale and retail since 2019.
“Everything is lab tested,” Moreno said. “We’ve done everything by the book, everything they told us to do, and yet here they go again changing things up. We’re the ones trying to do things the right way, and we’re the ones getting penalized.”
While pundits say social issues such as gender-affirming healthcare and abortion could be hotly debated in Austin this session, legislation on those matters already passed in 2023 and the only way it’s likely to resurface is to create more clarity around existing laws.
Nancy Sims, a University of Houston political science lecturer, said the upcoming session will be even more conservative than the last one, meaning that while numerous bills have been filed on criminal justice reform matters such as mandating air conditioning in state prisons, they’re not likely to see support from both sides of the aisle.
Sims said she expects laws to pass that will ensure that utility infrastructure is sound and emergency response is swift in the wake of this summer’s Category 1 Hurricane Beryl, which left thousands of Houstonians without power for weeks. When the storm made landfall in July, CenterPoint Energy was heavily criticized for deploying just a few mobile generators, even though the company had leased 20 backup power sources at an expense to utility ratepayers of more than $800 million.
“Probably the most unifying legislation will be on infrastructure issues related to storms,” Sims said. “I’m not going to say CenterPoint specifically because while there is legislation filed about CenterPoint, it’s also about the grid and the infrastructure surrounding our power distribution and maintenance.
“That will rise above party because everybody from Dan Patrick to [District 13 Democratic Sen.] Borris Miles is pissed off.”
Houston Senators Paul Bettencourt, Molly Cook, and Carol Alvarado joined colleagues at the Capitol last month for pre-filing and all said that preparing for and responding to natural disasters are their top priorities.
More than 1,500 bills were filed on November 12, compared to about 900 on the first day of filing in 2023.
Some Houston-adjacent representatives also got in on the action. Texas has a $20 billion surplus and many lawmakers are advocating to use half of that amount to offset ever-increasing property tax bills. Legislation introduced by Rep. Will Metcalf, R-Montgomery, addresses permanent limitations on property appraisal increases. A bill from Rep. Cecil Bell, R-Magnolia, proposes allocating state surplus funds to property tax relief efforts.
But property tax relief will be dependent on “what the budget looks like,” said Bettencourt, a Republican representing District 7, who has been known as a fierce advocate for lowering property owners’ tax bills.
“The House leadership situation is up in the air,” he said in a recent phone interview. “They have not yet chosen a speaker. Some of these negotiations will have to wait until the legislative session starts in 2025.”
State Reps. David Cook of Mansfield and Dustin Burrows of Lubbock are in a race for Speaker of the House that will be decided next month. Current Speaker Dade Phelan stepped down, and Governor Abbott is backing Cook, while Burrows is viewed as a Phelan ally.
“This raises the possibility of having a more conservative Republican speaker who doesn’t rely as much on Democrats as Speaker Phelan has in the past,” said Rice University political science professor Mark Jones. “What that could mean is effectively you’ll have an even more conservative legislature. The real break in the Legislature over the past couple of sessions has been the House moving more to the right.”
Regardless of who is leading the House of Representatives, the likelihood of even a fraction of the pre-filed bills becoming law is low. About 15 percent of all bills filed in the last legislative session actually made it to the governor’s desk.
“They file between 5,000 to 7,000 bills and about 500 to 700 pass,” Sims said.
“Everyone hopes their own bill will pass. It’s also a conversation starter: ‘We need to look at this issue; we need to look at it more deeply. And if enough of us file a bill on this subject, can we elevate it into a merged bill?’ Think about the power outages and power regulation. In every district in the region that’s filing a bill on the subject matter, that’s because their people suffered and they want the opportunity to tell that story at a committee hearing.”
Lawmakers to Watch
Houston‘s Gene Wu, D-137, was recently named Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair, which is akin to being the Minority Leader in the Texas Legislature, Sims explained. “He’s someone to watch,” she said.
The biggest question about Wu will be whether he is able to move from a more polarizing and attacking role on behalf of his fellow Democrats to one that can work with Republicans to get legislation done that is good for all Texans.
