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Interim Hearings – Week of September 17, 2018

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.

September 19

House Committee on Higher Education (Kingsville)

Charge: Dual credit course offerings

Charge: Financial losses to 2- and 4-year institutions, including facilities, from Hurricane Harvey

Charge: Title IX and sexual misconduct policies at institutions of higher education

 

September 20

Senate Select Committee on Property Tax Reform

Charge: Voter engagement in local government decisions around budgets and property tax rates through digital media and social media 

Charge: Property tax data and collection methods 

Charge: Effective tax rate and rollback tax rate calculations; appraisal review boards (ARBs) 

 

Interim Hearings – Week of September 10, 2018

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.

September 10

Senate Committee on State Affairs

Charge: Structure of court fees; oversight of fee collection

Charge: Attorney General's efforts related to price-gouging

Charge: Looting crimes during a disaster

 

September 11

Senate Committee on Finance

Charge: Implementation of funding initiative, Health Care Costs Across State Agencies - coordination efforts among state agencies to improve health care and reduce costs pursuant to General Appropriations Act, Article IX, Section 10.06 and Section 10.07

 

Charge: Hurricane Harvey relief and recovery funds

Charge: Long-term impact of Hurricane Harvey on the Texas economy and the gulf coast region

 

September 12

Senate Committee on Criminal Justice

Charge: Identify successful re-entry programs

Charge: State jail review to improve outcomes

Charge: Telemedicine in correctional facilities

Charge: Human trafficking awareness and prevention

Charge: Monitoring

  • SB 12, 85th Legislature, R.S., Relating to the creation of a grant program to assist law enforcement agencies with the purchase of bulletproof vests and body armor;
  • SB 30, 85th Legislature, R.S., Relating to the inclusion of instruction regarding interaction with peace officers in the required curriculum for certain public school students and in driver education courses and to civilian interaction training for peace officers; and
  • SB 1326, 85th Legislature, R.S., Relating to procedures regarding criminal defendants who are or may be persons with a mental illness or an intellectual disability and to certain duties of the Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System related to persons with mental illness

 

Senate Committees on Education and Higher Education (Joint Hearing)

Charge: Dual credit

 

Senate Committee on Health & Human Services

Charge: Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, 85th Legislature and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/or complete implementation, including but not limited to:

  • Initiatives to increase capacity and reduce waitlists in the mental health system, including the construction of state hospitals and new community grant programs;
  • Initiatives to better understand the causes of maternal mortality and morbidity, including the impact of legislation passed during the first special session of the 85th Legislature. Recommend ways to improve health outcomes for pregnant women and methods to better collect data related to maternal mortality and morbidity;
  • Initiatives intended to improve child safety, Child Protective Services workforce retention, and development of additional capacity in the foster care system. Make additional recommendations to ensure children with high levels of medical or mental health needs receive timely access to services in the least restrictive setting;
  • Efforts to transfer case management of foster children and families to Single Source Continuum Contractors (SSCCs). Monitor the progress of this transition and make recommendations to ensure the process provides continuity of services for children and families and ongoing community engagement;
  • Initiatives to strengthen oversight of long-term care facilities to ensure safety and improve quality for residents and clients of these entities; and
  • Abortion complications and other reporting legislation that was passed by the 85th Legislature.

Topic: Rural hospitals

 

 

Joint Legislative Committee on Health & Human Services Transition

 

House Committees on Public Health and Urban Affairs (Joint Hearing)   

Charge: Housing instability, homelessness, and mental illness

 

September 13

House Committee on Natural Resources (Del Rio)

Specific issue related to Charge 3: Status of groundwater policy in Texas, g. emerging issues in groundwater and surface water interaction, in particular in areas of increasing competition for scarce resources

Charge 8: Hazards presented by abandoned and deteriorated groundwater wells

 

House Committee on Public Health   

Charge: Women's health services, Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force, pre-term and low birth weight births and use of alcohol and tobacco

Charge: Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee's jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 85th Legislature, specifically, implementation of HB 10HB 13, and SB 292, 85th Legislature, R.S.

 

Topic: Implementation update regarding HB 337, 85th Legislature, R.S.

 

 

Interim Hearings – Week of September 3, 2018

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.

