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.
September 20 Top
House Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Special Water Districts
(Fort Stockton, TX)
Charge 6: Joint groundwater planning, including HB 200, 84th Legislature, R.S., and ongoing legal developments concerning ownership access to groundwater and impact on property rights and groundwater management
- "In Weighty Water Ruling, Texas' High Court Backs Landowner," Texas Tribune, May 27, 2016
- Reorganizing Groundwater Regulation in Texas, Bush School of Government & Public Service, Texas A&M University, 2016
- Interim Report to the 84th Legislature (Charge 2 - Groundwater), House Committee on Natural Resources, January 2015
- Report to the 84th Legislature, Texas Groundwater Protection Committee, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, January 2015
- "Whose Water Is It Anyway?," Tierra Grande, Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, July 2014 (Revised 2015)
- "Texas Groundwater Rights and Immunities: From East to Day and Beyond," Texas Water Journal, Texas Water Resources Institute, Texas A&M University, 2014
- "Edwards Aquifer Authority V. Day And Bragg—Predictions on Their Effects For Regulatory Takings Claims For Groundwater Used In Oil & Gas Operations," 66 Baylor Law Review 471 (2014)
- Groundwater (Aquifers, groundwater management areas, conservation districts, data, and models), Texas Water Development Board
House Committee on County Affairs
Topic: Racial disparities during traffic stops within Texas Department of Public Safety, the constitutionality of equal protection claims and concerns that arise from DPS racial disparities, de-escalation tactics, and diversion before booking
- Race, Traffic Stops, & Ensuring Public Safety for a Changing Texas: A Review of White vs. Hispanic Disparities in Texas DPS Traffic Stops, 2009-2014, Border Network for Human Rights, April 2016
- 2015 Traffic Stop Data Report, Texas Department of Public Safety, 2016
- 2014 Traffic Stop Data Report, Texas Department of Public Safety, 2015
- Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Jails: Recommendations For Local Practice, Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, 2015
- An Integrated Approach to De-Escalation and Minimizing Use of Force, Police Executive Research Forum, August 2012
- Searching For Consent: An Analysis of Racial Profiling Data in Texas, Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, February 2006
- "Racial Profiling in Texas Department of Public Safety Traffic Stops: Race Aware or Race Benign?," 8 The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice 117 (2006)
- Don't Mind If I Take A Look, Do Ya? An Examination of Consent Searches and Contraband Hit Rates at Texas Traffic Stops, Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, Steward Research Group, February 2005
- Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 2.131 - Art. 2.133, Racial profiling prohibited; Law enforcement policy on racial profiling; Reports required for motor vehicle stops (racial profiling data)
September 21 Top
House Committees on County Affairs and Criminal Jurisprudence (Joint Hearing)
Charge: Pretrial service and bonding practices, bail and pre-trial confinement decisions
- The Downstream Consequences of Misdemeanor Pretrial Detention (Harris County, Texas; constitutional implications), University of Pennsylvania Institute for Law & Economic Research Paper No. 16-18, July 2016
- Risk, Not Resources: Improving the Pretrial Release Process in Texas, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs Policy Brief, June 2016
- Fines, Fees, and Bail: Payments in the Criminal Justice System That Disproportionately Impact the Poor, Council of Economic Advisors Issue Brief, December 2015
- A Cost-Benefit Model for Pretrial Justice, Public Welfare Foundation, May 2015
- Depenalizing Poverty: A Proposal for Improving Harris County Bail Policies, Texas Fair Defense Project, 2014
- Pretrial Policy: State Laws (50-state charts, Texas), National Conference of State Legislatures, June 17, 2013
- Interim Report to the 83rd Legislature (Charge 3 - Bail bond industry), Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, December 2012
- Bail Fail: Why the U.S. Should End the Practice of Using Money For Bail, Justice Policy Institute, September 2012
- "Bail or Jail: Lawmakers in More Than Two Dozen States are Changing the Rules on Bail," State Legislatures, May 2012
- Texas Attorney General Opinion No. GA-0048 (Authority of a judge or magistrate to attach a financial condition to a personal bond or to permit a cash deposit of less than the full bail amount), March 27, 2003
House Committee on Elections
Charge 2: Voter registration rolls
- "America Scrubs Millions from the Voter Rolls. Is It Fair?," The Center for Public Integrity, August 22, 2016
- Voter List Accuracy, National Conference of State Legislatures, June 16, 2016
