By Lauren Fairbanks and J Pete Laney
TAD Governmental Affairs
While some Texas legislators are able to stay away from Austin and the extreme summer heat, others have been at the Texas Capitol where committees are holding interim hearings on a variety of topics assigned by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas Speaker Dade Phelan in their interim charges. September will see an increase in hearings as we head into the 89th legislative session that starts in January.
The House Agriculture & Livestock Committee held its first interim hearing on Tuesday, Aug. 13, hearing invited testimony on the implementation of two bills passed during the last legislative session that became law on Sept. 1, 2023:
- HB 1750, relating to the applicability of certain city requirements to agricultural operations.
- HB 2308, relating to nuisance actions and other actions against agricultural operations.
Recall, these are the “Right to Farm” bills, supported by the Texas Association of Dairymen, that ensure the state’s agriculture operations are protected by providing for limitations on city and county governmental requirements on agricultural operations and related agriculture services.
The committee also heard invited testimony on its assigned charge to examine foreign ownership of farm-, timber- and pastureland and agricultural processing facilities in Texas to determine whether Texas industries and supply chains are adequately protected from threats and disruptions and if further safeguards and restrictions on ownership are needed.
The Texas Association of Dairymen continues to monitor committee hearings this summer and fall on topics of interest to the Texas dairy industry.
Another part of the preparation for the upcoming legislative session now underway is the drafting of Legislative Appropriations Requests (LARs) by state agencies. These requests – what agencies would like included in their budgets for the next two fiscal years – will be the subject of legislative hearings as the Texas Legislature drafts and ultimately passes a 2026-2027 biennial budget during the 2025 session.
Comptroller Glenn Hegar’s office recently projected a $21.2B treasury surplus for the end of the current fiscal biennium. Following this, Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick sent a joint letter to agencies regarding 2026-2027 Legislative Appropriations Requests that included the following priority items: property tax relief; more funding for the Texas Energy Fund to build more natural gas power plants; more funding for mental health facilities; the creation of an Education Savings Account (ESA) program; and more border security funding. House Speaker Dade Phelan sent a separate letter regarding LARs; ESAs and power plants were not included in his list of priorities.
In other news from the Capitol:
- Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said at this time he will not release a formal revision of the Certification Revenue Estimate (CRE) – an estimate of the revenue the state has to spend during the two-year budgetary period – because net general revenue-related collected through the first 10 months of fiscal 2024 are tracking with the 2024-25 CRE issued last October. While natural gas production tax revenue is below estimate due to lower-than-forecast prices, interest income is above estimate as interest rates continue to remain higher than forecast. The October 2023 CRE forecast a 2024-25 ending certification balance of $18.3 billion
- Gov. Dan Patrick has created a Senate Special Committee on Hurricane and Tropical Storm Preparedness, Recovery and Electricity. The committee includes chair Sen. Charles Schwertner (R-Georgetown), vice chair Phil King (R-Weatherford), and members Carol Alvarado (D-Houston), Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe), Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (D-McAllen), Joan Huffman (R-Houston), Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham), Morgan LaMantia (D-Palm Valley), Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston), Borris Miles (D-Houston), Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville), and Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo). This committee has already started meeting and heard testimony.
- Comptroller Glenn Hegar has solicited applications for the Texas Broadband Pole Replacement Program. The Pole Replacement Program provides reimbursement funds to eligible applicants to expedite the deployment of broadband to individuals in rural areas. Eligible applicants for reimbursement are pole owners and retail broadband service providers that have incurred costs for replacing poles in eligible areas to affix qualifying broadband facilities.
