Budget hearings to begin in Senate

The Texas House typically gets off to a much slower start than the Senate due to the more challenging task of appointing 149 House members, including dozens of new ones, to 30+ committees. The members are first asked to give their preferences to the speaker, and veteran members can use their seniority status to secure positions on specific committees. The complicated task takes weeks; meanwhile the Senate has already organized committees and begun posting committee hearings.

The Senate started off quickly with a series of redistricting hearings. Although the redistricting of legislative and State Board of Education boundaries was addressed in 2021, the legislation was passed during a special session, sparking a lawsuit over the fact that the boundaries were not approved in a regular session as required by law. The Senate is expected to essentially re-adopt the boundaries that were approved last session, but is holding daily hearings through Saturday to receive public testimony.

Beginning the following Monday, Senate Finance Committee will kick off hearings on the base budget that was released last week (both the Redistricting and Finance committees are chaired by Sen. Joan Huffman). The hearing to address school funding and funding for the Teacher Retirement System will take place on Monday, Feb. 6.