What’s going on at the Texas Capitol?

By Shayne Woodard and J Pete Laney
TAD Governmental Affairs

The first half of March was dominated by the March 6 primary election. Spring break followed the results of the Democrat and Republican primary races, and as March came to a close we saw numerous postings for public hearings by both the leadership of the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate.

Recall that many of the issues expected to be debated during the upcoming 86th legislative session, that runs Jan. 8-May 27, 2019, will be exhaustively debated during interim (the months between legislative sessions). While TAD’s government relations team tracks these meetings, you can easily access the meetings – both live and archived – online:

Hearings in the Texas House of Representatives
Hearings in the Texas Senate

More Election News

Houston urban (Sylvia Garcia) and big rural West Texas (Carlos Uresti) Senate districts are attracting some potential candidates.

Senate District 6 (Harris County): Less than 24 hours after State Sen. Sylvia Garcia garnered 63 percent of the vote and soundly defeated three other Democrats in an effort to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Gene Green (D-Houston) in Congressional District 29, two state representatives quickly announced they wanted to replace Garcia in the Senate. While Garcia has not stepped down from the heavily Democratic Senate District 6, it is believed that she will easily win the congressional seat in November’s general election. Showing interest and making lots of noise in this eastern Harris County district are Ana Hernandez (D-Houston) and Carol Alvarado (D-Houston). Both candidates seemed armed with endorsements and are ready if and when Garcia steps down after the November general election.

Senate District 19: Anchored by Bexar County, this sprawling district includes 17 counties reaching as far westas Pecos. While current Sen. Carolos Uresti (D-San Antonio) has been convicted of 11 felony charges of fraud and money laundering, he has been very quiet in spite of being pushed to resign by fellow Democrats. While Uresti’s committee assignments have been yanked by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Uresti is not up for re-election until 2020. Showing interest in running, should the seat be vacated, are State Rep. Roland Gutierrez and former State Rep. and former U.S. Rep. Pete Gallego.

Vote!

You can still vote! Remember several primary runoffs for state representative as well as U.S. Congress are set for May 22. You can check the following websites to determine if your area has a local or regional runoff:

Texas Tribune (includes both political parties)
Texas Secretary of State

Early voting in both Democrat and Republican primaries begins May 14 and concludes May 18. Remember to go vote!