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.
House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
Charge: Death penalty for defendants with serious mental illness or intellectual and developmental disabilities
- "Texas Death Penalty Juror Hopes to Change Law as Execution Looms," Texas Tribune, March 28, 2017
- "Should Death Be So Different?: Sentencing Purposes and Capital Jury Decisions in an Era of Smart on Crime Sentencing Reform," 70 Arkansas Law Review 227 (2017)
- "The 'Of Mice and Men' Rule for Texas Executions," The Atlantic, November 28, 2016
- "'Outsmarting' Death by Putting Capital Punishment on Life Support: The Need for Uniform State Evaluations of the Intellectually Disabled in the Wake of Hall v. Florida," 81 Brooklyn Law Review 1683 (2016)
- "How Texas Keeps Putting the Intellectually Disabled on Death Row," New Republic, May 14, 2014
- Evaluating Fairness and Accuracy in State Death Penalty Systems: the Texas Capital Punishment Assessment Report (Ch. 10 – Capital jury instructions), American Bar Association, September 2013
- "Defining Intellectual Disability and Establishing a Standard of Proof: Suggestions for a National Model Standard," 23 Health Matrix 317 (2013)
- Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 37.071, Procedure in Capital Case
House Select Committee on Texas Ports, Innovation & Infrastructure
Charge: Pilot Boards
- "Pilot Commissioners Turn Down Joint Meeting With Wharves Board," Galveston County Daily News, January 19, 2018
- Texas Transportation Code Chapter 63, Pilot Boards
- Texas Transportation Code Chapters 66-70, Houston, Galveston, Brazoria, Jefferson and Orange, and Corpus Christi Pilots Licensing and Regulatory Acts
- Port of Galveston, Port Operations (Board of Trustees of the Galveston Wharves)
Charge: Port Authority Advisory Committee [PAAC]
- Texas Ports 2017-2018 Capital Program: Project Summaries, Port Authority Advisory Committee, 2017
- Texas Ports Strategic Mission Plan: 85th Legislative Session, Port Authority Advisory Committee, 2016
- Port Authority Advisory Committee, Texas Department of Transportation
- Texas Transportation Code §§ 55.006 - 55.008, Port Authority Advisory Committee
Charge: Public-Private Partnerships
- Gulf Intracoastal Waterway: Legislative Report - 85th Legislature, Texas Department of Transportation, 2016
- Public Private Partnerships: Balancing the Needs of the Public and Private Sectors to Finance the Nation's Infrastructure - Findings and Recommendations, Special Panel on Public-Private Partnerships, U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, 2014
- Interim Report to the 84th Legislature (Charge - Texas' Maritime Port System), House Committee on Transportation, December 2014
Charge: Agricultural fees and state licenses in agriculture industry
- Commissioner Sid Miller Calls for Agency Fee Reductions, Texas Department of Agriculture, August 22, 2017
- An Audit Report on Fees at the Department of Agriculture, Texas State Auditor's Office, August 2017
- Texas Department of Agriculture Fee Updates (Includes cost recovery rate overview and notice of proposed rule changes as published in 40 TexReg 6989), Texas Department of Agriculture, October 13, 2015
- Occupational Regulation in Texas: Occupational Licenses and Statutory Penalties for Violations Relating to Occupational Licenses (Texas Department of Agriculture), Texas Legislative Council, October 2008
- Licenses & Registrations, Texas Department of Agriculture
Senate Committee on Education
Charge: Teacher compensation
- Rankings & Estimates: Rankings of the States 2016 and Estimates of School Statistics 2017, National Education Association, May 2017
- Public Education Finances: 2015, U.S. Census Bureau, June 2017
- Mitigating Teacher Shortages: Financial Incentives, Education Commission of the States, May 2016
- "A Better Way to Pay: Teacher Compensation Strategies in Urgent Need of Reform," Texas Lone Star, Texas Association of School Boards, April 2015
Charge: Classroom conduct and teacher support, student discipline
- Suspension and Expulsion, Alternative School Discipline Strategies (Policy Snapshots), Education Commission of the States, January 2018
- Realizing the Full Vision of School Discipline Reform: A Framework for Statewide Change, Council of State Governments, 2017
- Suspended Childhood: An Analysis of Exclusionary Discipline of Texas’ Pre-K and Elementary School Students, Updated with 2015-16 Data, Texas Appleseed, March 2017
- Dangerous Discipline: How Texas Schools Are Relying on Law Enforcement, Courts, and Juvenile Probation to Discipline Students, Texas Appleseed, Texans Care for Children, December 14, 2016
- Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS) (Blueprints, briefs, behavior related policy, state/district resources, tier 1-3 supports in schools), Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), U.S. Department of Education
Charge: Monitor implementation of legislation, including:
- a prohibition of a monitoring system performance indicator based solely on the number or percentage of students receiving special education services (SB 160). This will include testimony about the United States Department of Education special education monitoring letter and the Texas Education Agency's proposed corrective action plan.
