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May 14, 2025 4:41 PM
During an afternoon news conference, Burrows pointed to other key components of the legislation and said it’s not wise to focus on “just one number”
Seemingly
very out of step with his membership on his top priority legislation of the session,
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows on Wednesday afternoon praised
the Texas Senate’s version of school finance which drastically pulls
back on the proposed increase in the basic allotment.
As Quorum
Report first told you last night, the Senate’s plan would boost the
basic allotment by $55 – an amount that many districts won’t even see under the
proposal because of the way it’s structured, according to numbe
crunchers at ISDs around the state who have been studying the plan. It’s drastically
different from what the House passed on a vote of 142 to 5: An increase of
$395.
Lt. Gov. Dan
Patrick and Burrows, along with the state’s chief budget writers and the governor,
have worked to negotiate the details of the Senate plan scheduled for a hearing
in Chairman Brandon Creighton’s committee tomorrow morning.
In
response to a question from a journalist about the differences in the plans,
Burrows focused on the overall price tag of $8 billion and pointed to the other
key components of the legislation including special education funding, teacher pay,
full day funding for pre-k, and school safety.
“Looking
at just one number and not what the entire bill does, I don’t think is what we
need to be doing,” Burrows said. “When you look at the things it does, it’s the
things we identified are very important.”
Developing…
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Copyright May 14, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 13, 2025 10:03 PM
Here’s page one and
here’s page
two.
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Copyright May 13, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 13, 2025 8:53 PM
School finance stakeholders are starting to see tonight's numbers
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Copyright May 13, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 13, 2025 6:38 PM
Patrick playing hide the ball with his counter offer by keeping HB2 in committee for three weeks while negotiating the bill with the Speaker and top budget writers; the House now has possession of Patrick priorities but there’s only so much that can be leveraged
Rather
than wait for a conference committee, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Speaker Dustin
Burrows, and top budget writers have in recent weeks taken part in negotiations
on Burrows’ top priority of the session: A sweeping school finance package that
passed the lower chamber with an $8 billion price tag and broad bipartisan
support.
Doing it
this way is a break with the tradition of rolling out the Senate’s counter offer in committee in public, holding
a public hearing, passing it in public on the Senate
floor, and then going to a conference committee to iron out differences.
“The
Patrick model has prevailed for how we do this,” said a veteran of Texas school
finance.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright May 13, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 13, 2025 5:38 PM
Opponents call it a “money grab” and a “bailout” for Mayor Whitmire’s administration; supporters argue toll road money in Houston has become a “slush fund” for Harris County Commissioners Court
What do
you know? It’s Houston people fighting with each other.
During a
formal meeting of the Texas House Transportation Committee, tensions
boiled over because of a vote to advance a long-stalled proposal to move millions from the
Harris County Toll Road Authority to the City of Houston to
help pay for police and firefighters.
Opponents call
it a “money grab” by Mayor John Whitmire’s administration but supporters
fire back that the city’s police and fire operations need to recoup costs for
responding to emergencies on the toll roads.
For his
part, Mayor Whitmire has tried to appear hands off about this. But the
legislative veteran – formerly the longest serving member of the Texas
Senate before this gig – was seen in the back hall of the Texas House
in recent weeks to personally lobby the speaker’s operation about it.
He has good
reason.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
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Copyright May 13, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 13, 2025 4:48 PM
“What happened to being innocent until proven guilty?” City and county leaders say proposal denies due process; Chairman Bell and others say local leaders need to be held accountable if they’re not following state statutes
A bill heard
this morning in Texas House Intergovernmental Affairs would give the
attorney general the authority to penalize and withhold sales tax collections
to cities and counties accused of not complying with state law.
Senate
Bill 2858 by Education
K-16 Chair Brandon Creighton and sponsored by chairman Cecil
Bell, Jr. builds upon the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act. That
bill, authored by Speaker Dustin Burrows, which was opposed by Democrats
and municipalities, was dubbed the “Death Star” because it nullified municipal
ordinances not consistent with state law. (Nondiscrimination ordinances
protecting a variety of individuals based on certain classes are exempt.)
That’s why
critics call this one the Death Star 2.0.
The bill
is the perfect combination of Proposition S in Dallas, which strips
immunity from the city when faced with lawsuits for perceived violations of the
city charter and Congressman Craig Goldman’s law preventing
municipalities from raising taxes if they “defund the police.”
When the
bill was laid out, a state was described in which cities and counties have been
going rogue.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By James Russell
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Copyright May 13, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 12, 2025 5:50 PM
The poll highlights “a real fear for Republicans — that Paxton, a MAGA loyalist who has faced a slew of legal troubles, is best positioned to win a primary but could struggle in a general election.”
From Punch
Bowl News in Washington:
Sen. John
Cornyn (R-Texas) trails Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton by 16 points in a new
poll commissioned by the Senate Leadership Fund, the GOP-leadership backed
super PAC.
SLF is
supporting Cornyn. Their poll has Cornyn trailing Paxton 56-40, according to
two people briefed on the survey.
