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 30, 2024
House Committee on State Affairs
Charge: Securing the border: Conduct a review of functions and operations of state agencies involved with carrying out Operation Lone Star as they relate to securing the border and preventing transnational criminal activity. Evaluate whether agencies have sufficient resources and authority to carry out their prescribed duties. Make recommendations to increase the safety and wellbeing of personnel and efficiency of agency operations as needed.
- Operation Lone Star: In the News, Texas Department of Public Safety, last updated July 17, 2024
- Migrant Apprehensions Are Down at the Texas Border. Have State Policies Had an Impact?, Texas Tribune, April 22, 2024
- Interim Report 2022, Senate Committee on Border Security, January 4, 2023
- Interim Report to the 88th Legislature (Charge 9 – Operation Lone Star), Senate Committee on Finance, December 2022
- Interim Report to the 88th Texas Legislature (Charge 2 – Texas State Guard, Texas National Guard, Operation Lone Star), House Committee on Defense and Veterans’ Affairs, November 2022
- Agency Strategic Plan, Fiscal Years 2023-2027, Texas Department of Public Safety, June 6, 2022
October 1, 2024
House Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence & Emerging Technologies
Charge: Determining the impact of the application of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies on various sectors of society, including transportation, healthcare, licensed industries, and unlicensed industries.
- U.S. DOT Artificial Intelligence Activities, U.S. Department of Transportation, last updated September 24, 2024
- AI Can Do Paperwork Doctors Hate, Not Even Artificial Intelligence Can Make Central Planning Work, The Future of AI Is Helping Us Discover the Past, Reason, June 2024
- Adoption of Artificial Intelligence by Electric Utilities, Energy Law Journal, May 13, 2024
- Interim Report to the 89th Texas Legislature, House Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence & Emerging Technologies, May 2024
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Financial Services, Congressional Research Service, April 3, 2024
- Sustainable AI-Based Production Agriculture: Exploring AI Applications and Implications in Agricultural Practices, Smart Agricultural Technology, March 2024
- Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technology in Healthcare Sector: A Critical Evaluation of Both Sides of the Coin, Clinical Pathology, January 22, 2024
Charge: Formulating recommendations for legislative, policy, regulatory, and remedial actions needed to address the challenges and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.
- Artificial Intelligence 2024 Legislation, National Conference of State Legislatures, updated September 9, 2024
- State Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Related Terms Definition Examples, National Conference of State Legislatures, updated August 1, 2024
- Interim Report to the 89th Texas Legislature, House Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence & Emerging Technologies, May 2024
- Taskforce for Responsible AI in the Law: 2023-24 Year-End Report, State Bar of Texas, February 26, 2024
- Artificial Intelligence 2023 Legislation, National Conference of State Legislatures, updated January 12, 2024
- State Resource List: Artificial Intelligence (AI), National Governors Association, January 2024
- Artificial Intelligence: Agencies Have Begun Implementation but Need to Complete Key Requirements, U.S. Government Accountability Office, December 12, 2023
- Artificial Intelligence in the States: Emerging Legislation, The Council of State Governments, December 6, 2023
- Approaches to Regulating Artificial Intelligence: A Primer, National Conference of State Legislatures, updated August 10, 2023
House Select Committee on Business & Commerce
Charge: Managing Texas Sized Growth: Evaluate the state's ability to keep pace with increasing electricity demand related to population growth and energy intensive technologies such as electric vehicles and data centers. Recommend ways to increase reliability via demand-side response programs. Study ERCOT's forecasting methodology and recommend ways to increase transparency. Monitor ongoing efforts at the Public Utility Commission related to energy efficiency programs and distributed energy resources, including the implementation of Senate Bill 1699, 88th Legislature.