- "Texas Education Agency Releases Plan to Reform Special Education," Texas Tribune, January 18, 2018
- "Ed. Dept. Finds Texas Suppressed Enrollment of Special Education Students," Education Week, January 11, 2018
- Letter to Mike Morath, Commissioner, Texas Education Agency, relating to special education and recent monitoring letter from the U.S. Department of Education, Governor Greg Abbott, January 11, 2018
House Committee on Government Transparency & Operation
Charge 1: Role of technology in disaster preparedness
- "How Technology is Advancing Emergency Response and Survival During Natural Disasters," Forbes, December 15, 2017
- "The New Tech of Disaster Response, From Apps to Aqua-Drones," Wired, August 29, 2015
- Outlining a Framework for the Use of ICT [information and communication technologies] in Disaster Management (Thesis), Naval Postgraduate School (Monterey, CA), September 2014
- "Twitter Vs. Sirens: Urban Disaster Response in the Digital Age," Next City, May 13, 2014
Charge 2: State agency use of state disaster recovery services, including statewide technology centers
- Texas Government Code §§ 2054.375 - 2054.392, Statewide Technology Centers
- 1 Texas Administrative Code §§ 215.10 - 215. 13, Data Center Services for State Agencies and Local Government
Charge 3: Open meetings laws
- Open Meetings Handbook 2016, Attorney General of Texas, 2016
- Crisis Emergency and Risk Communication (Public's Right to Know), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014 Edition
- Interim Report to the 82nd Legislature (Charge 13 - Consider How Technology and Social Media Affect Communications by Government Bodies), Senate Committee on State Affairs, December 2010
- Texas Government Code Chapter 551, Open Meetings
Charge 4: Public Information Act
- "Lawmakers May Review Effects of Court Ruling on Public Information Law," Interim News, House Research Organization, March 21, 2018
- "Texas Lawmakers File Bills To Plug 'Loopholes' Keeping Government Contracts Secret," Texas Tribune, January 3, 2017
- Texas Supreme Court Ruling Helps Bar The Door To Public Release of Company Records, Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, May 4, 2016
- Public Information Handbook 2016, Attorney General of Texas, 2016
- "Lessons Learned for Facing the Public in Disaster: Harris County, Texas' Francisco Sanchez Learned From Hurricane Katrina to Give the Public What It Wants," Emergency Management, December 2, 2013
- Interim Report to the 83rd Legislature (Charge 1 - Evaluate Needs for Revisions to the Public Information Act), Senate Committee on Open Government, December 2012
- Texas Government Code Chapter 552, Public Information
Charge 5: State agency data sharing
- A Blueprint for Interagency and Cross-Jurisdictional Data Sharing, Urban Institute, July 2017
- Interagency Data Transparency Commission Report, Interagency Data Transparency Commission, September 1, 2016
- Texas Government Code §§ 2060.001 - 2060.006, Interagency Data Transparency Commission
Charge 6: Implementation of relevant legislation, specifically HB 8, 85th Legislature, R.S. (Cybersecurity for state agency information resources)
- Cybersecurity Legislation 2017, National Conference of State Legislatures, December 29, 2017
- Interim Report to the 85th Texas Legislature (Charge 1 – State agencies' cybersecurity policies), House Committee on Government Transparency & Operation, January 2017
- Texas Government Code §§ 2054.059-2054.0592, Cybersecurity
- 10 Texas Administrative Code §§ 202.20-202.26, Information Security Standards for State Agencies
House Select Committee on Opioids & Substance Abuse
Charge: Prevalence and impact of substance use, substance use disorders, opioids, and synthetic drugs in Texas
- Opioids in America: A National Crisis (Presentation), Texas Legislative Council, 2018
- MMWR Opioid Reports, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000–2018
- Prescription Drug Policy Resource Center, National Conference of State Legislatures, March 13, 2018
- Medicaid’s Role in Addressing the Opioid Epidemic, Kaiser Family Foundation, February 27, 2018
-
All for One and One for All: Developing Coordinated State Opioid Strategies, Milbank Memorial Fund, Center for Evidence-Based Policy, February 2018.
