The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - March 12, 2025

Episode Date: March 12, 2025

Want to support The Texan and help us continue providing the Lone Star State with news you can trust? Subscribe today: https://thetexan.news/subscribe/Learn more about the Data Center Coalition at: https://www.centerofyourdigitalworld.org/texasThe Texan’s Daily Rundown brings you a quick recap of the latest stories in Texas politics so you can stay informed with news you can trust.Want more resources? Be sure to visit The Texan and subscribe for complete access to our in-depth articles, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, videos, podcasts, and more.Enjoy what you hear? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review!

Howdy folks, today is March 12th and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans Assistant Editor Rob Lauschis and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, the Texas House Committee on Public Education hearing lasted nearly 24 hours, stretching over two days as hundreds of members of the public provided testimony on the lower chambers school choice proposal. House Bill 3 is just one half of the Texas two-step education plan from public education committee chair Brad Buckley. The school choice proposal

would create a universal option for Texas families through a 1 billion dollar funding provision in the General Revenue Fund by offering Education Savings Accounts, or ESAs, to any child qualified to attend public schools, including those enrolled in public pre-K programs and families with children in private schools. Buckley said in opening the hearing Tuesday morning, quote, utilizing state funds, ESAs will allow participating Texas families to pay for a range of educational expenses outside the traditional public school system, empowering parents to choose the educational path that best fits their child's needs.

The bill's fiscal note states that an ESA's amount is set at 85% of total state and local maintenance and operations funding under the foundation school program, plus state retirement contributions per student. At the end of the hearing, the bill was left pending in committee. Stay tuned for more news updates after this short message. Data centers fuel 364,000 Texas jobs, generate 3.5 billion dollars in state and local taxes, and power essential services like banking, health care, and video calls. With 21 connected devices per household and soaring data demands, these hubs drive Texas's booming economy, shape its technological future, and keep your data here in the US. To learn more, visit centerofyourdigitalworld.org.

Now returning to your daily Texas news. Next, in the wake of a Delaware judge's controversial ruling that blocked Tesla CEO Elon Musk's $56 billion shareholder-approved pay package, Texas lawmakers are moving to unseat Delaware as the premier corporate headquarters destination in the U.S. by crafting a more enticing legal climate, hoping to lure companies that might follow Musk's lead to rehome in the Lone Star state. Senate Bill 29 by Senator Brian Hughes, which was heard in the Senate Committee on State Affairs on Monday, is moving through the upper chamber as the welcome mat for major companies who are worried that Delaware may intervene in their internal decision-making processes. Its identical companion, House Bill 15 by

State Representative Morgan Meyer, will be held in committee on Wednesday. Hughes says his legislation aims to make key legal adjustments to Texas's business laws to be more attractive and hopefully benefit the state with even stronger economic growth. In other news, the Texas legislature is mulling legislation to outlaw the use of undisclosed altered images in political advertising filed by former speaker Dade Phelan. Phelan's House Bill 366, uncoincidentally the same as the number of votes by which the former speaker won his runoff election in 2024, would require disclosures on political advertising that contains altered images. The bill tasks the Texas Ethics Commission

with establishing, via rulemaking, the parameters of the disclosure requirement and then classifies an offense under the law as a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and or a fine of up to $4,000. Also, the Texas power grid isn't as big of an issue as it was in the last two sessions, but the Texas Senate still has something up its sleeve in dealing with the influx of large loads like data centers and cryptocurrency miners. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas estimates its electricity load will grow to 150,000 megawatts by 2030. A

40,000 megawatt jump from the estimate issued in 2023 due substantially to expected growth in the state's data center and crypto miner footprint. Senator Phil King's Senate Bill 6 attempts to both track the large load centers and lay out who's paying for the cost of transmission to connect them to the grid. Last but not least, Texas has a law in the books that regulates how direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies can collect, use, and share genetic data while affirming an individual's property rights over their DNA. Now, Senator Lois Kolkhorst has

introduced legislation explicitly stating that a person has an exclusive property right over their DNA and sets criminal and civil penalties for unauthorized uses. Senate Bill 315 focuses on establishing a DNA property right for individuals and prohibits the collection, testing, or sale of a person's DNA without informed written consent, except for specific cases such as an emergency medical treatment or for law enforcement purposes. The bill enables the Texas Attorney General to seek civil penalties or injunctive relief against violators. Arizona, California, Kentucky, and many other states across the country have similar privacy laws regarding genetic information testing companies. 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,

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