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January 17, 2025 4:35 PM
Members seem to be fully staffed up now, lobby shops are making hires, and agencies are seeing some transitions
On
this week’s Texas Take podcast, dropping on your favorite podcast app later
today, I think I said something like this: The first day back at the building gives
first-day-of-school vibes. But we were all quickly reminded that it’s more like
a dysfunctional family reunion that will now last for the next 5 months. Gov.
Abbott and I agree that hopefully no called sessions
are required.
In
all seriousness, it was great to see all your smiling faces this week.
Meantime
members seem to be fully staffed up now, lobby shops are making hires, and
agencies are seeing some transitions. If you’ve got career news to share – yours
or that of someone else – feel free to let the entire Texas Capitol know by
sending it to ksbraddock@gmail.com.
If you use POTM in the subject line, it speeds things up.
Here’s
the latest edition of People on the Move.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright January 17, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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January 17, 2025 9:33 AM
You
can download
them here.
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Copyright January 17, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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January 16, 2025 3:35 PM
Campaign finance reports show Speaker Burrows with $1.3 million on hand as compared to past speakers who would have between $3 to $4 million typically; Amarillo businessman Alex Fairly followed through on putting $20 million into a PAC so it was indeed key that his daughter Rep. Fairly switched allegiances to Burrows
Even as
the legislative session begins, many of us are looking forward to 2026, when
the entire House, some members of the Senate, and numerous statewide leaders
will be on top of the ballot. Given the grassroots conservative anger about
everything –– no, no, just around the election of Speaker of the House Dustin
Burrows for now, he and his supporters already have targets on their back. And
the way the speaker’s race played out has put him and others at a disadvantage
going up against West Texas billionaires whose money comes out of the ground.
Let’s take a look at the January campaign finance reports.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By James Russell
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Copyright January 16, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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January 16, 2025 9:34 AM
Rep. Geren said on floor he was asked to find more money for office budgets
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Copyright January 16, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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January 16, 2025 7:14 AM
He raised $950,000 for the reporting period
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Copyright January 16, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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January 15, 2025 7:20 PM
In the housekeeping resolutions for both chambers: Senate Finance would be reduced to 15 members from 17, Senate Education would combine K-12 with Higher Ed with no subcommittee. Meantime the House is on track to hire a chief counsel to represent the body, perhaps in situations like the recent death row case spearheaded by Chairs Moody and Leach. There's also a small increase in office monthly budgets and two employees can be exempt from the salary cap instead of only one
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Copyright January 15, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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January 15, 2025 7:18 PM
COS Bob Duncan, Deputy Chief Zak Covar, former Rep. Tracy King as Sr Advisor, Lubbock's own Matt Crow as District Affairs Coordinator, Director Paige Holzheauser, and Comms Director Cait Wittman
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Copyright January 15, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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January 15, 2025 10:29 AM
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Copyright January 15, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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January 15, 2025 9:00 AM
The
newsflash from KVUE
in Austin:
Real
estate developer Nate Paul reached a plea deal on Wednesday in his federal
fraud case. Paul pleaded guilty on one count of making false statements to a
financial institution and he faces up to six months in prison. All other
charges against Paul will be dropped.
Paul,
a close associate of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, faced several criminal
charges of financial crimes in June 2023 before multiple wire fraud charges
were added later that year.
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Copyright January 15, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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January 14, 2025 7:01 PM
"This may be the first time in our nation’s history where the minority party openly elected the speaker of a legislative body instead of the majority party," Patrick said
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Copyright January 14, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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January 14, 2025 6:55 PM
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Copyright January 14, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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January 14, 2025 6:15 PM
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Copyright January 14, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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January 14, 2025 4:29 PM
Thanks to the folks at Lege TV for the video, which you can watch below
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Copyright January 14, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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January 14, 2025 2:44 PM
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Copyright January 14, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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January 14, 2025 2:38 PM
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Copyright January 14, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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January 14, 2025 10:48 AM
Meantime, incoming freshman Rep. Caroline Fairly switches to Burrows
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Copyright January 14, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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January 13, 2025 3:47 PM
Decentralizing power away from the Speaker while an authoritarian Lieutenant Governor dictates votes to Senators and dispenses permission for the lobby to advocate on some pieces of legislation undermines members’ ability to represent their communities. It amounts to pitting an autocrat against a class president
To say that the
current environment in the Texas House of Representatives is
unsettled would be an understatement. The attempted hostile takeover of the
House is in full sight, and one might be forgiven for laughing at a bunch of
freshmen who have never been on the floor speak so self-righteously about how
the legislative process should work.
So let’s talk
about the state of play as we understand it today with a number of reality
checks that freshmen need to know and veterans would do well to remember.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Harvey Kronberg
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Copyright January 13, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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January 13, 2025 3:14 PM
Union head Capo urges legislators to use some of $24 billion surplus to support fund public ed
With
Comptroller Glenn Hegar announcing lawmakers have a $24 billion surplus one
day before the legislature convenes, the Texas American Federation of Teachers
2024 membership survey showed public schools need a lot more money.
The
4,133 respondents are
fed up, according to the report, released annually for the past five years.
They reported they are tired, have seriously considered leaving the field and
are worried about the impact of a voucher program on their schools.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By James Russell
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Copyright January 13, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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January 13, 2025 2:06 PM
Lawmakers will have $195 billion for next budget
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Copyright January 13, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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January 12, 2025 6:48 PM
Patrick said, "Five business partners control the operations of the Texas House," and mentioned Dennis Bonnen and Speaker Phelan, who responded that it is "shameful that the Lt. Gov. of Texas has resorted to spreading complete falsehoods in an effort to control the House chamber."
What
looks like one last nasty public battle between Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and
outgoing Speaker Dade Phelan unfolded Sunday evening as the former
attacked the latter along with others who have become entangled in the investment
schemes of former Speaker Dennis Bonnen.
In
a post on Twitter that Phelan called “Ridiculous and completely disingenuous,” Patrick
pointed to the investments of some House leaders that stem from former Speaker
Bonnen’s well-known practice of finding investors in Austin for his bank, Heritage
Bank in Pearland, which merged with Third Coast Bank in
Houston back in 2020.
"Five
business partners control the operations of the Texas House: Dennis Bonnen,
Greg Bonnen, Dustin Burrows, Cody Harris, and Dade Phelan," Patrick
said. "They are also business partners together in a bank,” he said of
Third Coast Bank.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright January 12, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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January 12, 2025 10:34 AM
Former Rep. Carl Isett, a conservative who served under Democratic and GOP speakers, tells incoming freshmen “You are about to learn the difference between rhetoric and governance, the latter being the more difficult”
Leading up to the opening
day of the Legislature this week, there has been nonstop talk of the
idea that there should be no Democratic Chairs in a Republican controlled Texas
House of Representatives. I disagree with that idea. I have been asked
several times to explain what’s going on with our party and all the phone calls
and texts received from the camps of the two to be Speaker.
It is not my intent to determine
what is right or wrong but only share my seven terms
of experience in the House where I was honored and humbled to receive just
about every award one could win by being an unwavering and principled
conservative. I am a Republican only
second to being a conservative.
I held office during the
last three sessions of the 130 years in which the Democratic Party controlled
the Texas House of Representatives. But I was also there in 2003 when the
Republicans finally won a majority in the House and I
served four terms under Republican leadership. As a movement conservative, I
was a (Tom) Craddick guy from the
beginning until the end.
I served under three
different Speakers and am one of the few Republicans who served in both the majority
and minority. Believe me, the former is much better than the latter.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
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Copyright January 12, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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