While Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the Texas Senate hit the ground running for the 88th Legislature’s third special session, Speaker Dade Phelan’s House has not yet held a committee meeting.
Gov. Greg Abbott convened the Legislature to consider proposals on school choice, border security, and medical freedom, as reported by The Dallas Express.
After the third special session got off to a rocky start on October 9, the work ground to an immediate halt as the House adjourned for two days without scheduling any committee meetings to hold hearings about pending legislation.
As of the afternoon of October 11, no House committees were scheduled to meet this week.
On the other hand, the Senate referred bills to their respective committees and began work on legislation. On the afternoon of the special session’s first day, the Senate Finance Committee met to consider education-related issues.
The following day, October 10, the committees on Education, Health & Human Services, and Border Security all gathered to lay out bills, hear testimony, and consider the various proposals.
As reported by The Dallas Express, the Health & Human Services Committee voted to advance a bill authored by Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston) to prevent Texas workers from being required by employers to get COVID-19 vaccines.
Virtually identical bills were filed in the House but were not referred to the relevant committee.
Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian) explained to The Dallas Express, “Governor Abbott was exactly right to call the Legislature back to deliver strong border security legislation, a comprehensive ban on COVID vaccine mandates, and universal school choice after all three were killed by the leadership of the Texas House in the regular session.”
“Texans deserve immediate action, yet, while the Senate has been hard at work passing strong legislation, the Texas House adjourned, and, despite bold bills already written and filed, has not even referred a single one to committee,” he added.
Harrison has been pointedly critical of the House leadership, placing the responsibility for the failure to pass key Republican priorities squarely on Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) and his committee chairs.
During the regular session, the House was repeatedly criticized for failing to move legislation through the body with the same timeliness displayed by the Senate.
For instance, the ban on workplace COVID-19 vaccine mandates stagnated during the regular session when House leadership neglected to call it to a vote, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Some of the regular session’s final days were also dedicated by the House to impeaching Attorney General Ken Paxton, leading to a lengthy trial in the Senate, which eventually voted to acquit him.
Issues for which the “clock runs out,” as in the case of property tax cuts and bans on vaccine mandates, often become the topic of special sessions, which are funded by Texas taxpayers.