- Reliability Standard, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), September 11, 2024
- 88th Legislative Session – ERCOT Status (Senate Bill 1699 Status), Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), September 2024
- Commercial Electricity Demand Grew Fastest in States with Rapid Computing Facility Growth, U.S. Energy Information Administration, June 28, 2024
- Texas Electricity Demand Could Nearly Double in Six Years, Grid Operator Predicts, Texas Tribune, June 20, 2024
- Report on the Capacity, Demand and Reserves (CDR) in the ERCOT Region, 2025-2034, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), revised May 31, 2024
- Medium- and Long-Term Challenges for the Electricity Grid in Texas (i.e., ERCOT), Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University, May 6, 2024
- ERCOT and the Future of Electric Reliability in Texas, Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, 2024
- Energy Efficiency, Public Utility Commission of Texas
Charge: Innovative Power Generation: Explore emerging technologies with the potential to add new dispatchable power to our electric grid including, but not limited, to small modular nuclear reactors, advanced batteries, and new developments in hydrogen and geothermal resources. Identify and recommend regulatory and policy actions required to deploy emerging technologies within the state's electric grid.
- The New Energy Race (Series on small nuclear reactors, geothermal, and hydrogen), Texas Tribune, March 2024
- Innovation Landscape for Smart Electrification: Decarbonising End-Use Sectors with Renewable Power, International Renewable Energy Agency, June 2023
- Global Geothermal Market and Technology Assessment, International Renewable Energy Agency, International Geothermal Association, February 2023
- Hydrogen Based Energy Storage System for Integration with Dispatchable Power Generator—Phase I Feasibility Study Final Technical Report, UCI Combustion Laboratory, University of California, Irvine, May 30, 2022
- Small Modular Reactors: Challenges and Opportunities, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Nuclear Energy Agency, 2021
- Emerging Small Modular Nuclear Power Reactors: A Critical Review, Physics Open, December 2020
Charge: Addressing the Rising Cost of Insurance: Assess the impact of rising property and casualty insurance costs on Texas property owners, real estate lenders, and commercial and industrial development. Identify ways to increase consumer transparency to better inform coverage decisions and make recommendations to ensure a competitive and affordable insurance market for consumers.
- Home Insurance Costs – Already Soaring – Are Likely to Keep Climbing. Here’s Why, CBS News, July 11, 2024
- Texas Utility and Insurance Increases Likely in 2024, Dallas Morning News, Governing, January 3, 2024
- Weathering the Storms: Many Factors Driving Up Property Insurance Costs, Texas Lone Star, November 2023
- Insurance Costs Trends Becoming a Headache for the CRE (Commercial Real Estate) Market, Moody’s Analytics, August 3, 2023
- Report on Protection of Insurance Consumers and Access to Insurance, Federal Insurance Office, U.S. Department of the Treasury, November 2016
- Property and Casualty Insurance, Texas Department of Insurance
Charge: Non-Compete Agreements: Examine the impact of the Federal Trade Commission’s final rule on non-compete agreements on Texas employers including, but not limited to, contractual exceptions and limitations on independent contractors, for-profit and non-profit businesses, and senior executives. Identify ways to address balancing legitimate business interests of employers while also protecting employment mobility, increasing innovation, and fostering new business formation. Report on whether any changes should be made to existing law on the criteria, procedures, and remedies on enforcing non-compete and alternative agreements.
- The Federal Trade Commission’s Non-Compete Rule, Congressional Research Service, May 3, 2024
- Noncompetes: What You Should Know, Federal Trade Commission
October 2, 2024
House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence
Examine proposals to increase judicial compensation.
- Judicial Salary Tracker (Judicial salary data as of July 2024), National Center for State Courts, July 2024
- Judicial Salaries & Turnover (Reports), Office of Court Administration
Review proposed modifications allowing paraprofessionals to provide limited legal services.
- Rule Change to Allow Paraprofessionals to Offer Limited Legal Services Proposed by Top Texas Court, ABA Journal, American Bar Association, August 7, 2024
- Preliminary Approval of Rules Governing Licensed Legal Paraprofessionals and Licensed Court-Access Assistants, Misc. Docket No. 24-9050, Supreme Court of Texas, August 6, 2024
Review the current use and misuse of the Texas Citizens Participation Act.
- The Narrowed Texas Citizens Participation Act: A Look at What It Means for SLAPP Suits, Texas Bar Journal, State Bar of Texas, February 2022
- Targeting the Texas Citizen Participation Act: The 2019 Texas Legislature’s Amendments to a Most Consequential Law, St. Mary’s Law Journal, October 20, 2020
Discuss the use of civil nondisclosure agreements in settlements involving the sexual abuse of a child.
Discuss the use of court orders seeking to change an individual's sex on government documents.