“On the Republican side, Paul Bettencourt will always be a leader,” Sims added. “We’ve got a new senator from Houston, Molly Cook. While she’s greatly loved in the district that elected her, she’s going to be in a pretty small minority of liberal Democrats. I do know she’s pre-filed some of the infrastructure bills.”
Rice University political science professor Mark Jones said Wu’s selection as caucus chair sends a signal that the Dems intend to “be less cooperative with Republicans.
“I think one of the signals the Democrats are sending by selecting Gene Wu is a more combative Democratic Caucus during the 2025 session, which could very well result in less influence by Democrats on legislation,” Jones said. “Their only real weapon if they are non-cooperative is not providing quorum. As we saw with election legislation back in 2021, that’s not really a viable option because the governor can call them back into special session if they don’t complete the business.”
Jones added that Senator Bettencourt is the most important person to watch because of his strong ties to the lieutenant governor and his influential status in the Senate. When asked about those ties and whether he’s encouraged by the strong numbers in Republican leadership, Bettencourt laughed.
“Hope springs eternal,” he said. “If you want to use that, you can. Just add a capital LOL.”
Education
It’s “extremely likely” that school choice — an initiative that offers state funds to parents who want to educate their children outside the public school system — will pass this session although it’s been rejected for years, Sims said.
Rep. Mayes Middleton, R-Wallisville, filed Senate Bill 176, which would create an education savings account program for state-sponsored scholarships known as school vouchers that would cover private school tuition, online schooling or private tutors. The bill suggests that the program would be funded by taxpayer money and donations.
Jones agreed that some type of school choice legislation would pass in the 89th legislative session.
“The only real question is how expansive it will be,” he said. “If we look at [Houston ISD], it would mean less resources for HISD potentially but it also means fewer students. At the end of the day, it could adversely affect HISD but it could also lead to increased competition for HISD which might improve it.”
Alvarado, D-District 6, said it’s critical to ensure that legislation related to school choice specifies that vouchers should only be spent on tuition, not flat screen televisions or other “educational materials.” It’s also important for the Legislature to spend some of its surplus on the public school system, she said.
“I’ve been hearing from school districts throughout my senate district, and they just want a level playing field,” she said. “They want to be able to compete with the private schools. They want to be able to have the resources they need so they don’t lose kids. I think the very least that those who are proposing vouchers can do is give the schools what they need.
“Vouchers got caught up in politics last time and we didn’t give teachers a pay raise. We didn’t put more money into public education that school districts were asking for.”
Jones said public opinion polls show that those who live in the Houston school district and support school choice believe that the current system isn’t working for children, particularly African Americans.
“The strong split we see on school choice here in Houston is, you have strong Republican support for school choice, which is not that surprising, but you also see a pretty dramatic split among Democrats with a majority of white Democrats opposing school choice but a majority of Black Democrats supporting it,” he said.
Sims explained that because property taxes fund the Texas education system, potential tax relief is tied to what happens with school choice.
Texans could also see more micromanagement of public universities related to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Sims added.
“I think you’ll see more of that values-based legislation aimed at universities and schools, like book bans,” she said. “When we talk about values, the top two you hear most discussed are gender care and transgender issues as well as abortion, but there’s so much more, like book bans and abolishing DEI and telling your universities what they can and can’t teach.”
Jones said DEI legislation passed in the last session and isn’t likely to resurface in a significant way.
“I think where you’re likely to see legislation related to DEI is based on an evaluation of how colleges and universities responded to the 2023 legislation, using legislation in 2025 to close loopholes or refine what was done to make it more effective,” he said.
“There may be an effort to see if there were certain ways that universities didn’t comply with the 2023 legislation, to pass new legislation to ensure that they have to.”
Storm Response
Similar to school choice, experts say it’s likely some bills related to energy regulation will pass; they just don’t know yet what the specifics will be. The Legislature has the ability to fix the ERCOT power grid through the budget and governance, Sims said, adding that the question is, “Do they have the willpower?”
