The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - January 13, 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, today is Monday, January 13th, and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans Assistant Editor Rob Lausches, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and Speaker Dade Phelan joined in one last brouhaha on Sunday evening, just two days before the vote to replace Phelan as Texas House Speaker. The Texas legislature will convene on Tuesday, and the House's first business after being sworn in will be to elect a Speaker. State Representatives David Cook and Dustin Burroughs are the primary candidates for the position right now. Phelan announced his exit from the race for a third term back in December.

Starting point is 00:00:46 Patrick, who's opposed Phelan the whole way and now opposes Burroughs, posted on social media, quote, five business partners control the operations of the Texas House. Dennis Bonin, Greg Bonin, Dustin Burroughs, Cody Harris, and Dade Phelan. They are also business partners together in a bank, end quote. The bank is called Third Coast Bank, founded in Humble in 2008, which merged with Heritage Bank a few years ago. Heritage was operated by Dennis Bonin at the time. The Bonins are both on its board of directors. Harris is employed there as a vice president. Burroughs and Phelan own or owned shares in the bank. Phelan's latest personal

Starting point is 00:01:26 financial statement that covers the latter half of 2023 indicates he held stock in Third Coast Bank at that point. Holdings, he said, began before he ran for the Texas House in 2014. Next, the Texas legislature will have an estimated $23.8 billion surplus in Treasury dollars at its disposal when it convenes for the 2025 session, according to the latest biennial revenue estimate. Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Glenn Hagar, the state's fiscal officer, among whose many duties is to track tax revenues and project spending abilities for the biennium, released the 2026-27 biennial revenue estimate just before the start of the 89th legislative session. The total revenue available for general purpose spending is $194.6 billion, over half of which comes from the state's sale tax. The state has four funding categories

Starting point is 00:02:19 that include general revenue, general revenue dedicated, federal funds, and other funds. The legislature adopted a $321 billion budget in 2023, and Hagar projects the ending treasury balance for this biennium to reach nearly $24 billion, about $3 billion more than he estimated in the last update. In other news, Governor Greg Abbott announced he raised more than $50 million in 2024, reporting that his fundraising committee, Texans for Greg Abbott, has over $70 million in cash on hand, raising more than $20 million in just the latest report. Texans for Greg Abbott raised $45 million in 2024, while the official Greg Abbott campaign raised over $6 million, resulting in a combined total of $51 million. The governor raised nearly $21.5 million from more than 33,000 individual

Starting point is 00:03:14 donors according to his most recent fiscal report, with 84% of the funds coming from Texas residents. Abbott raised another $2 million in his cash-on-hand account. Also, based on the passage of the Dallas Freedom Act in November, Dallas police officers have been instructed not to make arrests or issue citations for possession of four ounces or less of marijuana. The new instructions are based on an internal Dallas Police Department memo obtained by WFAA. Dallas voters approved the measure, known as Proposition R, on the November 5th ballot by a margin of over 30 points, with nearly 229,000 out of 324,000 voters favoring it. The proposition was added to the ballot through a

Starting point is 00:03:59 citizen initiative. Michael Igoe, who is currently serving as the interim police chief, wrote in the internal memo, quote, regardless of your thoughts and or opinions regarding the passing of this amendment, we must remain focused on our duties and obligations to the Dallas Police Department and the residents of the city of Dallas. It is crucial to maintain professionalism and composure as you always represent this exceptional police department. Last but not least, despite an order from President Joe Biden, Governor Greg Abbott has announced all flags at the Texas Capitol and other state buildings should be flown at full mast during the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. Biden ordered U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff for 30 days after the death of former President Jimmy

Starting point is 00:04:45 Carter on December 29, 2024 until January 28, 2025, including Trump's inauguration in Washington, D.C. on January 20. Thanks for listening. To support The Texan, please be sure to visit thetexan.news and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles newsletters and podcasts

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - January 13, 2025

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