 

 

September 5

Charge: Sustainability of TRS-Care, funding retired teacher health care in Texas; implementation of HB 3976, 85th Legislature, R.S., and HB 30, 85th Legislature, 1st C.S.

Charge: Appropriations made to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for the E-rate Classroom Connectivity project; high-speed broadband and infrastructure in schools

 

Senate Committee on Higher Education

Charge: Improving transferability

 

Charge: Environmental safety during emergencies

Charge: Waste disposal regulation, permitting, disposal fees

Charge: Monitoring:

 

September 6

Topic: Recommendations relevant to costs, fees, and any other matters the committee determines are relevant to the compact facility and its oversight

 

House Committee on State Affairs

Charge 6: Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee's jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 85th Legislature, including SB 11, 85th Legislature, 1st C.S., 2017

 

House Committee on Urban Affairs (Brownsville)

Charge: Affordable housing in urban and rural areas

Charge: Migrant labor housing facilities

Interim Hearings – Week of August 27, 2018

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.

 

 

August 27

Senate Committee on Transportation

Charge: Unified Transportation Program (UTP)

Charge: Toll road penalties

 

August 28

Senate Committee on Administration

Charge: Programmatic budget structure for legislative agencies

 

Charge: Legislative agency report review, fiscal note and government efficiency report process

 

Joint Legislative Committee on Aging

Charge: Access to care and veterans

 

Senate Committee on Business & Commerce

Charge: Implementation of legislation to deregulate occupational licensing

Charge: Occupational licensing and fees

Charge: Social media access – digital assets of decedents, social media privacy laws 

 

August 29

House Committees on Corrections and Criminal Jurisprudence (Joint Hearing) 

Charge: Texas state jail system, including its original intent, sentencing guidelines, effectiveness, and recidivism rates

 

House Committee on Corrections (after adjournment of 10:30 AM joint hearing) 

Charge 3: Current Texas criminal justice system policies and practices regarding 17- to 25- year-olds, specific to probation, parole, state jail confinement, and discharge from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice or county jail; causes of recidivism

Charge 6: Texas Department of Criminal Justice policies and protocols to prevent the spread of infectious diseases

Charge 7: Board of Pardons and Paroles and parole panel determination of an inmate's risk of recidivism; GPS technology to monitor offenders

Charge 8: Texas prison system heat-related litigation; Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) compliance within Texas state and county criminal justice facilities

Charge 9: Monitor agencies and programs under the Committee's jurisdiction and implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 85th Legislature

 

 

House Committee on Human Services (Edinburg) 

Charge 2: History and any future roll-out of Medicaid managed care in Texas

 

Charge: Border security - law enforcement, public safety partnerships  

Charge: Border - invasive species 

Charge: Monitoring

  • SB 27 by Campbell, 85th Legislature, R.S., relating to the mental health program for veterans;
  • SB 277 by Campbell, 85th Legislature, R.S., relating to ad valorem tax incentives for wind-powered energy devices near military aviation facilities; and
  • SB 389 by Rodriguez, 84th Legislature, R.S., relating to the addition of military occupational specialty codes on state agency employment listings.

 

Commission decisions:

Staff presentation and public testimony:

 

August 30

House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence

Charge 1: Impact of Hurricane Harvey on the Texas criminal justice system

Charge 7: Office of Court Administration work on pre-trial risk assessment tools for the Texas judiciary; implementation of legislation regarding imposition of fines, fees, and court costs in criminal courts

 

Staff presentation and public testimony:

Interim Hearings – Week of August 20, 2018

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 Select Committee on Texas Ports, Innovation & Infrastructure (San Antonio)

Charge: Benefits and needs of Texas' Inland/Dry Ports

 

House Committee on Urban Affairs (Houston)

Charge: Housing needs in areas impacted by Hurricane Harvey and related flooding, including local, state and federal governments' responses, and changes in affordable and low-income housing needs

Charge: Recommendations to improve and accelerate the response to existing and future housing needs related to Hurricane Harvey and future natural disasters, including set-asides and how best to rebuild and revitalize

 

August 22

Senate Committee on Higher Education

Charge: Mandate reduction

Charge: Monitoring; specifically, updates on construction of facilities as a result of tuition revenue bonds and development and implementation of the Texas OnCourse program, and monitor the following:

  1. SB 2118, 85th Legislature, R.S., relating to authorization by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for certain public junior colleges to offer baccalaureate degree programs.
  2. HB 2205, 84th Legislature, R.S., relating to the State Board for Educator Certification, educator preparation programs, educator certification, issuance of certain teaching permits, and certain procedures for investigating educator misconduct.
  3. SB 887, 85th Legislature, R.S., relating to a requirement that certain participating institutions under the student loan program administered by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board provide loan debt information to certain students.
  4. SB 802, 85th Legislature, R.S., relating to a study and report regarding best practices in the transfer of course credit between public institutions of higher education.
  5. SB 810, 85th Legislature, R.S., relating to open educational resources.
  6. HB 2223, 85th Legislature, R.S., relating to developmental coursework offered by public institutions of higher education under the Texas Success Initiative.

 

August 23

House Committee on County Affairs (Dallas) 

Charge 1: Emergency response activities, impact of natural disasters on county finances; Charge 2: County ordinance-making and enforcement authority to deal with flood risk in unincorporated rural and suburban areas

Charge 3: Defendants' and inmates' behavioral health needs, mental health services upon release from the criminal justice system

Charge 5: Monitor agencies and programs under the Committee's jurisdiction and implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 85th Legislature

 

Interim Hearings – Week of August 13, 2018

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.
 

August 13

House Committee on Urban Affairs

Charge: Process of cleaning firefighters' equipment, and associated health risks

 

Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations

Charge: ETJ [extraterritorial jurisdiction] limitations and notice

Charge: Municipal Management District uniformity

 

August 14

Charge 2: Non-traditional methods of resolving legal disputes and interacting with the legal system; self-help resources, access to justice for unrepresented litigants, online dispute resolution 

Charge 4: Specialty courts 

Charge 5: Jurisdictional threshold 

Charge 6: Office of Court Administration's guardianship compliance program  

Interim Hearings – Week of August 6, 2018

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.

 

August 7

House Select Committee on Opioids & Substance Abuse

Charge:  Impact of substance abuse and substance use disorders on Texans who are involved in the adult or juvenile criminal justice system and/or the Child Protective Services system 

Charge: Specialty courts in Texas that specialize in substance use disorders 

 

August 8

House Select Committee on Opioids & Substance Abuse

Topic: Public testimony on all previously considered committee charges

 

House Committee on Public Education

Charge:  State mechanisms for identifying and rewarding educators

Charge: Charter school system in Texas

 

August 9

House Committee on Public Health and House Committee on Human Services (Joint hearing)

Charge: Children involved with Child Protective Services (CPS) due to substance abuse or mental illness

Invited testimony on residential child care facilities, particularly the number of licensed facilities, recent complaints received regarding treatment of children at these facilities, and the status of  pending licenses

 

Interim Hearings – Week of July 23, 2018

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.

 

July 24

House Committees on Business & Industry and Licensing & Administrative Procedures (Houston) 

Charge: Workforce to rebuild key infrastructure, as well as residential and commercial properties damaged by Hurricane Harvey; labor needs within construction industry

House Committee on Business & Industry (Houston)

Charge 2 (Partial): Existing law concerning consumer rights and protections, including but not limited to statutes that address deceptive practices, landlord/tenant agreements, and homeowner/contractor disputes. Determine whether the provisions offer adequate guidance and protections in disaster and recovery situations. 

  • Homeowner/Contractor disputes

Senate Select Committee on Violence in Schools & School Security

Charge: Current protective order laws, merits of Extreme Risk Protective Orders, or "Red Flag" laws; Legal due process to protect Second Amendment rights

 

July 25

House Committee on Business & Industry (Houston)

Charge 2: Existing law concerning consumer rights and protections, including but not limited to statutes that address deceptive practices, landlord/tenant agreements, and homeowner/contractor disputes. Determine whether the provisions offer adequate guidance and protections in disaster and recovery situations. 

  • Earned Paid leave/Sick leave
  • Ban the Box
  • State office of Risk Management (SORM)
  • Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC) and Firefighters/EMS
  • Zombie debt
  • Adverse Possession
  • Surprise balance billing

Interim Hearings – Week of July 16, 2018

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.

