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Interim Hearings - Week of October 3, 2016

Interim Hearings - Week of October 3

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.

October 3

Senate Select Committee on Property Tax Reform & Relief (Plano) 

Charges: Property tax process and Tax burden

 

October 4

Charge 1: Texas Department of Transportation's role in responding to natural disasters

 

Charge 7: Oversize or overweight corridors

Senate Committee on Criminal Justice

Charge 1: Law enforcement - community engagement, dangers to law enforcement officers, threat assessment data, reducing number of injuries and deaths to or by law enforcement officers

October 5

Senate Committee on Business & Commerce

Charge: Occupational licensing

Charge: Lawsuits related to property claims from hail storms and weather events

Charge: Implementation of legislation addressed by the committee during the 84th Legislature, specifically:  changes made to the operation of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, and regulation of public insurance adjusters

Senate Committee on State Affairs

Charge: Current ethics laws governing public officials and employees, public officials' reporting requirements to Texas Ethics Commission, categorization of ethics reporting violations

Joint Interim Committee to Study a Coastal Barrier System

Topic: Desirability and feasibility of constructing a coastal barrier system

 

 

Interim Hearings - Week of September 26, 2016

Interim Hearings - Week of September 26

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 26 Top

House Committee on Ways & Means

Charge 1: Aspects of the property tax system that contribute to rising property tax levies and taxpayer dissatisfaction

Charge 2: Impact of franchise tax repeal

Charge 3: Impact of ongoing tax litigation, including American Multi-Cinema, Inc. v. Hegar, on revenue stability

Charge 4: State Auditor's review of Chapter 313 agreements

Charge 6: Competitiveness of Texas' tax structure for marine goods and services compared to other states

Charge 8: Implementation of increased residence homestead exemption as approved by the voters in Proposition 1 (SJR 1, 84th Legislature, R.S.)

 

September 28 Top

House Committees on Appropriations and Public Education (Joint Hearing) 

Charges related to school finance including, but not limited to, Additional State Aid for Tax Reduction (ASATR), recapture, and the Cost of Education Index (CEI)

Topic: Border security and operations, including efforts of local law enforcement

Topic: Legislative oversight and monitoring of agencies

 

Charge 1: Texas Department of Transportation's role in responding to natural disasters

Charge 7: Oversize or overweight corridors

Topic: Transportation funding mechanisms, including Texas Emissions Reduction Plan funds, reduction and rededication of Motor Fuels Tax Collection timely payment deduction including Comptrollers administrative and enforcement allowance associated with motor fuels tax collection

Topic:  Transportation reinvestment zones for use by municipalities and counties transportation funding

Topic:  Short or long term funding options that could enhance transportation construction, design, planning, or maintenance

Charge 1: Implementation of federal regulations

House and Senate Select Committees on State Real Property Data Collection, Reporting, & Assessment (Joint Hearing) 

Topics: Update from agencies on the status of the report on the statewide strategy, required by HB 3750, 84th R.S., that will ensure all real property owned by the state is adequately insured;  potential benefits of maintaining a comprehensive database of all real property owned by the state

September 29 Top

House Committees on Appropriations and Public Education (Joint Hearing) 

Charges related to school finance including, but not limited to school facilities

House Committee on Pensions

Charge 5: Investment performance benchmarks utilized by the state's pension funds and impact of portfolio diversification and short-and long-term market assumptions

Senate Select Committee on Property Tax Reform & Relief  (Houston) 

Charges: Property tax process and Tax burden

 

Interim Hearings - Week of September 19, 2016

Interim Hearings - Week of September 19

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 20 Top

(Fort Stockton, TX)

Charge 6: Joint groundwater planning, including HB 200, 84th Legislature, R.S., and ongoing legal developments concerning ownership access to groundwater and impact on property rights and groundwater management

House Committee on County Affairs

Topic: Racial disparities during traffic stops within Texas Department of Public Safety, the constitutionality of equal protection claims and concerns that arise from DPS racial disparities, de-escalation tactics, and diversion before booking

 

September 21 Top

 

