The Texan Podcast - Representative Angelia Orr Discusses Legislative Challenges, Key Bills, and Her Journey in Politics

Episode Date: May 19, 2025

Senior Reporter Brad Johnson sits down with Representative Angelia Orr, a Republican from Itasca, Texas, representing House District 13. They discuss the intense final night of the legislative session, including the passage of Orr's significant House Bill 3749. Orr shares the emotional backstory of the bill related to elective IV therapy safety, which was inspired by a tragic incident in her district. The conversation covers various topics, including the appropriations process, local government challenges, and the dynamics within the Texas House. Representative Orr also reflects on her transition from local to state politics, her work on key committees, and her relationships with colleagues across the aisle.

Hello everybody, my name is Brad Johnson, senior reporter here at the Texan. Today we have representative Angelia Orr here with us, Republican from Itasca. I did pronounce that correct, right? That's right. House District 13, correct? That's right. Now my first name is actually pronounced Angela, but it is spelled Angelia. My parents wanted to be creative and not be having me called Angie. So,

okay. There you go. Well, I apologize for mispronouncing that. That's fine. Last night was quite a night. First deadline, 122nd day of the house of the session. And a lot of bills died at the stroke of midnight. And as with every session, there was a lot of chubbing, just a lot of just wasting time and yelling at each other. Walk us through how that was experiencing firsthand. Well, it was everything it was billed to be. It was suspenseful and riveting and I think, you know, for the freshmen you can tell them that this is gonna happen and this is how it's gonna be but until you sit through it or Live through it on the front or back mic. You don't really get the full taste of it

so I think there were a lot of people that learned some stuff last night and We made our way through it but it was an exciting evening and not knowing where we were gonna land People were scrambling and having bills called up from their offices because they thought there's no way we're gonna get to my bill but ultimately we did and so I think it was a good night overall and you know when you get to the last 30 minutes there's the rush yes speaker starts sounding like an auctioneer exactly you had a you had a piece of legislation earlier in the night, House Bill 3749, that seemed to you to be pretty big, right? It was. You gave a really impassioned speech. Tell us about that. So this was probably one of the biggest projects that I've worked on as a legislator or a bill that I've worked on and it's been in the works for about a year.

We had a mom and a wife, she passed away in our district as the result of getting an elective IV at a med spa. And, you know, she passed away and it really called attention to this area of practice that needed a second look. And so we've been working hard, the office and I have been working so hard with the stakeholders. It's hard to get TMA, the dermatology, TexMed, and dermatologist and nurse practitioners. It was hard to get everybody on the same page. Everybody knew there was a problem that we needed to solve.

And so we came up with different solutions and ultimately landed on the elective IV therapy kind of being codified into the occupational code, stating that doctors could delegate to a nurse practitioner, a nurse, or a physician's assistant. Not only the delegation of service, but also the ordering of the IV. Jennifer, who passed away in our district, was given an IV by

someone who was not a medical professional and it just it set off a series of events that really shouldn't have happened. And so it was a very emotional bill. We didn't know at the beginning of session that we were going to get all the parties on the same page and we didn't know if time would run out before we got there. And so when it's the last day and it's the big bill for you personally and you know that there's family and friends back home watching to see you know hey we brought this to the attention of our legislator are they actually going to be able to help us are they going to be able to put together

a piece of legislation? And then even if you can do that, can you get the votes? And so I'm proud to say my staff had over-prepared me and I just had a book of notes and questions and things and it made me really have to stop and talk to a lot of members on both sides of the aisle to try to figure out what they were hearing from their district. So I'm really proud that we got it through third reading today. And... Overrolling passage, right?

It was it was unanimous yesterday and I only had two no's today which given the situation in the House that's that's that's still a big win. Oh yeah. And I think it called a lot of attention to the need for this legislation. And so it's funny how many people on the floor have stopped and asked me and said, you know what, I've gotten one of those or my mom's gotten one of those

and we didn't think to ask. When you're putting something in somebody's vein, are you a medical provider? Do you know what it is? So I feel good about it. I'm glad that we got it done yesterday. It was a really big moment for me personally and as a legislator. Where's that rank on top bills you've passed as a legislator? Whoo, I'd say it's at the top. Yeah, yeah. Because you know we carry

legislation but having something a constituent, I mean this is the way it's supposed to be. Yeah. You come to Austin, you have a constituent I mean this is the way it's supposed to be yeah you come to Austin you have a constituent concern and then you work the system and you work with your fellow legislators and try to get something done and I mean it's gonna have statewide effect but it was brought to us by a grieving family and so I think in committee I even I even said when I laid it out you know this is a sad circumstance, but this is the best of what we do as legislators