 

 

July 17

House Committee on Agriculture & Livestock

Charge: Role of Texas Department of Agriculture and the Texas Animal Health Commission in the response to Hurricane Harvey; Impact of hurricane on producers in the agriculture and livestock industries in Texas 

Charge: How to improve, promote, and standardize the Texas olive and olive oil industry; Necessity of creating a commodity board or similar type of organization 

Charge: Privatizing Texas Department of Agriculture's Seed Certification Program and related areas through a nonprofit crop improvement association

Charge: Rules, regulations, and enforcement authority of the Texas Department of Agriculture's Structural Pest Control Service

Charge: Evaluate the uses of industrial hemp and the economic feasibility of developing an industrial hemp market

 

July 18

Senate Select Committee on Violence in Schools & School Security

Charge: Root cause of mass murder in schools including, but not limited to, risk factors such as mental health, substance use disorders, anger management, social isolation, the impact of high intensity media coverage, and desensitization to violence resulting from video games, music, film, and social media

 

House Committee on Culture, Recreation & Tourism and House Committee on Agriculture & Livestock (Joint Hearing)

Charge: Cause of declining populations of monarch butterflies and bees; impact of these migratory species' decline on agricultural production and the economy

Monarch Butterflies:

Bees:

 

House Committee on Culture, Recreation & Tourism

Charge 1: Roles of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's and the Texas Historical Commission's in the response to Hurricane Harvey; economic, recreational, and biological impacts and needed repairs from Harvey as they relate to applicable state agencies and the following areas and industries under the purview of the Committee:

  1. State parks
  2. Wildlife and fish
  3. Historic sites and buildings
  4. Art and cultural resources
  5. Travel and tourism
  6. Recommendations for timely recovery of these areas from Harvey, and mitigation of future natural disasters

Charge 2: Feasibility of establishing and mobilizing a volunteer contingency of private boat owners through the boat registration and license database administered by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to assist first responders during natural disasters like Hurricane Harvey

 

House Committee on Urban Affairs

Charge 5: Local government oversight of abandoned and substandard buildings, including buildings of historical significance

Charge 7: Monitor agencies and programs under the Committee's jurisdiction and implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 85th Legislature

 

 

July 19

House Committee on Special Purpose Districts

Topic: Discussion of sections of the interim report

Top

 

Interim Hearings – Week of June 25, 2018

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.

 

 

June 25

House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence

Charge: Penal laws, "red flag" or mental health protective orders for firearms (school safety)

Charge: Current statutes designed to protect minors from accessing firearms without proper supervision; safe firearm storage

 

June 26

House Select Committee on Opioids & Substance Abuse

Charge: Impact of overdose reporting defense laws known as "Good Samaritan" laws

Charge: How opioids and substance abuse have impacted the normal scope of work for law enforcement, first responders, and hospital emergency department personnel

 

June 27

Appropriations Charge 18/General Investigating & Ethics Charge 10: Monitor agencies and programs under the Committee's jurisdiction and implementation of legislation:

Oversight of the Texas Health & Human Services Commission's management of Medicaid managed care contracts

 

House Committee on Land & Resource Management (Brownsville)

Charge: Local and state zoning and land use regulations, balance of disaster preparedness and private property rights

 

House Committee on Public Education

Charge: Effectiveness of schools' current multi-hazard emergency operation plans, violence prevention strategies

Charge: Current school facilities and grounds, research-based 'best practices' to provide a more secure environment

 

June 28

House Committees on Defense & Veterans' Affairs and Homeland Security & Public Safety (9:00 A.M., Joint Hearing)

Charge: Experience of other states in prioritizing retired peace officers and military veterans for school security

 

House Committee on Homeland Security & Public Safety (15 minutes after adjournment of 9:00 A.M. Joint Hearing)

Charge: Options to increase the number of school marshals available, and current statutory requirements that limit utilization of the program

 

House Committees on Public Education and Public Health (9:00 A.M., Joint Hearing)

Charge: Mental health services for children, strategies to enhance overall school safety

 

House Committee on Public Health (1:00 P.M.)

Charge: Population health and health care delivery in rural and urban medically underserved areas, role of telemedicine, rural hospital closures

 

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