House Committees on County Affairs and Criminal Jurisprudence  (Joint Hearing) 

Charge: Pretrial service and bonding practices, bail and pre-trial confinement decisions

House Committee on Elections

Charge 2: Voter registration rolls

Charge 4: Mail-ballot fraud

Charge 5: Compliance with campaign finance reporting laws by local officials and candidates

House Committee on Land & Resource Management

Charge: Regulatory authority of municipalities in their extraterritorial jurisdiction, current annexation policies

Charge: Legislative oversight and monitoring of agencies

 

(Del Rio, TX)

Charge 6: Joint groundwater planning, including HB 200, 84th Legislature, R.S., and ongoing legal developments concerning ownership access to groundwater and impact on property rights and groundwater management

See September 20, above

 

September 22 Top

House Committee on Appropriations

Charge 8: Ongoing implementation of SB 20, 84th Legislature, R.S., and Article IX, Sec. 7.12 of the General Appropriations Act, HB 1, 84th R.S., study of trends in state contracting as developed by the Legislative Budget Board

House Committee on Elections

Charge 1: Petition process for addressing local ordinances

Charge 3: Transparency of local bond elections

Charge 6: Legislative oversight and monitoring of agencies, specifically: methods by which local election officials are informed about changes to election law

 

House Select Committee on Mental Health

Topics: Mental health/behavioral care services in Texas, including, but not limited to, Texas' State Hospitals and mental health bed allocation, and availability of mental health services on the campuses of Texas institutions of higher education

 

Interim Hearings - Week of September 12, 2016

Interim Hearings - Week of September 12

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 12 Top

Senate Committee on Higher Education

Charge: Regional workforce needs in the state, baccalaureate degrees at public community colleges

Charge: Implementation of legislation, specifically:

  1. Initiatives designed to create effective, clear transfer pathways for students, including the newly enacted multidisciplinary studies associate degree
  2. Implementation and progress of the Math and Science Scholars Loan Repayment Program
  3. Progress of pilot program enacted by the 83rd Legislature relating to improving student loan default rates and financial aid literacy among postsecondary students

 

September 13 Top

House Committees on Defense & Veterans' Affairs and Higher Education (Joint Hearing) 

Joint charge: Hazlewood Act

 

House Select Committee on State & Federal Power & Responsibility

Charge 1: Extent to which state regulation and policy are influenced by mandates attached to federal funding

Charge 2: Resolutions approved by the Legislature during recent legislative sessions calling on the federal government to take certain actions, and actions taken

 

Charge 3: Texas statutes prohibiting or restricting investment in foreign nations

 

Topic: Article V

Senate Committee on Education

Charge: Digital learning, school broadband access

Charge: Monitor implementation of legislation, specifically legislation to establish criteria for alternative measures of assessments to meet high school graduation requirements

 

Senate Committee on Health & Human Services

Charge: Monitor implementation of legislation and riders, including but not limited to:

  • The impact of changes made by the Department of Family and Protective Services, Child Protective Services on child safety, workforce retention, prevention, and permanency;
  • Initiatives to reduce Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse, and other cost containment strategies, including examining the processes and procedures used by managed care organizations to address Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse; and
  • The consolidation and expansion of women's health programs at the Health and Human Services Commission.

Charge: Impact of the Section 1115 Texas Healthcare Transformation and Quality Improvement Program Waiver; other mechanisms to control costs and increase quality and efficiency in the Medicaid program, including the pursuit of a block grant or a Section 1332 Medicaid State Innovation Waiver

September 14 Top

Joint Legislative Committee on Health & Human Services Transition, Oversight

Charge: Short-term lending industry in Texas, consumer access to credit, consumer protections

Charge 2: Family law and parent-child relationship statutes and application of foreign law

Charge 3: Self-represented litigants

Charge 5: Implementation of expedited action provisions of HB 274, 82nd Legislature, R.S.