because we have to look through the lens of another legislator and say, okay, if this was in my district, how would I have handled this? So I'm really proud of it. Well, and most of the, there's some hot button, much watch bills each session, but most of the bills that are passed are bills like this that deal with districts and are kind of maybe one-off situations that happened just kind of more run-of-the-mill

issues right right who's working with you in the Senate on carrying that anybody yet? We haven't settled in yet But I think having a really high percentage of House members on board, I think it's gonna help us nice Let's backtrack a bit. This is your second term. Yes, you were elected in 22 First of all, how's it? How's it changed from it changed from your freshman session to this one? A lot. There's so much to learn. And I've learned a lot this session that I didn't know last session.

So I think being a sophomore had its advantages. I didn't have to scramble to hire staff and set up an office and all those things. So definitely had its advantages from that perspective. But when I think back at all the freshmen have to learn in such a short amount of time, I'm glad I'm not one this session. Yeah. It's quite a learning curve. And I think a lot of people are realizing that once they get in here, you know, it's hard not to.

Right, right. So what made you run for office? You were on school board, right? Right. What made you make the jump to State House? Well I've been in public service in one way or another or elected office I should say for about 20 years. Before that I was a community volunteer. But yeah I ran for school board in Itasca and won and I served there. And then I ran for a countywide position and I won there. And then Cody Harris became my state rep. And he wanted to find somebody that knew a lot about local government to help him with his district director position and in the course of thinking about who would be good for that for his office in Hillsboro

I thought man I'm just going to get out of politics and go be a district director that sounds great and sort of out of politics sort of out of politics Didn't think I would run again, you know. I was going to get to do the things that I liked, which was helping people and being informed about what was going on in government. And then redistricting happened. And I woke up after the maps were released and I don't have a state rep anymore, which was really heartbreaking to me. But I'm in a new house district with a new number and how are we gonna fix this? And it was moved from elsewhere, right?

Because it was by Lamond's district. It was Ben Lamond's number. And that was a tough race to get into. Seven counties in rural Texas. And it had been represented by four different state reps. So you, everywhere you go, you say, I know you love Cody Harris, Dwayne Burns, Trent Ashby or Kyle Cassell.

And I'm not running against them, but they're not going to represent you anymore. But I want to. And so it was a really hard primary from that perspective because you've got people that have never been together in a group before. And so that was quite a challenge. But I think what ultimately made me run was having an understanding of what a state rep is and what it isn't and knowing how how important that can be especially in rural, Texas and so I mean I took time and talked to my family and prayed about it and met with my friends and I

Felt very supportive and supported in that in that decision. And so we moved forward and here we are here we are yeah in the The chaotic circus that is the Texas house it is thank goodness. It's only 140 days every two years Yeah, God willing. Yeah, let's knock on wood. Hope there's no specials Tell me about your district. What are the concerns the biggest concerns there the biggest the biggest policy fights or issues that you deal with? So it's six and a half counties, my home county of Hill, and then you've got Bosque, Limestone, Freestone, Falls, Leon, and the eastern portion of McLennan County,

which includes quite a bit of Waco. And so even though I'm from a rural area, I actually represent a pretty fair amount of urban Waco. 41 ISDs from 5A down to six-man football. I mean, from the largest to the smallest and everything in between. There's 51 municipalities, including the big city of Waco, but also these little towns scattered throughout the district. So that's 51 mayors, 51 city councils.

And then of course, with seven counties, you've got seven county judges, seven commissioners courts. And so it's heavy on local government, which I'm really glad that I have a background in. There's a lot of people that get elected in the house that have not served Previously and I really think that that's really been an advantage to me Being able to call and talk to local elected and understanding kind of where their concerns fit into the the state picture Okay You are on

appropriations. Remind me the articles that you share of? Two. Health and Human Services. Okay. First of all, describe to me, that's one of the most cumbersome, you know, procedures in the entire building. How does that work? How does appropriations, the process of writing a budget work? And yet the only one that we're constitutionally obligated to do, right? Write the budget. So I was on article two last session. So that was a help coming into this, you know,

the state budget's $330 billion plus, and this is a third of that. So it's a big slice of the pie, includes health and Human Services, DFS, Dishes, Inspector, and TCCO. So not a whole lot of agencies, whole lot of money, whole lot of services. I think we had something like 347 writers, which are the asks of members just in our article. So that's a lot to review with your committee and say, you know, this is what they want, this is what she wants, how do we want to do that? And so it's quite a process.

