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Interim Hearings - Week of December 1, 2014

Nov 25

posted by TexasLRL in 83rd Session, Interim hearings

Interim Hearings - Week of December 1st

Today's Committee Meetings on the LRL website is a calendar of interim committee hearings with links to agendas. Below are resources related to upcoming Interim Hearings.

December 1st Top

Topics: Revised guidelines for the Texas Facilities Commission, other business

 

Topics: Personnel matters and other business

 

December 3rd Top

House Committee on Insurance

Charge: Effects of the Affordable Care Act on the availability and affordability of private health insurance coverage in Texas and on the health insurance market

 Charge: Transparency in the health care marketplace

 Charge: Auto insurance market issues:

Charge: Long-term stability of the residual market for workers' compensation insurance

Joint Select Committee on Ethics Laws

Topic: Review the statutes and regulations related to ethics, including campaign finance laws, lobby laws, and personal financial disclosure law

  • Publications and Guides, including campaign finance guides for candidates and officeholders, and lobbying in Texas, Texas Ethics Commission

 

December 4th Top

House Committee on Appropriations

Topic: Invited testimony on state spending limit, overview of the revenue estimate, and budget drivers for the 84th Legislative Session (including public education, Medicaid, mental health funding, Employee Retirement System and the Teacher Retirement System)

Topic: Invited testimony from agencies and organizations that are participating in Texas Border Support Operations

Topic: Press credentialing

 

House Research Organization Steering Committee

Topic: Nominate steering committee candidate slate for submission to House membership

 

This entry was posted on November 25, 2014 at 8:33 AM and has received 1579 views. Print this entry.

Week in Review, November 20th

Nov 20

posted by TexasLRL in Week in review

In this weekly post, we feature online articles and policy reports published recently, and other helpful research tools.
  • See what Americans think about privacy. (Pew Research Internet Project, November 12, 2014)
  • Read about drones and how they affect privacy. (LLRX.com, November 10, 2014)
  • Track changes in college pricing and financial aid. (College Board, November 13, 2014)
  • Examine factors that influence the development of mass-transit infrastructure. (U.S. Government Accountability Office, November 2014)
Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers! Week in Review will return December 4th.
 

This entry was posted on November 20, 2014 at 3:15 PM and has received 817 views. Print this entry.

Lingo in the Texas Legislature

Nov 19

posted by TexasLRL in Legislative process

Not unlike other communities, members of the Texas Legislature use their own set of specialized lingo in their dealings with each other.  If you've never heard them before, these often colorful words and phrases can be confusing when encountered in a legislative context. With the 84th Regular Session right around the corner, we thought it would be a good time to define some of the legislative lingo frequently used in the Texas Capitol.
 
The following definitions are taken from the book Texas Politics and Government. For more serious glossaries of the legislative lexicon in Texas, see this helpful guide by the Senate Research Center, and the appendix in The Texas Legislative Council’s Guide to Texas Legislative Information.
 
Gutting:
Amending a bill in committee or on the floor in such a way that it severely weakens the bill or changes its original purpose.
 
Keying:
Watching another legislator to see which way he or she is voting before deciding how to vote. Floor leaders extend an arm with one finger held high to indicate that followers should vote "aye" or with two fingers held high to indicate that followers should vote "nay."
 
Logrolling:
Supporting and voting for another member's bill (especially a "local" bill affecting only the author's district) with the assumption that he or she will then support you when you have a bill coming up.
 
Pork barrel:
Appropriations of money to a project in a single legislative district.
 
Sine Die:
Legislators use this Latin phrase to describe the 140th day (the last day) of a regular legislative session. Means literally "without day."
 
That dog won't hunt:
A debating point suggesting that the legislator does not believe another member's argument.
 
Members of the Texas Legislature demonstrating the act of 'keying.'
From left to right: Representatives Menton Murray, Tom Uher and Dean Cobb demonstrating the act of "keying."
 

This entry was posted on November 19, 2014 at 10:51 AM and has received 2717 views. Print this entry.

Week in Review, November 13th

Nov 13

posted by TexasLRL in Week in review

In this weekly post, we feature online articles and policy reports published recently, and other helpful research tools.
  • Read about how the way people browse Wikipedia could assist researchers in tracking the spread of flu in real time. (MIT Technology Review, November 3, 2014)
  • Examine survey findings on Houston's Hispanic population. (Rice University Kinder Institute for Urban Research, October 23, 2014)
  • See which state agencies are currently under Sunset review. (Sunset Advisory Commission, accessed November 12, 2014)
  • Explore different reports about legislative information for the 84th Legislature. (Texas Legislature Online, accessed November 12, 2014) 
 
 

This entry was posted on November 13, 2014 at 3:15 PM and has received 653 views. Print this entry.