In a
three-way contest with Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas), who is considering a run,
Cornyn is down 10. Paxton pulled 44% to Cornyn’s 34%. Hunt got 19% in the
three-way race.
The
survey, which was conducted from April 27 to May 1 by The Tarrance Group, also
tested a general election contest between each potential Republican candidate
and former Democratic Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas), who is mulling another
Senate run. Cornyn led Allred by 6 points in the poll. Hunt was up 4 points.
Paxton was down by 1 point.
Those
results underscore a real fear for Republicans — that Paxton, a MAGA loyalist
who has faced a slew of legal troubles, is best positioned to win a primary but
could struggle in a general election.
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Copyright May 12, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 12, 2025 5:43 PM
Chair Geren said she did not have a stroke, as had been feared, but she'll stay overnight in the hospital
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Copyright May 12, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 12, 2025 1:20 PM
A copy of
the letter send by the Sheriffs
Association of Texas can be downloaded here.
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Copyright May 12, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 12, 2025 11:02 AM
With more than 400 bills on the calendar, Democratic Caucus Chair Wu was accused of "filibustering" by Rep. Toth during a third reading debate on trans rights. Wu emphasized that HB2, $8 billion for public schools, is languishing in the Texas Senate
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Copyright May 12, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 12, 2025 9:21 AM
Among Bowen's endorsements are Sen. Middleton, Rep. Vasut, and Rep. Cain. "I am extremely proud to announce my campaign with the backing of our area's strongest grassroots leaders and conservative state legislators," said Bowen.
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Copyright May 12, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 10, 2025 9:46 AM
Strict enforcement was requested and the speaker held the roll call open for nearly an hour; a quorum was declared present at around 9:50am. The opening prayer made mention of the possibility the House will not meet on Sunday
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Copyright May 10, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 9, 2025 4:10 PM
McQueeny, with the support of Abbott and President Trump, still ain't cuttin it with these folks
FORT WORTH - Last night
the Tarrant County Republican Party voted to censure Rep. John
McQueeney for whatever new grievance precinct chairs and county chair Bo
French have against him. But they failed to censure two longtime targets Administration
Chair Charlie Geren and Delivery of Government Efficiency
Chair Gio Capriglione.
In the four-hour
meeting, the votes could not be found for the censure of
Capriglione or Geren either. They will
reconsider censuring the Southlake Republican later this summer.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By James Russell
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Copyright May 09, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 9, 2025 4:03 PM
"Our legislators should not
miss this rare opportunity to deliver the reforms and improvements to the system that Texas
parents — and many legislators themselves, from both parties — have long sought." The bill, HB4, is set for debate on Sunday
You can read
the letter from the Texas School Alliance by downloading it
right here.
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Copyright May 09, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 8, 2025 10:09 PM
85 to 60 was the vote on 2nd reading; Chair Hefner did take an amendment to deal with visa holders in the country legally who are not legal permanent residents. Despite the vote for the bill, allied organizations funded mainly by Tim Dunn and Wilks brothers are signaling tonight it will be a big issue in GOP primaries. "Everyone bookmark this vote, it will cost many incumbents their seats," said former Rep. Stickland
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Copyright May 08, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 8, 2025 4:03 PM
Paul immediately picked up the endorsement of Lieutenant Governor Patrick
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Copyright May 08, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 8, 2025 4:02 PM
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Copyright May 08, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 7, 2025 3:44 PM
Judiciary Chairman Leach spars with Anthony Holm over text messaging campaign; TLR and the Trials clash in spectacular fashion bringing in powerful witnesses on both sides
What’s
been billed as the most expansive tort reform legislation since 2003, back when
Republicans flexed a new majority to rein in medical malpractice lawsuits, was
barely an hour into its Texas House hearing when a fight broke
out.
As Anthony
Holm, a trial lawyer and longtime political operative, laid out his reasons
for opposing House Bill 4806 by Appropriations
Chair Dr. Greg Bonnen, Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence
Chair Jeff Leach asked about something else. “I’d like a simple yes or
no question,” he said. “Are you behind or do you have anything to do with ads
running attacking me or my Republican colleagues in the House?”
“Well,
sir--” Holm said.
“Yes or no?” a frustrated Leach asked.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By James Russell
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Copyright May 07, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 7, 2025 12:32 PM
From the
Dallas Express: (you may have to right click that link and open in a new tab)
Gov. Greg
Abbott is reportedly contacting sitting state legislators including more
than one State Senator to gauge interest in serving as interim Texas
Comptroller — a move that may violate the Texas Constitution and directly
contradict a legal opinion he issued himself as Attorney General in 2002.
According
to multiple sources familiar with the outreach, Abbott has made informal calls
to lawmakers about temporarily filling the comptroller role should the position
become vacant. But under Texas law, and based on a
2002 opinion authored by then-Attorney General Abbott, such appointments may be
unconstitutional if the appointee is a current or recently resigned legislator.
Now, whatever
your thoughts are on the Dallas Express, they’re correct about what Abbott’s
2002 opinion says.
You can check it out for
yourself right here.
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Copyright May 07, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 7, 2025 7:34 AM
From the announcement
this morning:
The rest of the story, subscribers only
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