We take the base, whatever's in the base budget, and then you add in and consider exceptional items by the agencies. So maybe things that don't have to do with their regular operations. Maybe they need a building upgrade or maybe they want to start something new. Those are the exceptional items. And then on top of that is what's called a rider. And that's something that a house member can ask for Either on behalf of their district or behalf of a state agency or whatever. And so there's a lot of conversations

With the committee about that. It's it's a lot to consider and there's a lot of needs in Texas. I mean There's just a lot. And a lot of things people in their general lives just don't know about. During the interim, I toured a pediatric nursing home over in East Texas. It's one of three in the nation and it's here. And I didn't even know what,

I mean, you just say those words and you go, okay. And you go there and every child is either on a, could be both on a ventilator and a feeding tube. Wow. And they don't kick them out when they're 18 and so though they started off as a pediatric patient they may be my age and still living there and so you know there's a hundred people living in that facility from toddlers on up and that's a very special population that most of us never interact with. Never think about. Never think about and so you know we have to be the voice of those people too because if that unit if that nursing home

goes away what where do these people go? Where do they receive those services? So there's a lot of intricacy in it. And I think one of the things I sat down with each member of the committee privately in their office and said, you're on this committee. You're going to be charged with these decisions. What things are important to you? And we had Vinton Jones out of Dallas and Christian Manuel, Donna Howard, Tony Rose. I'm going to get myself in trouble trying to list them all here.

Jacob, help me. Who else is there? Oliverson, Lozano. I'm trying to envision them from the dais sitting to my left or my right. New Representative Barry and Fairley. That's right, Caroline Fairley. And so to meet with them one on one and say, you know, how do you view this? What things are important in your district that have to do with this?

And then I Hopefully they asked me and I told them and and one of the things I brought up was this Hospital and I was like, you know in the interim if this Is something that interests you we should we should go tour it together Because there's some of these decisions that people make that they never really get to see what they're deciding on. So anyway I've got some things I want to do this interim as well to kind of understand it a little bit more. Well, you're chairing a sub

committee of the broader Appropriations Committee, which is a massive committee. 27 members. Yeah, and obviously it has to be dealing with such a massive budget. Comptroller Hager often says that it's easier when there's no money. That's what he says. But when you have money, like we have a $24 billion surplus this session, and that's just the Treasury surplus. That doesn't include the ESF. So how has it been trying to navigate the deciding where to cut, where to spend, telling the lobbyists who are on either side of that, the good or bad news, right? How's it been trying to navigate that?

Well, let me first say the lobby works really hard. They really do. They work hard for their issues. But I think where it came down to, from my perspective, was, you know, as well off as we appear to be right now, I don't know how long that's going to hold. And you've got to be mindful of anything that you extend now. You may have to retract later. And I think for me that influenced decisions like, you know, what if tomorrow we couldn't afford this? Well, we're kind of seeing that play out at the local school district level,

right? With all these COVID funds, right? Right. They had used to supplement their budgets and now it's going away and now the state is dealing with an, you know, $8 billion school finance bill that, uh, that there's gonna be a lot left on, on the plate for that. Um, but yeah, I mean mean, anytime you're appropriating, you have to keep both short term and long term in mind, right?

Absolutely, absolutely. And, you know, even now, some of the federal funding is, you know, we're having to monitor closely what's going on in DC with cuts and stuff. So, yeah, all those things you have to be mindful of. And the population grows and I've heard people say, well, your budget's growing. Well, our population is growing and with population growth comes people with needs. And, you know, if they're eligible

for these benefits, then we've got to serve them. So, so yeah, I think we've just got to be mindful that this may not be forever and there's things that we need to make sure that if we have to pull back on it doesn't heavily damage one area or the other. Yeah. The budget's in conference committee right now and has been for a while. Any insight on where that stands? Do we know when this is going to come out or what the final blueprint is going to look like? My part of it was finished a couple of weeks ago. I had daily meetings. I think I calculated 55 hours in meetings going over the differences between the Senate proposed budget and the House proposed budget considering

exceptional items in the writers, like we talked about earlier. And so the Senate and the House, they have to reconcile that. And so that's what Senator Cole-Courst and I worked on for 55 hours. And then we turn our findings and present them to the Finance Chair and Appropriations Chairs. And I wasn't sure what would happen after that point,

but I can say that it's out of my hands and we discussed the reasons why we chose certain things over others. But ultimately I know they have even a harder job because they have to deal with all the spending limits. And I don't know where Article III ended up or any of the other articles and so Even though article 2 is a large portion There's all these others that have to be dealt with and when you have a growth in one you have to reduce another so