Interim Hearings - Week of November 17, 2014

Nov 12

posted by TexasLRL in 83rd Session, Interim hearings

Interim Hearings - Week of November 17th

Today's Committee Meetings on the LRL website is a calendar of interim committee hearings with links to agendas. Below are resources related to upcoming Interim Hearings.

 

November 17th

Senate Committee on Education

Charge: School choice

 

Charge: Implementation of SB 2, 83rd Legislature, R.S., relating to certain charter schools

 

Topic: Facility demand issues on school districts across the state

November 19th

House Committee on State Affairs

 

Topic: Audit Report on the HealthSelect Contract at the Employees Retirement System, SAO Report No. 15-007

 

This entry was posted on November 12, 2014 at 8:10 AM and has received 1106 views. Print this entry.

Week in Review, November 6th

Nov 6

posted by TexasLRL in Week in review

In this weekly post, we feature online articles and policy reports published recently, and other helpful research tools.
  • Check out election returns for the November 4, 2014 general election. (Texas Secretary of State, accessed November 5, 2014)
  • See a state-by-state map of the states' business tax climates. (Tax Foundation, October 28, 2014)
  • Read about how Common Core curricula are developed. (Curriculum Matters blog, Education Week, October 30, 2014)
  • Explore the cost of broadband Internet access in 24 cities all over the world. (Open Technology Institute, October 30, 2014)
 
 

This entry was posted on November 6, 2014 at 3:15 PM and has received 601 views. Print this entry.

Interim Hearings - Week of November 10, 2014

Nov 5

posted by TexasLRL in 83rd Session, Interim hearings

Interim Hearings - Week of November 10th

Today's Committee Meetings on the LRL website is a calendar of interim committee hearings with links to agendas. Below are resources related to upcoming Interim Hearings.

November 10th Top

House Select Committee on Economic Development Incentives

Topic: Findings and recommendations

 

November 12th Top

Senate Committee on Open Government

Charge: Texas Public Information Act

Staff presentation and agency response (invited testimony):

 

November 13th Top

 

November 14th Top

Charge: International trade and investment in Texas

 

Charge: Physical infrastructure that facilitates international trade

 

Charge: Commercial ship traffic on smaller coastal waterways

Topic: Distribution of state proposition funding as it relates to the enabling legislation in HB 1, 83rd Legislature, 3rd C.S.

 

This entry was posted on November 5, 2014 at 4:31 PM and has received 1221 views. Print this entry.

Bill Prefiling: FAQs

Nov 4

posted by TexasLRL in Legislative process

Prefiling is the filing of bills and resolutions before the regular legislative session convenes. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, prefiling increases the efficiency of the legislative process by allowing more time to draft legislation, and by allowing leadership more time to review bills prior to committee referral. Prefiling in Texas occurs the first Monday after the general election in even-numbered years. Below are answers to frequently asked questions about prefiling.

 

Who can prefile legislation?

Returning members and members-elect of the upcoming legislative session may prefile bills. 

 

Can members of the public prefile legislation?

Not directly, but members of the public are free to contact their representative to discuss the possibility of the representative authoring a bill on a particular issue. For more information, please view the Citizen Handbook: How the Texas Legislature Works.

 

Is there a limit to how many bills a member can prefile?

There is no stated limit in the House or Senate rules.

 

How do you view prefiled bills?

  • If you are looking for a specific bill number, you can look it up on the Texas Legislature Online (TLO).
  • You can also view a list of bills filed each day by selecting "Today's Filed Bills" from the TLO General Reports section.
  • If you are looking for prefiled bills on a specific subject, the TLO Bill Search page allows you to select from a range of subject codes. 
  • If you need assistance locating prefiled bills, please call the Texas Legislative Reference Library at (512) 463-1252.

What happens to prefiled bills?

Bills are filed with the Chief Clerk in the House and the Calendar Clerk in the Senate, and are made publicly available via the Texas Legislature Online.

 

What role does the library have during prefiling?

In addition to answering research requests, library staff creates the TLO/TLIS record for every legislative measure. In addition, library staff reviews each bill and enters its proposed statutory changes into Index to Sections Affected (ISAF), assigns subject codes to each bill to enable better searching, and checks to see if companion measures were filed in the opposite chamber. We continue this process for each bill as it moves through the legislative process. 

 

 

This entry was posted on November 4, 2014 at 8:26 AM and has received 11473 views. Print this entry.