“I think they have less power over CenterPoint [than ERCOT],” she said. “So they’re filing a lot of legislation that puts a target on CenterPoint, but CenterPoint is a private company that you’ve given a monopoly to. Unless you’re going to undo the monopoly, you can’t really tell them how to run their company.
“The grid is the opposite; it’s maintained by the state. They could fix it. Again, do they have the willpower to do that?”
Sims predicted that Abbott will “speak aggressively on the grid and the need to stabilize power across the state.”
Jones added that a lot of lawmakers are upset about the $800 million charge to ratepayers for generators purchased after Winter Storm Yuri that were not designed for hurricane response.
“One focal point is sort of clawing back the $800 million that CenterPoint has already charged or will be charging ratepayers and making CenterPoint cover the costs out of its own profits,” he said. “The other would be legislation that would provide more concrete metrics for things like vegetation maintenance and the replacement of wood telephone poles and raising electricity lines above the tree line so there’s less doubt related to how the [Public Utility Commission] regulates electricity providers like CenterPoint or Oncor.”
Cook, a Democrat representing Senate District 15, proposed SB 270 calling for a study of the costs and benefits of burying distribution power lines. Such initiatives have been stymied in the past for flood-prone areas like Houston. Cook’s bill appears to be a dig at CenterPoint Energy’s response to Beryl, which reportedly caused an economic loss of up to $32 billion, destroying trees and power lines, and leaving millions of Texans without power.
Following a special election, Cook was sworn into office on May 16, the day that a
derecho — a massive windstorm — ripped through Houston.
“From the moment I’ve taken office, resiliency to storms has been a really high priority,” Cook said. “We’ve heard a lot of complaints and a lot of asks from the district that were all very valid. The [University of Houston] Hobby School poll showed that over 80 percent of all voters regardless of age, race or party support legislation that empowers the PUC to hold CenterPoint and other energy providers accountable for hardening our grid. This is an extremely high priority, no matter who you are, living in SD15.”
Cook, an emergency room nurse, said she’s drawing experience from what she sees in the ER on a daily basis.
“We are focusing on a life-saving policy agenda,” she said. “Whoever carries the bills, if it saves lives, I’m going to be supporting it.”
Alvarado said her pre-filed package ensures that linemen who are attacked while trying to restore electricity will be treated like first responders. “If someone assaults them and they’re convicted, the penalty will be greater,” she said.
Alvarado’s legislation also addresses situations like one that occurred in her district when property managers of a senior living facility abandoned the complex during Beryl.
“We had seniors on the second and third floors who were wheelchair-bound and needed help,” she said. “We’re going to have legislation that addresses that issue. We’re still working through the weeds on that. It can be a form of neglect for the elderly.”
Finally, her package includes a bill requiring that nursing homes and assisted living centers have backup generators.
“I think you’re going to see a lot of bipartisan bills come out on grid reliability, flooding, infrastructure and water issues,” Alvarado said. “As the minority party that’s what we’ll be looking to, to see what we can work with in a bipartisan way on some very critical issues to our state.”
Senate Bill 231, filed by Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, would require electric utilities to have mobile, emergency power generators that can be quickly deployed after a storm to areas impacted by power outages. The bill also would require the Public Utilities Commission to review generators that were previously leased to CenterPoint and other utilities to ensure that the equipment is really mobile.
Bettencourt said there is widespread support for holding CenterPoint accountable.
“You can’t be the energy capital of the world if your public utility can’t keep the lights on,” he said. “In addition, I am concerned about some of the continuing corruption that’s popping up. I’m looking at strengthening those laws because that just can’t be tolerated in the 21st Century.”
The senator said he hopes to add $5 billion to expanding base energy across the state.
“We’re trying to get more gas plants in that run on a continuous cycle … so we don’t go through [another] Winter Storm Yuri,” he said. “We’re also looking at investments in water funds to make sure we have the water we need. With a change in leadership in the House, I’d expect there would be a lot of blocking and tackling issues that would move forward.”
“Put the Knives Down”
Wu said he’s not sure whether to accept congratulations or condolences on his appointment as Democratic Caucus Chair but he’s hopeful both parties will set aside their differences this session.
