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Interim Hearings – Week of May 23, 2022

May 18

posted by TexasLRL in 87th Session, Interim hearings

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.

May 23, 2022
Senate Committee on Finance
Charge: Property Tax Relief: Examine and recommend ways to reduce Texans' property tax burden.  Review and report on proposals to use or dedicate state revenues in excess of the state spending limit to eliminate the school district maintenance and operations property tax.

Charge: Tax Exemptions: Examine Texans' current tax exemptions and report on whether adjustments are merited because of inflation or any other factors.

 

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May 24, 2022
House Committee on Public Education
Charge 1: Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee’s jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 87th Legislature. Conduct active oversight of all associated rulemaking and other governmental actions taken to ensure the intended legislative outcome of all legislation, including the following:

  • HB 1525 and HB 3 (86R), relating to public school finance and public education;
  • HB 4545, relating to assessment of public school students and providing accelerated instruction;
  • SB 1365, relating to public school organization, accountability, and fiscal management; and
  • SB 1716, relating to supplemental special education services and instructional materials for certain public school students.

Charge 2: Study the effects of COVID-19 on K–12 learning loss and best practices that exist to address learning loss. Monitor the implementation of state and local plans to address students' achievement gaps. Make recommendations for supporting the state and local efforts to increase academic development.

Charge 3: Examine the impact of COVID-19 on students' mental health, including the availability and workload of mental health professionals across the state and their role in the public school system. Make recommendations to reduce or eliminate existing barriers to providing mental health services in a traditional classroom setting or through teletherapy.

Charge 4: Examine the causes and contributors for chronic absenteeism in public schools and its impact on student outcomes. Consider techniques and approaches that have been utilized by public schools to identify students who are chronically absent and return these students to classrooms.

 

Senate Committee on Education
Charge: COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Educator Talent Pipeline: Examine the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the public school educator talent pipeline, staffing patterns and practices, and declining student enrollment and attendance. Review any policies and regulatory actions that prevent students from receiving instruction from a highly effective teacher. Monitor the impact of both the Teacher Incentive Allotment and non-administrator compensation increases directed under House Bill 3 (86th Legislature), as well as the teacher pay raises implemented in 2019. Explore innovative models to improve recruitment and make recommendations to maintain a strong educator workforce pipeline, while adapting resilient school strategies to meet emergent demands in public education.

Charge: Monitoring: Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on Education passed by the 87th 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:

  • House Bill 3 (86th Legislature), relating to public school finance and public education;
  • House Bill 1525 (87th Legislature), Relating to the public school finance system and public education; and
  • House Bill 4545 (87th Legislature), Relating to the assessment of public school students, the establishment of a strong foundations grant program, and providing accelerated instruction for students who fail to achieve satisfactory performance on certain assessment instruments.

Charge: Bond Efficiency: Conduct a comprehensive review of the school district bond issuance process. Specifically, review public notice and disclosure requirements, the bond election process, procurement requirements, and how unused bond proceeds may be utilized. Study the best practices implemented by school boards and make recommendations to improve bond issuance efficiencies.

Charge: Homestead Exemption: Study the use and effect of the optional homestead exemption available to independent school districts. Examine and report on costs to the state if school districts receive incentives to increase the optional percentage exemption.

 

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May 25, 2022
House Committee on Business & Industry
Charge: Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee’s jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 87th Legislature. Conduct active oversight of all associated rulemaking and other governmental actions taken to ensure the intended legislative outcome of all legislation, including the following:

  • SB 22, relating to certain claims for benefits, compensation, or assistance by certain public safety employees and survivors of certain public safety employees

Charge: Study workers’ compensation claims involving public safety employees described by SB 22. This study should include an analysis of medical costs, return-to-work outcomes, utilization of care, satisfaction with care, and health-related functional outcomes.

 

House Committee on Environmental Regulation
Charge: Evaluate the allocation of TERP funds for effective air pollution reduction programs. Review which existing programs are over or under-subscribed and identify unrealized opportunities that would further program goals.

Charge: Review recent passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Public Law No. 117-58), specifically funds that may bolster efforts to clean up polluted sites and plug wells and how federal funds can be used to complement state efforts on well plugging and pollution clean-up.

Charge: Monitor newly adopted and proposed federal regulations that could directly impact economic development, manufacturing, and industrial activities that fall within the jurisdiction of the committee, including regulations adopted or proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency.

 

Senate Committee on State Affairs
Charge: Human Trafficking: Examine opportunities and make recommendations to reduce the profitability of and demand for human trafficking in Texas. Determine ways to increase public awareness of the proliferation of human trafficking, as well as resources for victims and survivors. Monitor the implementation of House Bill 1540 (87th Legislature) and examine changes in arrest rates, judicial dispositions, and sentencing amongst offenders due to provisions of the legislation. Examine opportunities for attorneys to combat human trafficking in their local communities, including use of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, to generate revenue for local law enforcement officials combating human trafficking. Make any other recommendations to prevent human trafficking.

Charge: Investment Practices: Study the investment practices of financial services firms and how those practices affect the state's public pensions. Make recommendations to ensure the state's public pension funds are not being invested to further political or social causes.

Charge: Privacy and Transparency: Review the current state laws that protect and secure individuals' biometric identifiers. Explore ways to protect against the use of biometric identifiers for unintended purposes without an individual's consent and make recommendations to the Senate. Study websites that closely resemble government websites or fraudulently represent companies that they are not, including websites that use names of state agencies or licenses. Make recommendations to ensure that Texans are not mislead, taken advantage, or defrauded, especially when they try to seek assistance from a state website.

 

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May 26, 2022
House Select Committee on Youth Health & Safety
Charge: Improving the ability of federal, state, and local governmental entities to address the needs of Texas youth through, among other things, expanded coordination between all programs and systems that serve youth and their families, including child protective services, mental health services, educational institutions, and the juvenile court system;

Charge: The expansion of prevention efforts and the strengthening of service systems to permit the behavioral health challenges faced by Texas youth to addresses closer to their homes, including efforts and systems that permit youth to remain in their classrooms and stay out of institutionalized healthcare and juvenile justice systems.

 

Senate Committee on Criminal Justice (Houston)
Charge: Automobile Parts Theft (Including Catalytic Converters): Review the effect of House Bill 4110 (87th Legislature), relating to the registration of metal recycling, and related catalytic converter theft legislation passed by the 87th Legislature. Determine what actions are needed to aid law enforcement and stop catalytic converter theft and its related violence.

 

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