Senate Committee on Education

Charge: School choice, education savings account and tax credit scholarship programs

Charge: Monitor implementation of legislation, specifically:

Senate Committee on State Affairs  

Charge: Guardianships 

Charge: Public integrity unit under authority of Texas Rangers 

 

Charge: Practice of using public funds and employees for the payment processing of union dues 

Senate Committee on Transportation

Topic: Overview and update from the Texas Department of Transportation, the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, and the Texas Department of Public Safety

Charge: New and anticipated revenue appropriated to the Texas Department of Transportation and recommendations that address project prioritization and selection, effectiveness of staffing levels and project delivery methods

Charge: Monitor implementation of legislation, specifically:

1.      Progress of the Texas Department of Transportation's efforts to propose a plan to eliminate toll roads

2.      Removing eminent domain authority from private toll corporations

3.      Ending the issuing of any new debt from the Texas Mobility Fund (TMF) and prohibiting future use of the TMF on toll projects

 

September 15 Top

Senate Committee on Finance                 

Charge: Monitor implementation of legislation, specifically:

  1. Tax relief provided to property owners
  2. Gradual phase out of the franchise tax
  3. Support for and the enhancement of graduate medical education
  4. Efforts of the Department of Information Resources (DIR) to modernize the technology of state agencies
  5. Implementation of required changes to state agency contracting, purchasing, and accounting procedures
  6. Monitor the implementation of Health and Human Services Commission Rider 50

 

Senate Select Committee on Texas Ports

Topic: Economic impact that inland waterways, coastal ports and inland ports have on the state economy

Topic: Future impact that the Panama Canal expansion will have on Texas ports

 

Interim Hearings - Week of September 5, 2016

Interim Hearings - Week of September 5

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 7

House Committee on Juvenile Justice & Family Issues    

Charge 1: Youth recruited into human trafficking, pipeline from foster care

 

Charge 2: Data collection and sharing practices between Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD), and local juvenile probation departments

Charge 3: Early education and parenting support and education programs, implementation of HB 2630, 84th Legislature, R.S.

Charge 4: Juvenile justice regionalization planning and implementation of SB 1630, 84th Legislature, R.S.

Charge 5: Juvenile justice penalties and sanctions determined by or disallowed by age of the juvenile

 

Charge 6: Family Code's treatment of grandparents in the parent-child relationship, changes to address the growing population of grandparents

Charge 7: Legislative oversight and monitoring of agencies

 

Interim Hearings - Week of August 29, 2016

Interim Hearings - Week of August 29

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 29 Top

House Committee on County Affairs 

Charge: County cybersecurity policies

 

Charge: Legislative oversight and monitoring of agencies, including Child Protective Services, 1115 Transformation Waiver, and criminal justice programs in Bexar County

 

August 30 Top

House Committee on Transportation

Topic: TxDOT Rail Division

Topic: TxDOT Rural Transit Division

Topic: TxDOT General Aviation Division

Topic: TxDOT HB 2612 report

Topic: TxDOT on utility relocation

Topic: Presentation from TTI on Transportation Network Companies

House Select Committee on Transportation Planning

Topic: Update from TxDOT working group on project selection criteria, rules and policies for project prioritization and selection, and funding categories

August 31 Top

House Committee on Urban Affairs

Charge 1: Demographic trends in Texas for affordable housing and senior housing 

Charge 2: Gentrification's effect on affordable housing 

Charge 3: Guidelines for the appraisal of Affordable Housing Properties financed with Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) 

Charge 4: Current Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs preservation programs for rural rental housing 

 

 

Interim Hearings - Week of August 22, 2016

Interim Hearings - Week of August 22 

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.

Week of August 22

August 22 Top

House Committee on Land & Resource Management

Charge: Coastal erosion

Charge: Natural disaster preparedness and response 

August 23 Top

House Committee on Special Purpose Districts

Charge 1: Municipal Management Districts and/or Improvement Districts 

 

Charge 2: Legislative oversight and monitoring of agencies, including opportunities to streamline the purpose of multiple districts created within the same area, while maintaining the mission of special purpose districts

Charge: Occupational licensing

Charge: Regulatory functions across agencies and departments

Charge: Powdered alcohol and impact on underage drinking

Charge: Legislative oversight and monitoring of agencies

 