- "Doctors, Pharmacists Will Have to Use Prescription-Tracking Tool in 2019 for Opioids," San Antonio Express-News, January 8, 2018
- The Role of Opioid Overdoses in Confirmed Maternal Deaths, 2012-2015, Texas Department of State Health Services, December 2017
- Pain in the Nation: The Drug, Alcohol and Suicide Crises and the Need for a National Resilience Strategy (includes state data tables), Trust for America's Health, November 2017
- Evaluation of Medicaid Spending and Outcomes for Substance Use Disorder Treatment, As Required by Senate Bill 1, 85th Legislature, Regular Session, 2017 (Article II, HHSC, Rider 29), Health and Human Services Commission, November 2017
- The Opioid Epidemic and Federal Efforts to Address It: Frequently Asked Questions, Congressional Research Service, October 18, 2017
- Peeling Back the Curtain on Regional Variation in the Opioid Crisis: Spotlight on Five Key Urban Centers and Their Respective States (including information on Houston and Texas), FAIR Health, June 2017
- Deep Dive: Opioid Addiction (Drug Crime Policy, Child Welfare, Health & Prevention), National Conference of State Legislatures
- Substance Abuse Data, Research, and Reports, Texas Department of State Health Services
- Population Data/NSDUH (National Survey on Drug Use and Health, data tables, state and metro reports), 2015-2016 NSDUH State Estimates of Substance Use and Mental Disorders (December 6, 2017), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
- Intervention, Treatment, and Prevention Strategies to Address Opioid Use Disorders in Rural Areas: A Primer On Opportunities For Medicaid-Safety Net Collaboration, National Academy for State Health Policy, September 2016.
Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations
Hurricane Harvey Related Charges
Charge: Rebuilding housing and infrastructure following natural disaster
- State of Texas Plan for Disaster Recovery: Hurricane Harvey (draft for public comment), Texas General Land Office Community Development & Revitalization Program, January 18, 2018
- Interim Report to the 85th Legislature (Charge 3, Disaster preparedness planning and coordination, background on process to rebuild housing and efficiency of disaster recovery), Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations, November 2016
- Lessons From Texas: 10 Years of Disaster Recovery Examined, Texas Appleseed, September 15, 2015
Charge: Distribution of federal disaster relief funds, including community development block grant (CDBG) funds
- Hurricane Harvey: County Updates, Texas General Land Office, March 16, 2018
- Recovery Tracker, The Governor's Commission to Rebuild Texas, updated March 16, 2018
- "Cuts May Undermine Disaster Recovery" (CDBG program), E&E News, Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC, March 2, 2018
- "Texas Launches Online Harvey Recovery Funds Tracker," KRISTV.com (Corpus Christi), February 26, 2018
- State Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery, Texas General Land Office
Charge: Debris removal
- "Here's the Costly Price Tag of Hurricane Harvey Cleanup in Aransas County," Corpus Christi Caller-Times, March 15, 2018
- "After 3 Months, Removal of Harvey Debris Nears End," Houston Chronicle, November 21, 2017
- "$90M Approved to Expedite Debris Removal from Hurricane Harvey," Houston Chronicle, November 10, 2017
- "Texas Attorney General Opens Investigation into Harvey Debris Removal Companies," Texas Tribune, October 20, 2017
- The Governor's Commission to Rebuild Texas
- Hurricane Harvey Debris Contracts, Texas General Land Office
Charge: Disaster training opportunities
- Texas Government Code § 418.005, Emergency Management Training
- Texas Division of Emergency Management Training Unit, Texas Emergency Preparedness Website (training catalog, schedule), Texas Department of Public Safety
Interim Legislative Charge
Charge: Special Purpose Districts Bond Reform
- "Municipal Utility Districts in Texas Have Sweeping Power to Sell Bonds, Levy Taxes," Houston Chronicle, August 20, 2016
- "Redefining 'Special Districts' Could Have Big Taxing Consequences" (Proposed IRS Rule Withdrawn), Governing, May 2016
- Invisible Government: Special Purpose Districts in Texas, Texas Senate Research Center, October 2014
House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Article II
Charge 4 (specific aspects): Health and Human Services Commission's (HHSC) managed care contracts, enforcement of contractual sanctions for managed care organizations (MCOs), Medicaid participants' complaints regarding access to care
- Expansion of Managed Care (Summary, Executive Commissioner's commitment to improving member and provider experience in Medicaid managed care, HHSC updates), Managed Care Contracts and Manuals, Managed Care Incentives and Disincentives, Managed Care Organization Sanctions, MCO Notices and Alerts, Managed Care Service Areas (Map), Health and Human Services Commission
- An Audit Report on the Health and Human Services Commission's Management of Its Medicaid Managed Care Contract with Superior HealthPlan, Inc. and Superior HealthPlan Network, and Superior's Compliance with Reporting Requirements, Texas State Auditor's Office, January 2018
