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.
For recent posts on Interim Hearings, see Interim Hearing Resources on the LRL homepage. The "Recent Entries" list on the left provides quick access to interim hearings posts from previous weeks.
House Committee on Pensions, Investments & Financial Services
Charge: Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee's jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 86th Legislature. Conduct active oversight of all associated rulemaking and other governmental actions taken to ensure intended legislative outcome of all legislation, including the following:
- HB 1442, which is the sunset bill for the Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner (OCCC). The legislation contains provisions relating to the regulation of online lenders. Monitor the OCCC's rules regulating the online lending industry.
- Recent and Upcoming Rules, Licensing & Administration Rules Implementing Sunset Legislation (7 Texas Administrative Code Chapters 2, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, and 89), Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner, Effective September 5, 2019
- HB 2945, which relates to consumer protection against credit card skimmers. Monitor the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) rules, polices, and procedures regulating the payment terminals on motor fuel dispensers and credit card skimmer violations. Examine the process by which the OAG creates, manages, and utilizes the payment fraud fusion center.
- Proposed Rules, 1 Texas Administrative Code §§ 56.1-56.6, Skimmers, Office of the Attorney General / Texas Secretary of State, Texas Register, November 1, 2019
- SB 322, which relates to the evaluation and reporting of investment practices and performances of certain public retirement systems. Examine the process by which state agencies and public retirement systems collaborate on, plan, and implement the structure necessary to perform these evaluations.
- SB 2224, which relates to requiring a public retirement system to adopt a written funding policy. Examine the process by which state agencies and public retirement systems collaborate on, plan, and implement the structure necessary to create sound and practical funding policies.
Charge: Study pension plan and personal retirement savings options for small businesses in order to be competitive with state and larger employers.
- 2019 Small Business Profile: Texas, U.S. Small Business Administration
- Small Business Retirement Plan Options, U.S. Department of Labor
Invited testimony related to Teacher Retirement System lease for investment management division employees.
- "Under Fire, TRS Backs Off Indeed Tower Lease Plan," Austin American-Statesman, February 20, 2020
- TRS Board of Trustees Meeting (Board Book), Teacher Retirement System, February 20-21, 2020 (Agenda Item 5, Receive an update regarding TRS Long-Term Facilities planning including plans for a future headquarters and considering leases at 816 Congress and Indeed Tower; Indeed Tower Update Presentation, February 2020)
- "Teacher Retirement System of Texas to Spend at Least $326K a Month in Rent" (TRS lease summary and statement), KXAN.com, Updated January 19, 2020
House Committee on Public Health
Topic: State's preparedness on the coronavirus
- Respiratory Viruses Having Pandemic Potential – Public Health Preparedness, Surveillance, and Response Plan for Texas, Texas Department of State Health Services, March 2015
- Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER), Texas Department of State Health Services
- Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), Texas Department of State Health Services
- COVID-19 Resources, Texas Medical Association
- Novel Coronavirus Response Support, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland
- Texas Syndromic Surveillance (TxS2), Texas Department of State Health Services
Charge: Examine ways to keep firearms out of the hands of individuals who would not pass a federal background check, while protecting the Second Amendment and Texans' right to bear arms. Examine whether stranger-to-stranger gun sales in Texas should be subject to background checks.