I'm is I'm waiting with bated breath just like everybody else to see how it turns out. Well, it'd be roughly $336 billion budget that's massive and like you said the state's dealing with massive growth and having to decide you know how much of this surplus or this savings account do we spend to account for you know the infrastructure needs that come with that whether it's power water roads you know all this stuff It's very difficult balance to make in addition to property tax relief or just making sure you don't grow the size of

the budget as much as more than you need to. It's just very difficult to balance. Going forward, you know, obviously your personal top bill is that 37-49, but what that hasn't passed yet, do you feel like the legislature must pass before Sine Die? You mean my own personal bills or other bills? I'm thinking like broader topics that, you know, everyone's talking about, whether it's school finance or ESA has already passed, property tax, what do you think? I think we're gonna get to school finance here. There's just had to be a lot of input negotiation on that. I'm glad I wasn't on that article.

School finance is very complicated and there's probably like five people in this whole state that understand it, right? I hope there's five people in this state that understand it. So we've got to get that done. I think some of the foreign adversary stuff was a was a big a big deal to get done. I carried a bill called the Sister Cities bill and I just learned so much prepping for that layout that I had no idea the the concerns that we actually have for security across the state and then we did a lot of like land development and housing development bills. I have one of those that is over in the Senate right now

that I hope makes it through. So I think the bills, the session have been very thoughtful and intentional and go together like in packages because we had like the Homeland Security package and then we had the housing package and obviously we had the education section. So I think there's some really good things that we are going to be able to get over the line. I know people have worked really hard. I think that is the thing when you get down here that

you discover is how many people are here for the right reason and how hard they are willing to work. And not just, I don't mean like stay on the plate reading notes. I mean like having meetings with stakeholders that you might be uncomfortable having a discussion with, but you just have to because that's how you make good law. And for me, that's what I have seen this session is a great deal of thoughtfulness and And people really trying to work together and when it comes to like a probes I mean, this is not a red or a blue or a Democrat Republican thing. I mean, we're serving Texans, right and And so you have to kind of put that aside and say okay

I mean we both we may have our leanings that are different but at the end of the day the people we're serving we're not serving because they're Republican or they're Democrat we're serving them because they're needy and they need us who who in the body have you developed a friendship with that maybe you didn't expect? Oh lots of those. Okay. Lots of those. Anyone to stick out? I mean there's there's people that I don't agree with on a lot of policy but I just enjoy. I sit in front of Trey Martinez Fisher and we can talk about almost anything even if we don't have the same perspective. One of my best friends on the floor is Stan Kitzman, probably because we're Aggies and we came in together.

But no, there's some, you know, Ann Johnson, I go to her on a regular basis for input on certain things. And Donna Howard was the vice chair of Article II. And I mean, she has been such an incredible resource to me. There has been nothing that I have asked her for help on that she hasn't rushed to help me. So incredible wealth of knowledge on appropriation stuff. It's anytime she talks about it, it's you learn something new. Absolutely. Absolutely.

So I have a lot of friendships, I value that, and I hope that that shows in the work that I do get accomplished. I try to be honest with people when I can or can't support something, and if they need help, even if I don't agree with what they're trying to do, if I can provide them any guidance, I try to. Do you feel like most of the body ascribes to that belief?

Most. Okay. Most. It's kind of hard not to when you're stuck in a room together for 140 days, right? That's right. So let's talk about the, the speaker's race a bit. And obviously that is done. It happened, but it's still kind of, it's a, it's not kind of, it is a big theme. It is. It remains a big theme. And obviously, Speaker Burroughs won and he has maintained the gavel during, during the race, which was unlike any other speaker that we've seen ever.

Yeah. I think, I think you, I don't remember you ever joining the reform side, right? You were always on the other side of the Republican caucus. Walk me through your calculus there in navigating what was a very difficult contest. It was a really difficult time. And so unexpectedly so, right?

