If you live in West Texas, it’s not easy to know what the Texas Legislature is doing, when it meets every other year for 140 days in Austin. The 88th Legislative Session began Tuesday.
Last week, national media bombarded the public around the clock with the federal house speaker vote. But when it comes to the role of government in our day-to-day lives, the Texas Legislature has much more immediate impact on taxes, schools, roads, health and other local issues. Diminished corporate daily newspapers and the aggregation of corporate local TV stations’ newscasts have reduced what the average West Texan can learn about the its state legislature.
Elected representatives do what they can with town halls, but during the session, they’re busy legislating.
As weekly newspapers, we will be including the best coverage we can of the session. That includes coverage from the Texas Press Association in the form of Capital Highlights and Texas Senate News. We publish Texas Tribune legislative previews and highlights and when needed, compile media reports from quoted sources, such as the Austin American-Statesman, the Houston Chronicle and the Dallas Morning News.
And we’ll reach out to representatives Dustin Burrows, James Frank and Ken King, as well as Senator Charles Perry for their insights.
After redistricting and the November election, the balance of power in both chambers of the Legislature has not changed much. There are 64 Democrats in the 150-member House, one fewer than before the election. There is also one fewer Democrat in the Senate. In the31-memberSenate,there are 18 Republicans and 13 Democrats.
A similar composition should aid legislators in getting to work quickly.
TheHousespeaker,Dade Phelan, is expected to win a second term as one of the first orders of business Tuesday.
A $27 million budget surplus should command lawmakers’ attention and allow less opportunity to focus on more polarizing social issues. Meaningful property tax reform affects everyone and should be attainable with the surplus. For West Texas, realistic water goals must be front and center.
Each week, our newspapers will update readers on the progress the legislature makes. If you have questions about the 88th Session, feel free to drop us a note at spur@thetexasspur. com.
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