- Gun Laws – Buying & Transferring (Research Guide), Texas State Law Library, Updated February 13, 2020
- Post-Heller Second Amendment Jurisprudence (District of Columbia v. Heller), Congressional Research Service, Updated March 25, 2019
- Quick Facts: Felon in Possession of a Firearm, Fiscal Year 2018, U.S. Sentencing Commission, 2019
- Interim Report to the 86th Legislature (Charge 4 – Extreme risk protective orders), Senate Select Committee on Violence in Schools and School Security, August 2018
- "18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) Under Attack: The Case for As-Applied Challenges to the Felon-in-Possession Ban," 93 Notre Dame Law Review 1723 (March 2018)
- Possession of Firearms By People With Mental Illness (State Laws), National Conference of State Legislatures, January 5, 2018
- National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) (Reports, Statutes, Regulations), Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Interim Hearings – Week of January 6, 2020 (Blog), January 9 – House Select Committee on Mass Violence Prevention & Community Safety, Legislative Reference Library, December 31, 2019
- Interim Hearings – Week of December 2, 2019 (Blog), December 4 – Senate Select Committee on Mass Violence Prevention & Community Safety, Legislative Reference Library, November 26, 2019
- Interim Hearings – Week of November 4, 2019 (Blog), November 7 – House Select Committee on Mass Violence Prevention & Community Safety, Legislative Reference Library, October 30, 2019
- Interim Hearings – Week of October 7, 2019 (Blog), October 10 – House Select Committee on Mass Violence Prevention & Community Safety, Legislative Reference Library, October 2, 2019
- Texas Safety Action Report, Governor Greg Abbott, September 12, 2019
- Executive Order GA-07, Relating to the Prevention of Mass Attacks, Governor Greg Abbott, September 5, 2019
Duties:
(1) Examine options for strengthening enforcement measures for current laws that prevent the transfer of firearms to felons and other persons prohibited by current law from possessing firearms
- "The 12 Reasons Why Americans Fail Federal Gun Background Checks," The Trace, September 9, 2019
- "18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) Under Attack: The Case for As-Applied Challenges to the Felon-in-Possession Ban," 93 Notre Dame Law Review 1723 (March 2018)
(2) Examine impediments and challenges to the timely reporting of relevant criminal history information and other threat indicators to state and federal databases
- "Complementary Approaches or Conflicting Strategies? Examining CISA [Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015] and New York's DFS [Department of Financial Services] Cybersecurity Regulations as a Harmonizing Framework for a Bilateral Approach to Cybersecurity," 26 Rich. J.L. & Tech. 1 (2020)
(3) Examine the role of digital media and technology in threat detection, assessment, reporting, and prevention, including the collaboration between digital media and law enforcement
- "Clearview's Facial Recognition App Has Been Used by the Justice Department, ICE, Macy's, Walmart, and the NBA," BuzzFeed News, February 27, 2020
(4) Evaluate the ongoing and long-term workforce needs of the state related to cybersecurity, mental health, law enforcement, and related professionals
- "Capacity, Workforce, and Continuum of Care," 86th Legislative Session Report, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Texas, accessed February 28, 2020
- "Answering the Demand for Services," Monitor on Psychology, Vol. 51, No. 1, January 1, 2020
(5) Evaluate current protocols and extreme risk indicators used to identify potential threats and consider options for improving the dissemination of information between federal, state, and local entities and timely and appropriate intervention of mental health professionals
Charge: Adult Education: Identify and evaluate current innovative programs that assist non-traditional students (first-time adult learners, re-enrolling students, working adults, and educationally disadvantaged students) in completing a high school diploma, GED, post-secondary degree, or workforce credential, including a review of adult education charter schools and their performance framework. Make recommendations to help successful expansion with partnered business and education entities.
- Prosperity Requires Being Bold: A Progress Report, Tri-Agency Report to the Office of the Governor from the Texas Education Agency, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and Texas Workforce Commission, February 2020
- 2018 Charter School Performance Framework (The Excel Center for Adults), Texas Education Agency, August 16, 2019
- Interim Report to the 85th Legislature (Charge 6 – Educational opportunities for non-traditional students), House Committee on Higher Education, January 2017
- Texas Adult Education Program: Evaluation Report (Adult charter schools), Texas Education Agency, 2016-2017
- Prosperity Requires Being Bold: Integrating Education and the Workforce for a Bright Texas Future, Tri-Agency Report to the Office of the Governor from the Texas Education Agency, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and Texas Workforce Commission, November 2016
- Adult Learners and Non-Traditional Students (Presentation), House Committee on Higher Education, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, June 21, 2016
- "Interim Hearings – Week of June 20, 2016 (Blog)," June 21 – House Committee on Higher Education, Legislative Reference Library, June 10, 2016
Charge: Monitoring: Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on Education passed by the 86th Legislature, as well as relevant agencies and programs under the committee's jurisdiction. Specifically, make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, or complete implementation of the following:
- SB 11, relating to policies, procedures, and measures for school safety and mental health promotion in public schools and the creation of the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium.
- Senate Bill 11 (SB 11) and Other School Safety-Related Legislation (Correspondence),Texas Education Agency, February 27, 2020
- School Safety, Texas Education Agency
- HB 3, relating to public school finance and public education. Review the impact of the repeal of a Gifted and Talented allotment on programs in districts and charter schools. Highlight various innovative Gifted and Talented programs in districts and charter schools across the state, and make recommendations on methods to strengthen and promote Gifted and Talented programs throughout Texas.
- House Bill 3 (HB 3) Implementation: Gifted/Talented Education Certification and Funding (Correspondence),Texas Education Agency, August 29, 2019
- Gifted Talented Education Resources (HB 3 resources), Texas Education Agency
- House Bill 3, Texas Education Agency