- Interim Report to the 81st Legislature (Charge 2 - Prevalence of fraud in Texas elections), House Committee on Elections, January 2009
Charge 4: Mail-ballot fraud
- "Texas Prosecuted 15 Illegal Voting Cases But None Involved Impersonation," Texas Tribune, August 22, 2016
- Interim Report to the 81st Legislature, (Charge 2 - Prevalence of fraud in Texas elections) House Committee on Elections, January 2009
- Sub-Committee Report: Mail-In Ballot Fraud & Incidents of Non-Citizen Voting, Sub-committee on Mail-in Ballot Integrity, House Committee on Elections, November 2008
Charge 5: Compliance with campaign finance reporting laws by local officials and candidates
- Campaign Finance Guide for Candidates and Officeholders Who File With Local Filing Authorities, Texas Ethics Commission, Revised May 2016
House Committee on Land & Resource Management
Charge: Regulatory authority of municipalities in their extraterritorial jurisdiction, current annexation policies
- Municipal Annexation in Texas, Texas Municipal League, Updated May 2016
- Ending Forced Annexation in Texas, Texas Public Policy Foundation, July 2015
- Interim Report to the 84th Texas Legislature (Charge 3 - Regulatory authority available to municipalities in their extraterritorial jurisdiction), House Committee on Land and Resource Management, December 2014
- A Guide to Urban Planning in Texas Communities (Chapter 5 - Annexation and the ETJ), American Planning Association, Texas Chapter, 2013
- Interim Report to the 80th Texas Legislature (Charge 2 - Overlapping extraterritorial jurisdictions), House Committee on Land and Resource Management, December 2006
- The Impact of Overly Restrictive Annexation Policy on Economic Activity in Texas and Its Metropolitan Regions (Annual losses as of 2030), The Perryman Group, April 2003
- Texas Local Government Code Chapter 42, Extraterritorial Jurisdiction of Municipalities
- Texas Local Government Code Chapter 43, Municipal Annexation
Charge: Legislative oversight and monitoring of agencies
House Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Special Water Districts
(Del Rio, TX)
Charge 6: Joint groundwater planning, including HB 200, 84th Legislature, R.S., and ongoing legal developments concerning ownership access to groundwater and impact on property rights and groundwater management
See September 20, above
September 22 Top
House Committee on Appropriations
Charge 8: Ongoing implementation of SB 20, 84th Legislature, R.S., and Article IX, Sec. 7.12 of the General Appropriations Act, HB 1, 84th R.S., study of trends in state contracting as developed by the Legislative Budget Board
- State of Texas Contract Management Guide, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Updated September 1, 2016
- Senate Bill 20 (84R) - Frequently Asked Questions (State contracting), Texas Department of Information Resources, Updated August 11, 2016
- Senate Bill 20: Centralized State Purchasing Study - Background (Timeline), Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
- Overview of Contract Reporting Requirements, Texas Legislative Budget Board, July 2016
- A Report on Recent Contracting Audits, Texas State Auditor's Office, January 23, 2015
- Interim Report to the 83rd Texas Legislature (Charge 2 - State contracting), Senate Committee on Government Organization, December 2014
- "Policing Private Contractors is Challenge for States," Stateline (Pew Charitable Trusts), August 5, 2014
- Texas Government Code Chapter 2261, State Contracting Standards and Oversight
House Committee on Elections
Charge 1: Petition process for addressing local ordinances
- Alphabet Soup: Types of Cities, Texas Municipal League Legal Department, 2015
- Handbook for Mayors and Councilmembers, Texas Municipal League, 2015
Charge 3: Transparency of local bond elections
- Texas Transparency: Debt at a Glance (counties, cities, independent school districts, community/junior college districts) and Local Bond Elections (bond election results through May 2016), Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
Charge 6: Legislative oversight and monitoring of agencies, specifically: methods by which local election officials are informed about changes to election law
House Select Committee on Mental Health
Topics: Mental health/behavioral care services in Texas, including, but not limited to, Texas' State Hospitals and mental health bed allocation, and availability of mental health services on the campuses of Texas institutions of higher education
- "Here's Why Texas Students Wait Weeks for Basic Mental Health Services," Texas Tribune, August 9, 2016
- State Hospital System Long-Term Plan, Texas Department of State Health Services, January 2015
- Allocation of Outpatient Mental Health Services and Beds in State Hospitals, HB 3793 Plan for the Appropriate and Timely Provision of Mental Health Services: Initial Plan, Standards and Methodologies, Texas Department of State Health Services, January 2015