- "How Texas Medicaid Is Failing Children with Disabilities," Austin American-Statesman, November 2, 2017
- Utilization Review in STAR+PLUS Medicaid Managed Care, Health and Human Services Commission, November 2017
- Texas Medicaid Managed Care and Children's Health Insurance Program: Summary of Activities and Trends in Healthcare Quality, Contract Year: 2016, Institute for Child Health Policy at the University of Florida, External Quality Review Organization for Texas Medicaid Managed Care and CHIP, August 2017; Addendum, October 2017
- Demonstrating the Value of Medicaid MLTSS Programs (Survey of Medicaid managed long-term services and supports programs in 12 states, including Texas), National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities, Center for Health Care Strategies, May 2017
- Texas Medicaid Managed Care STAR Child, STAR Adult, and STAR+PLUS Adult Behavioral Health Survey Report, Contract Year 2015, Institute for Child Health Policy at the University of Florida, External Quality Review Organization for Texas Medicaid Managed Care and CHIP, HHSC Approval Date: April 27, 2017
- "Severely Disabled Kids' Lives at Risk, Parents Say, as Texas Enacts Medicaid Cost-Savings Plan" (Including history of STAR Kids), Dallas Morning News, February 2017
- Texas Medicaid and CHIP in Perspective, 11th Edition, Chapter 11: Fee-for-Service and Managed Care (Overview of Medicaid managed care programs: STAR, STAR+PLUS, STAR Kids, STAR Health, children's Medicaid dental services, dual eligible, nursing facility carve-in), Appendix D: Managed Care History in Texas, Appendix E: Managed Care Quality Assurance Reports, Health and Human Services Commission, February 2017
- Review of HHSC's Contract Management and Oversight Function for Medicaid and CHIP Managed Care and Fee-for-Service Contracts, Health and Human Services Commission, February 2017
- Combined Report on Medicaid Managed Care Provider Network Adequacy, Monitoring, and Violations, Health and Human Services Commission, January 2017
- Interim Report to the 85th Legislature (Interim Charge 9B – OIG Sunset implementation, including table of major provisions relating to HHSC Office of Inspector General in SB 200 and SB 207, 84th Legislature, R.S., and discussion of MCO efforts to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicaid), Senate Committee on Health and Human Service, November 2016
- Medicaid Managed Care Enrollment and Program Characteristics, 2015, Mathematica Policy Research, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Winter 2016
- Medicaid Managed Care in Texas: A Review of Access to Services, Quality of Care, and Cost Effectiveness, Sellers Dorsey, Milliman, Texas Association of Health Plans, February 2015
- Interim Report to the 84th Legislature (Charge 7 – Implementation of legislation in the 83rd Legislature, Regular Session; including discussion of SB 7, Medicaid Long Term Services and Supports Redesign, and Medicaid managed care), Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, December 2014
- "Medicaid Roadblocks" (Early history of Medicaid managed care), Texas Medicine, Texas Medical Association, October 2013
- Interim Report to the 83rd Legislature (Charge 2 – Cost containment initiatives, including expansion of managed care), Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, December 2012
Charge 10: Early Childhood Intervention Program (ECI) in Texas
- "Financing Options for the Early Childhood Intervention Program," Legislative Budget Board Staff Reports, Legislative Budget Board, January 2017
- Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) Program Funding Sources (Infographic), Legislative Budget Board, May 2016
- Early Childhood Intervention Services, Health and Human Services Commission
House Committee General Investigating & Ethics
Charge 4: Examine the Judicial Campaign Fairness Act and identify opportunities to improve the Act
- Tips From the Texas Ethics Commission to Comply With Judicial Campaign Fairness Act (JCFA) Contribution Limits, Texas Ethics Commission, Revised August 18, 2016
- Interim Report to the 83rd Legislature, Select Interim Committee to Study Ethics Laws, January 2015
- Campaign Finance Guide For Judicial Candidates and Officeholders, Texas Ethics Commission, Revised September 1, 2013
- "Local Court Race Tests Judicial Campaign Law," Texas Tribune, July 26, 2012
- Texas Election Code §§ 253.151 - 253.176, Judicial Campaign Fairness Act
Charge 7: Review the implementation of SB 73 (85R) relating to leave policies and procedures for state employees
- Interim Report to the 85th Legislature (Charge 3 - Emergency Leave and Settlement Payments), House Committee on General Investigating and Ethics, January 2017
- A Report on State Agency Administration of Emergency and Administrative Leave, Office of the Texas State Auditor, November 2, 2016
- Analysis of State Agencies' Use of Separation Agreements, Office of the Texas State Auditor, September 14, 2016
- Texas Government Code Chapter 661, State Officers and Employees - Leave
- Texas Government Code § 661.902, Emergency Leave
- Texas Government Code § 2101.042, Leave Reporting
- Emergency Leave Reporting Requirements (Fiscal Policies & Procedures), Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, September 8, 2017