Leading any group of elected officials involves challenges, he said.
“My priorities are the same as every Democrat who’s in office right now,” he said. “It’s education. It’s trying to protect women’s health. It’s making sure that teachers get a salary increase. It’s dealing with water issues, resiliency issues and flooding issues. We’ve not really fixed the grid. We need to talk about how we’re going to make sure power lines are kept safe. Do we need to put them in the ground? Do we need to lift them up higher? Do we need to cut more trees down? There are a thousand questions that affect the daily lives of Texans.
“Our biggest challenge is how do both Democrats and Republicans focus on those issues and not the red meat partisan issues that get everybody worked up and not want to cooperate and collaborate anymore?”
The vitriol between the two parties has become nasty and bitter over the past five years, Wu explained. “There’s no trust left,” he said.
As for how to repair that, he said both sides have to “put the knives down.”
“There needs to be recognition that bad things were done,” Wu said. “Even on the Democratic side, I’ve said some pretty toxic, nasty things about my colleagues, and those things probably weren’t helpful, but it made people feel better.
A lot of communities that Democrats represent and protect feel like personal attacks [were made against] them, whether you’re LGBTQ, whether you’re Latino or you’re Asian, a lot of these attacks felt very personal. When you get attacked personally, you want to hit back. That’s what we did because we had no other outlet. We couldn’t get heard any other way.”
The representative said he hopes for the sake of all Texans that elected officials from both parties will recognize that they all want the communities they represent to be safe and prosperous.
“Is this desire for a new beginning, is this desire to go back to the way things used to be, is this real? Or is this just another political play?” Wu asked. “I don’t know the answer to that yet. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what happens in the Speaker’s race. Democrats are going to fight for the things we’ve always fought for.
“ If we are able to work in a more bipartisan manner, we will do better for our communities. We will do better for the people who are counting on us. The same can be said for the Republicans. Everybody will benefit from people putting the knives down.”
More Harris County Legislation to Watch
Bettencourt’s “Integrity Seven” series of bills directly target Harris County and other large government entities in how they manage elections, Jones said. For example, one bill bans large counties from mailing out voter registration applications that have not been solicited by voters.
Bettencourt said if passed, the bills would improve transparency, voter roll integrity, election procedures and auditing. The senator explained that sending out “shotgun” unsolicited absentee ballots and voter registration forms is a waste of property tax revenue. “The bills have passed the Senate once before. I expect them to pass again,” he said.
Critics say Bettencourt’s proposals are just another way to decrease the voting power of minorities and low-income populations and that there have been almost no instances of actual voter fraud from in the state. In the last Legislative session, only one of his seven bills approved by the Senate passed in the House.
Rep. Valoree Swanson, R-District 150, pre-filed HB 240 which would require counties with a population of 3.3 million or higher to have unanimous consent among members of the Commissioners Court to pass tax-related or budget-related matters.
“It’s probably to send a signal to the Democratic majority on [Harris County] Commissioners Court,” Jones said. “This past year they took advantage of Hurricane Beryl … to dramatically increase property taxes without any real budgetary justification pertaining to the hurricane. The spirit was that if you had devastation from a hurricane, you may need to raise taxes more than normal to pay for it, but that wasn’t the case with Hurricane Beryl. Part of that is to send a signal to the Commissioners Court that if they continue down this path they run the risk of effectively the Republican-controlled Legislature restraining their freedom of action on budgetary matters. It may be just a signal but it may pass.”
Jones added that he expects to see “some form of property tax relief” but noted that the aforementioned Harris County Commissioners Court action could have lingering negative impacts.
“The only question is what form it takes, whether it’s raising the homestead exemption or engaging in more compression of the school property tax rates,” he said. “There will be property tax relief. Right now it’s not clear what form it will take and how much relief will be provided. What happened in Harris County is effectively much of the relief that was provided back in the 2023 session was erased by the Democratic majority on Commissioners Court when they chose to dramatically increase county property taxes this year.”
Lawmakers can continue filing bills through March 14. The session lasts just 140 days, ending on June 2.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