Senate Committee on Criminal Justice

Charge 7: Civil asset forfeiture laws

Topic: Bullying in Texas schools, cyberbullying in the digital age

Senate Committee on Higher Education

Charge: Tuition and fee waivers and exemptions, tuition set-asides, financial aid

August 24 Top

Charge 13: Review of current public education programs administered by the Texas Education Agency that are funded outside of the Foundation School Program

House Committee on Defense & Veterans' Affairs

Topic 1: Maintaining military value of defense installations and communities

House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence

Charge 1: GPS monitoring in protective orders, family violence prevention

August 25 Top

Joint Interim Committee to Study Development of a Cruise Industry

Topic: Development and potential economic impact of a cruise industry on the Texas coast between Calhoun and Cameron counties

 

 

 

Interim Hearings - Week of August 15, 2016

Interim Hearings - Week of August 15 

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 15 Top

House Committee on State Affairs

Charge: Contracting monitoring, compliance, performance evaluation and notification requirements for contracting procedures

Charge: Administrative process used to determine utility rates

Charge: How Public Utility Commission of Texas and utility providers can ensure consumer protection regarding metering devices for water, gas, and electricity service

Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations

Charge 2: Home rule municipalities, adoption of ordinances

Charge 4: Municipal management districts (MMDs)

Charge 5: Statutes and Rules that govern Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs in light of the recent Supreme Court decision in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs et al. v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., et al.

Charge 6: Government accountability in elections - improve transparency regarding public debt

August 16 Top

 

House Select Committee on Mental Health

Invited testimony on Mental/behavioral health care services in Texas, including, but not limited to substance abuse, homelessness,  veterans, gaps in programs, and improving delivery of services

Senate Committee on Education

Charge: School board governance policies and practices, school board training requirements, suggestions for better student outcomes, particularly within the framework set for low-performing schools in HB 1842, 84th Legislature, R.S.

Charge: Monitor implementation of legislation, specifically initiatives to build a high-quality pre-kindergarten grant program; and legislation to raise standards of teacher preparation programs and establish a more consistent, high-quality accountability system

August 17 Top

House Select Committee on Mental Health

Public testimony on mental health/behavioral health care services in Texas

 

August 18 Top

Joint Interim Committee on Advertising Public Notices

Topic: Rules and organizational business

Topic: Use of technology in posting and advertising to the public of legally required notices

 

Interim Hearings - Week of August 1, 2016

Interim Hearings - Week of August 1

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 2 Top

House Research Organization Steering Committee

Topic: House Research Organization budget for fiscal 2017

 

August 3 Top

Senate Committee on Education

Charge: Comprehensive performance review of all public schools in Texas

 

Charge: Structure and performance of Harris County Department of Education and Dallas County Schools

  • Texas Education Code § 11.301, Application of Former Law
  • Vernon's Texas Codes Annotated, Texas Education Code, Volume 2, Title 2 - Appendix - Former Chapters with Continued Application (Former Education Code Chapter 17, County Administration and Chapter 18, Countywide Equalization Fund or County Unit System of Equalization Taxation), Library Call Number: LAW-TEX

 

 

 

Charge: Monitor implementation of legislation, specifically legislation to require a minimum number of minutes of instruction for each school year

August 4 Top

House Committee on County Affairs 

Charge: County cybersecurity policies

Charge: Texas Commission on Jail Standards, resources and structure in oversight, regulation, and enforcement of county jails 

Charge: Internet publication of mug shots and criminal history information  

Charge: Services provided by sheriffs and constables and whether fee schedules allow cost recovery

Charge: Legislative oversight and monitoring of agencies, including Child Protective Services and 1115 Transformation Waiver

 

Interim Hearings - Week of July 25, 2016

Interim Hearings - Week of July 25  

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 25

Charge: Surface water and groundwater

 

Charge: State Water Plan

 

Charge: Monitor implementation of legislation, specifically monitor the Texas Water Development Board's process in the identification and designation of brackish groundwater zones

 

Topic: Report and testimony from the Comptroller of Public Accounts regarding the financial condition of this state

 

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