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 24, 2024
House Committee on Appropriations
1. Review the state finance implications of the implementation of House Bill 3447 as it relates to the Texas Space Commission and the Space Economy.
2. Review the state finance implications of the implementation of House Bill 5174 as it relates to the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Consortium and Fund.
3. Review the state finance implications of the implementation of Senate Bill 2627 and potential opportunities to expand the allowable uses of the Texas Energy Fund.
4. Review the state finance implications of the implementation of House Bill 9 as it relates to the Texas Broadband Infrastructure Fund.
5. Review the state finance implications of future population growth trends.
6. Review the state finance implications of the implementation of Senate Bill 1648 as it relates to the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund.
7. Interim Charge 2: Examine cross-article funding streams within the Texas Education Agency, such as School Health and Related Services (SHARS), determine where overlapping programs are best fit and funded, and make policy recommendations to improve transparency and accountability between agencies.
- Texas Education Agency: Fiscal Year 2026–2027 Legislative Appropriations Request: Submitted to the Governor’s Office of Budget, Planning and Policy and the Legislative Budget Board, Texas Education Agency, September 2024
- Fiscal Size-up: 2024–25 Biennium (Agencies of Education: Texas Education Agency), Legislative Budget Board, July 2024
- Operating Budget: Fiscal Year 2024, Texas Education Agency, December 2023
- School Health and Related Services, Texas Education Agency
- School Health and Related Services (SHARS), Texas Health and Human Services Commission
House Committee on Natural Resources
Monitoring: Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee’s jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 88th 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 28, relating to financial assistance provided and programs administered by the Texas Water Development Board.
Water Reuse Expansion: Examine opportunities to expand the reuse of waters in Texas as an additional water supply and identify funding deficiencies for water reuse projects and regulatory impediments that make expansion of water reuse difficult in Texas.
- Ask an Expert: Direct and Indirect Potable Reuse Provides Much-Needed Water Supply, Texas Water Newsroom, February 14, 2024
- Water Reuse in the Hill Country: Analyzing Opportunities in Comal County, Texas, Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, September 2023
- Interim Report (Charge 2 and Charge 9), Senate Committee on Water, Agriculture & Rural Affairs, December 16, 2022
- What Is Water Reuse?, Water Environment Association of Texas, 2022
- 2022 Texas State Water Plan: Indirect Reuse and Other Direct Reuse, Texas Water Development Board, 2022
- Regulatory Impediments to Implementing One Water in Texas, The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University, December 2019
- Water Reuse, Texas Water Development Board
- Requirements for Reclaimed Water, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
Reliability of Clean Water Access: Evaluate the causes, durations, and incidence of boil water notices issued by public water systems. Identify solutions to keep critical water infrastructure online during public water system failures and consider whether policy changes are necessary to prevent interruption to the public’s access to clean, reliable drinking water.
- A Boil-Water Notice in Houston Made National News. In Rural Texas, It’s a Way of Life, Texas Tribune, December 7, 2022
- Texas’ Water Quality Challenge and the Need for Better Communication in an Era of Increasing Water Quality Contamination Events, Texas Water Journal, October 24, 2018
- Top Subject of Interest: Boil Water Notices, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
- Texas Drinking Water Watch, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
Groundwater Infrastructure: Examine Texas groundwater data infrastructure, data collection, and monitoring practices and identify policy solutions for improvement in the areas of understanding local groundwater conditions; groundwater modeling for planning and decision-making; and resource management
- Groundwater Assessment: 2024 State of Texas Water Quality Inventory, Water Availability Division, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, January 2024
- Improving Water Planning in Texas, Environmental Defense Fund, January 2023
- A Field Manual for Groundwater-level Monitoring at the Texas Water Development Board, Texas Water Development Board, September 2016
- Groundwater, Groundwater Data, Texas Water Development Board
- Joint Groundwater Monitoring and Contamination Report, SFR-56, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
Senate Subcommittee Higher Education
Charge: Public Junior College State Finance Program: Monitor the implementation of the new community college funding model as recommended by the Texas Commission on Community College Finance. Report on whether the rulemaking process is being successfully completed to focus on student outcomes and enhancing the role of public junior colleges in workforce training and preparation.
