Today is the 31st day of the 82nd regular session of the Texas Legislature. Both the House and Senate have adjourned until next Monday.
Yesterday's announcement of House committee assignments means that things are really about to get moving in Austin. The Speakers office referred the first 106 House Bills to committee, so the first of the first of the anti-bullying bills (HB 24) is now in committee. I don't expect it to be set for a hearing until the other three House bully bills (HB 130, HB 170 & HB 224) are also referred, that should happen on Monday or Tuesday.
Committee meeting schedules are set by the committee coordinator, under the direction of the House Administration committee. Since all House members serve on at least two committees the coordinator is charged with creating a schedule which minimizes the number of members whose committees meet at the same time. The committee schedule has not yet been announced but should be available with-in the next few days.
Committees are required to give 5 days notice before holding a public hearing on bills so that people who want to testify on the bill can have time to make arrangements to get to Austin. That means that we are very unlikely to have any public hearings next week and it will likely be day 42, at the earliest, before any of the bills we are tracking have a public hearing.
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