AT THE CAPITOL
News from the 88th legislative session
2023 ANNUAL COMMUNITY GUIDE
State budget, public education among major priorities for legislative session A week out from the Jan. 10 start of the 2023-24 legislative session, more BY HANNAH NORTON NEIGHBORING STATE COMPARISONS
Cy-Fair legislators le bills ahead of 88th Texas Legislature
QUOTE OF NOTE
“WE HAVE TO BE TRANSPARENT. ... THE VOTERS SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW WHICH JUDGES R SPRING, SAID HE PLANS TO FILE A BILL REQUIRING JUDGES TO REPORT THE NUMBER OF CASES ASSIGNED, ADJUDICATED AND DISMISSED EACH MONTH. NUMBER TO KNOW bills had been led by Cy-Fair legislators as of Jan. 3, including state Reps. Sam Harless, R-Spring; Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress; Mike Scho eld, R-Katy; ARE WORKING.” STATE REP. SAM HARLESS, Jon Rosenthal, D-Houston; and Lacey Hull, R-Houston, as well as state Sens. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston; and Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham. State Rep. Penny Morales Shaw, D-Houston, and state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, had not led bills as of press time. 75
BY DANICA LLOYD
the biennium. Earlier this year, Comptroller Glenn Hegar revealed the state will have a surplus of roughly $27 billion, which puts the Legislature above its consti- tutional spending limits. To increase the spending cap, lawmakers must pass bills to increase the cap or vote to surpass it. Education and public schools Changing the way Texas funds public schools is top of mind for many educators, administrators and parents. Schools receive per-student funding from the state under the basic allotment. This is based on average daily attendance, or the number of students in attendance on average. Schools then earn $6,160 per student who meets the average daily attendance threshold. But when a stu- dent is frequently absent, their school loses money, even if the school’s day- to-day operations do not change. District administrators told Com- munity Impact they lost more money
Texas lawmakers began pre ling bills for the 88th Texas Legislature on Nov. 14, just days after the Nov. 8 general election. According to the Legislative Reference Library of Texas, state representatives and senators led 920 bills and resolutions that day—a record for the rst day of the pre ling period and 380 more than the same time frame in the previous legislative session. Bills led by Cy-Fair legislators so far cover elections, public schools, health care, property taxes, criminal justice, local government, law enforcement and emergency services.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Texas ranked in the middle in a sampling of Southern states when it comes to pre-K through 12th-grade overall per-pupil spending. Funding comes from local, state and federal sources. These numbers from the Census Bureau in 2021 show Texas and some of the surrounding states:
than 1,400 bills had been led by Texas lawmakers. Thousands more are expected to be led, but only some will become laws. Lawmakers have until March 10 to le prospective pieces of legislation, but bills led before the session opens often highlight their priorities for the biennium. Bills are numbered based on when they were led, but the rst few slots are set aside for the leaders of each chamber: House Speaker Dade Phelan and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Phelan has reserved House bills 1-20, while Patrick will have Senate bills 1-30. Budgeting for the coming years At a Nov. 30 meeting, the Legisla- tive Budget Board voted unanimously to increase the Legislature’s spending ability by 12.33% for the 2024-25 budget. This means lawmakers will have access to up to $131 billion for
HOUSE BILL 338 Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress This bill would require book publishers selling written materials to public school districts to assign a content rating to and label the cover of books with that rating. Ratings would range from BK-Y for children younger than 7 to BK-MA for individuals age 17 and older.
SENATE BILL 220 Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston This bill would permit the secretary of state to appoint a state election marshal who would appoint election marshals throughout the state. These o cials would be dispatched to investigate potential voting violations during November general elections and primary elections. HOUSE BILL 722 Rep. Jon Rosenthal, D-Houston This bill would prohibit employment discrimination based on reproductive decisions of employees or their employees’ families. State law currently prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin or age.
HOUSE BILL 417 Rep. Mike Scho eld, R-Katy This bill would instate daylight saving time year-round statewide, providing an additional hour of daylight in the evening during the fall and winter months. A similar bill passed in the U.S. Senate in 2022 that would have a ected Texas, but it stalled in the U.S. House. SENATE BILL 260 Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham This bill would allow voter registrars to request address con rmation if a voter’s address is listed as a commercial post o ce box or the registrar has any other reason to believe the voter’s residence is di erent from what is indicated on registration records.
$11,075 Louisiana
$10,388 Arkansas
$10,177 New Mexico
$9,827 Texas
$9,323 Oklahoma
$9,284 Mississippi
$8,625 Arizona
SOURCE: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU COMMUNITY IMPACT
during the COVID-19 pandemic due to lower attendance rates when children were sick, quarantining or learning remotely. House Bill 31, led by Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D Austin, aims to help solve that problem. The bill would require the state to fund schools based on the average number of students enrolled during the academic year. This would protect districts from losing money when students miss school. Sen. Nathan Johnson, D Dallas, led an identical bill in the Senate. Similar
legislation was proposed during the 2021 legislative session, but they did not gain traction in either chamber. Johnson also led SB 88, which would increase the basic allotment to $7,075. The bill calls for an increase in the allotment when in ation rises to keep pace with the cost of maintaining a school. Rep. Donna Howard, D Aus- tin, led an identical bill in the House. According to research by Edu- cation Week, Texas is behind the national average for student funding by over $4,000.
HOUSE BILL 478 Rep. Lacey Hull, R-Houston
This bill would remove the August 2024 expiration date on a portion of the Texas Education Code that requires school districts to obtain written consent from parents at least two weeks before providing students with human sexuality instruction.
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CYPRESS EDITION • JANUARY 2023
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