- A New Way to Fund Texas Community Colleges Focuses on Student Success, Not Enrollment, Texas Tribune, January 2, 2024
- Student Advocates in Texas Play a Major Role in Passing of Community College Finance Law, EdTrust, June 26, 2023
- Report to the 88th Legislature, Texas Commission on Community College Finance, 2022
- Community College Finance Overview and Formula Funding (Includes new funding model after passage of HB 8, 88th Legislature, R.S.), Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
- Community College Finance Simulator, Texas 2036
Charge: Innovation and Technology in Higher Education: Investigate the opportunities and challenges of emerging technology on teaching and learning, focusing on artificial intelligence (AI), online education, and digital resources. Examine aspects of intellectual property as they relate to the development of AI programs and platforms by institutions of higher education and explore the ethical issues institutions of higher education should contemplate when developing AI programs and platforms. Make recommendations to responsibly and ethically utilize emerging technology to enhance learning in higher education
- Future-Ready Digitalized Education: Unraveling the Dynamics of Sustainable and Ethical Digital Transformation, Electronic Theses, Project, and Dissertations, CSUSB ScholarWorks, California State University, San Bernardino, August 2024
- The Impact of Generative AI on Higher Education Learning and Teaching: A Study of Educators’ Perspectives, Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, June 2024
- How Texas Is Preparing Higher Education for AI, Texas Tribune, March 12, 2024
- Artificial Intelligence & Higher Education: Towards Customized Teaching and Learning, and Skills for an AI World of Work, Berkeley Center for Studies in Higher Education, June 2020
- International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education (articles), SpringerOpen
Charge: Core Curriculum Course Accessibility: Review student access to core curriculum courses at Texas institutions of higher education. Examine the availability of these courses both online and in-person, as well as any issues that would prevent or reduce in-person access. Make recommendations for any needed reforms to ensure that all students have equal in-person access to core courses.
- Distance Education Resources, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
- Texas Core Curriculum (TCC), Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
September 26, 2024
House Committee on Ways and Means
Charge: Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee’s jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 88th 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 5, the Texas Jobs, Energy, Technology, and Innovation Act, relating to agreements authorizing a limitation on taxable value of certain property to provide for the creation of jobs and the generation of state and local tax revenue; authorizing fees; authorizing penalties; and
HB 796, relating to the creation and maintenance by an appraisal district of a publicly available Internet database of information regarding protest hearings conducted by the appraisal review board established for the district.
House Committee on Ways and Means and House Select Study Committee on Sustainable Property Tax Relief (Joint Hearing)
Charge: Review the impact of HJR 2/SB 2 (88S2), which provides property tax relief through various mechanisms, on achieving the goal of providing sustainable property tax relief for Texas property owners.
- Texas Republicans Have Tried to Rein in Property Taxes for Five Years. Has It Worked?, Texas Tribune, April 26, 2024
- Property Taxes Balloon After Exuberant Pandemic-Era Home Price Gains, CoreLogic, February 15, 2024
- Who Benefits from the 2023 Property Tax Relief?, Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, February 2024
- Property Tax Cuts as Large as Texas, Fiscal Notes, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, December 2023
Charge: Evaluate the effects of tax rate compression, limits on taxable value, and homestead exemption increases to maximize savings to property owners, and evaluate whether Texas’ economic performance and state tax revenues support further compression of school district tax rates.
- The Property Tax Deal Explained: A Recap of the 88th Second Special Session, Texas Legislative Study Group, August 23, 2023
- What Is Tax Compression?, Texas Public Policy Foundation, May 31, 2023
- Transferring the Over-65/Disabled Exemption, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, March 2023
- Property Tax Compression: Growing the State Share Without Improving School Funding, Every Texan, February 2023
- Limitations of the Texas Residence Homestead Tax Exemption 10% Cap on Increased Assessed Values, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, April 2022
- School District Tax Rate Compression and Tax Ratification Elections, Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, April 2020
Charge: Study the viability and sustainability of eliminating maintenance and operations taxes by 2035.
- Interim Report to the 88th Texas Legislature (Charge 1.4 – Implementation and Monitoring: SB 2 (86R) and Related Legislation; Charge 2 – Property Tax Relief; Charge 4 – Chapter 313), House Committee on Ways & Means, January 2023
- Eliminating School District Maintenance and Operations Property Taxes, Texas Public Policy Foundation, updated January 2023
- Interim Report to the 88th Legislature (Charge 2 – Property Tax Relief), Senate Committee on Finance, December 2022
- School District Property Values and Tax Rates (resources and reports), Texas Education Agency
- Tax Rate Compliance, Texas Education Agency
Charge: Examine historical rates of appraisal increases, and methods to reduce the tax burden of appraisal increases on all real property. Evaluate whether to extend the limitation on appraised value of certain non-homestead real property past the current expiration date of December 31, 2026, and whether to further reduce the limit on appraised value of homesteads.
- School District Property Value Study, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
- Valuing Property, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
Charge: Examine the long-term value of homestead exemptions to Texas homeowners in conjunction with the impact of appraisal increases and evaluate whether to maintain the homestead exemption at its current rate.
- Texas Property Tax Exemptions: Total and Partial Property Tax Code Exemptions Available to Property Owners Who Qualify, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, February 2024
- 2023 Legislative Changes: What Texas Real Estate Professionals Need to Know (Property Taxes and Appraisal), Texas Real Estate Research Center, Texas A&M University, December 5, 2023
- Interim Report to the 88th Legislature (Charge 5 – Tax Exemptions, including residence homestead exemptions), Senate Committee on Finance, December 2022