We're done with campaigning. Everybody's finished their runoffs and their generals, and we find ourselves in this incredible battle I I've blocked it out so I'm having to go back there in my mind but I I've gotten a lot of feedback about not voting with the caucus and I mean I really felt like I needed to vote for who I thought could pull us together. There's there's so many voices out there trying to divide us. And I was really about what will bring us together. And the other thing that I was cognizant of is some of the the leaders of the reform PAC hadn't served a day in the

house yet. And and that bothered me to some extent that they felt very strongly about something that they didn't know yet. So I'm proud of my vote and staying strong. It was not an easy time at all. And I think we came through it. And of course, I've heard arguments, you know, well, we'd be further along if not for and I argue that anytime you have a new speaker, it takes time for them to set up shop and get things in order. So when you account for that, I think we're doing pretty good. And we've gotten some big deals done. And so I'm a proud supporter of Burroughs.

I think he's done a remarkable job. And yeah, I would never have guessed the money that was spent on a speaker's race. The majority of our voters don't don't know who the speaker is or care until December of 2024 when you know we're getting text messages and and mailers in our communities. People just really didn't understand and and the narrative is that I voted for a Democrat speaker and that is not true. In fact, in my freshman session, you know, I looked to him as one of the most conservative members that I knew. Still do. But I just remember thinking, wow, he, you know, he knows his

stuff. And so, no, I think he's done a great job. And I say that and I'm friends with the other candidates and, you know, talk to them all the time. And I don't know, I think it worked out the way it was supposed to work out. It was just not an easy way to get there. Yeah. Watching the session on play so far, play out so far, It seems like, especially after the motion to vacate, that Burroughs now has a Republican majority. And maybe that shifts based on issue, right? But there's really no question that he's going to remain the speaker for now. And there might be a fight before next session, but maybe not. I don't know. I mean, anybody that's been to war

does not want to go back to war. And I just can't imagine that we find ourselves in the same spot. So we've all got to go home now and we've got to finish up the next few weeks and then we've got to go home and reunite with our families and friends and reengage in our communities.

And then it won't be long before we're back on the campaign trail. So I would not wish what what happened last Christmas on anyone. I mean, it was rough. It was rough on our families because they they didn't know how to defend it. You know, they know when you're running for office, and somebody says something bad about you how to defend you or defend your platform, but when they're when they're coming at you from well, they voted for the wrong or they may rep They may vote for the wrong speaker candidate. It's like I don't even know what that means. So I

Hope we don't go back there What's your feeling? What's or not just yours? But the feeling in the building on whether there will be special sessions or you think y'all get everything you need to done I really think there's a big push to do to get it done. I really do I building on whether there will be special sessions or not. Do you think you'll get everything you need to done? I really think there's a big push to get it done. I really do. I realize it's a possibility, but I'm willing to make some vacation plans

here pretty soon. Okay. After last session, especially, nobody wants to be here. No. No. No. I think everybody would be very happy if we finished up and went home. Is there anything that might tip it the other way? Is it, bail reforms, the lifts, but it looks like there's a deal on that? I'm hearing that we're nearing a deal on that, and, you know, I think we're going to have to count our wins and go home. Okay.

What's the last one for you? What's the dynamic been like between the House and the Senate, not just the Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker. Obviously they're playing very nice together, unlike last session with the former Speaker, but there's usually a rivalry right between the House and the Senate and it always happens just question of how much right what's that been like this session compared to last session? I don't I don't really know that I was that cognizant of it as a freshman I was

so overwhelmed by everything else but my experience this session is a lot more at least and this is just me me, cooperation and communication with the Senate. I'm sure there's some competition that I don't know about, but my working relationships over there have been great. And I've spent a lot of time with Senator Cole-Courst and she's been great to work with. And of course, my own senator's Schwartner and Birdwell's my personal senator where I live so

We've been fine. Yeah, we've been fine and the lieutenant governor has visited the floor recently in the last few weeks a few times and And he's all smiles. So I'm sure it has a lot to do with the fact that nobody wants to be here on june 3rd And they all want to get out of Dodge for a good break from this rat race. Yes. Anything else you want to touch on before we go? No, I appreciate the opportunity to talk.

We've visited a few times on the floor and I just think there's a lot of divisive words and things out there, but I think overwhelmingly, I think y'all do a good job of giving fairness to the process and recognizing that when you've got 150 different personalities that fought their way here, it's really remarkable that we get as much good stuff done as we do. And I'm really proud to be part of that. Yeah, the system is designed to kill things and always has been. It is but it also depends heavily on getting along with others and trying to figure out what you can do to help other people. So, Representative Angela Orr, thank you for joining. Thank you, I appreciate it. You