The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - January 23, 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, today is Thursday, January 23rd, 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, the Texas House will no longer allow minority party members to chair committees after the chamber rules were adopted Thursday with language that also beefs up vice chair powers. What was expected to be a protracted afternoon and evening of debate concluded fairly quickly on the chamber floor. Chairman Todd Hunter laid out House Resolution 4 and fielded questions for around an hour after declining a request from State Representative Tony Tenderholt to push its consideration to next week.

Starting point is 00:00:47 At that point, State Representative Jared Patterson moved the previous question, a parliamentary maneuver that halts debate and triggers a vote on the current item, which ultimately passed 107-35. The nays on the motion were all Republicans, except for State Representative Ana Maria Ramos. Speaking on the motion, Patterson said he and the majority of the body wanted to get past the rules fight and move on to policy. State Representative Mike Schofield criticized the move, calling it the nuclear option and saying that it will be used against House leadership down the road. After that, the vote on H.R. 4 occurred and it passed overwhelmingly, 116-23, with one abstention in Speaker Dustin Burroughs. Next, the fight over school choice and public education

Starting point is 00:01:32 funding has encountered its first development with the release of both the Texas House and Senate biennium budget proposals. Senate Bill 1, filed by Finance Committee Chair Joan Huffman, would allocate $1 billion for an education savings account program, the same amount as in the House budget proposal. Funding increases for public education are included in both proposals, with $4.9 billion in House Bill 1 and $5.3 billion in the Senate budget. In other news, Governor Greg Abbott and President Donald Trump have a history of working together to bolster border security. Now, Abbott is asking the U.S. Congress to reimburse Texas for its border wall construction under the outgoing administration. Two letters were published by Abbott this week. The first was directed to both Republican and

Starting point is 00:02:21 Democratic leadership in the U.S. House and Senate. The other directly addressed Texas congressional members. In both letters, he includes a breakdown of the operating costs of Operation Lone Star, which totals $11.1 billion. Abbott notes that prior to the Biden administration, Texas spent $800 million per biennium to, quote, supplement federal efforts to secure the border, end quote. He writes that the increase in money spent is due to what he called the Biden administration's failures. Also, the North Central Texas Council of Government's Regional Transportation Council approved $1 million in funding for potential litigation costs associated with the proposed

Starting point is 00:03:02 Dallas-Fort Worth high-speed rail route. The funding will comprise four $250,000 tranches, with each being approved by the RTC before it is dispersed. The potential litigation costs arise from a series of letters that the Council has received from attorneys for Hunt Realty Investments and related entities about the potential flaws and adverse impacts of a proposed high-speed rail route. Hunt Realty Investments is planning a 20-acre, $5 billion development in downtown Dallas, next to Reunion Tower and near the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. The development, which is expected to include high-rise residences, a hotel, and retail and office space,

Starting point is 00:03:41 could be adversely impacted by an alternate rail route alignment. Through its attorneys, the Hunt entities have sent dozens of letters to the council expressing their concerns, including a formal letter to preserve evidence and documents related to the high-speed rail route. Last but not least, the City of Tyler is planning to study the feasibility of a light rail system with the possibility of connecting to a proposed high-speed rail route along the Interstate 20 corridor. On January 22, the Tyler City Council approved $150,000 in funding for the Tyler Area Metropolitan Planning Organization to contract with Kimley Horn for the study. The Tyler Area MPO's Unified Planning Work Program for fiscal years 2024 and 2025 included the objective of carrying out a light rail plan study. In the work program documents, the light rail study falls under an emphasis of tackling the climate crisis by decreasing dependency on single occupancy vehicles. Thanks for listening. To support The Texan, please be sure to visit thetexan.news and subscribe to get full access to all of our

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The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - January 23, 2025

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