The Blast - April 7, 2025

39 days for the House to pass legislation that originated in the House
56 days until sine die

IN TODAY’S BLAST

• Any “school choice” trial balloons?

• Other budget amendments to watch

• Brief UT provost to join Hartzell at SMU

ANY “SCHOOL CHOICE” TRIAL BALLOONS?

There’s some confusion around an eye-catching amendment to the House budget that would supposedly block spending for “school choice.” That’s not what the bill does, and it won’t be “the” test vote. Let’s get into it.

This morning marked the deadline for pre-filing amendments to the Texas House budget ahead of budget day on Thursday. Among the 393 pre-filed amendments is an amendment by Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, which caps the education savings account budget at $1 billion.

As The Blast reported on Friday, Democrats are not putting forward a direct copy of the “Herrero amendment.” In the past, the Herrero amendment has barred state dollars from being spent on private schools. Although the language historically gets stripped from the budget during negotiations with the Senate, it’s an opportunity for anti-voucher members to wave their flag and show their numbers.

The Howard amendment does not ban education savings accounts the way the Herrero amendment would, as others have reported. Instead, it would prevent the state from later transferring additional funds to ESAs on top of the $1 billion outlined in the budget.

Furthermore, this isn’t amendment isn’t a new trial balloon. In fact, Howard and Democrats are likely to scrap this amendment.

Republicans have the votes to pass the ESA bill, Senate Bill 2, which could be scheduled for the House floor any day now. However, some Republicans are willing to work with Democrats to temper the bill. If Democrats ask those Republicans to vote with them on ESA-related budget amendments on Thursday, they’ll be asking them to stick their neck out on a losing or a minor endeavor.

Basically, Democrats want to keep their powder dry.

The Blast reported on Friday that the successor to the Herrero amendment could be an amendment to move ESA funds to teacher pay raises if the ESA bill falls through. However, no one filed that amendment.

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OTHER BUDGET AMENDMENTS TO WATCH

Here are a few other amendments we’re following:

• After the courier services scandal, Texas Lottery Commission funding appears ripe for the taking. Several proposed amendments would take funding from the commission. One such amendment from Rep. Nate Schatzline, R-Fort Worth, part of the group that opposes House Speaker Dustin Burrows, would put the entire lottery budget toward an additional $667.6 million in property tax compression, using state funds to offset individuals’ school property taxes.

• Freshman Rep. Mitch Little, a Lewisville Republican who was on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment defense team, has three amendments related to the AG’s office. These amendments could be interesting trial balloons testing Paxton’s support in the House — and a measure of how far Little’s star may be rising.

  • Move $4 million in lottery funds to the AG’s office for its Criminal Investigations Division and 10 new full-time employees.

  • Reduce the House’s operating budget by $63,750 to give Paxton back pay from the time he was suspended during his impeachment trial in 2023.

  • Reduce film economic development spending by $21.7 million to give AG office employees a 6% pay raise.

And on the supplemental budget, House Bill 500:

• Appropriations Committee Chair Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, has an amendment to cut the entire $75 million from each of the House and Senate facilities improvement budget items.

• Anti-Burrows freshman Rep. Shelley Luther, R-Tom Bean, has a more specific plan for that $150 million. She wants to give it to the governor’s office for border operations.

• Anti-Burrows freshman Rep. Andy Hopper, R-Decatur, wants to give Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton his back pay.

BRIEF UT PROVOST TO JOIN HARTZELL AT SMU

One of Jay Hartzell’s last acts as president of the University of Texas at Austin was to promote Rachel Davis Mersey to executive vice president and provost.

One of Jim Davis’ first acts as interim president was to oust her.

Now, Davis Mersey is following Hartzell to Southern Methodist University, where she will hold the same position she had under her former boss, according to a Monday press release.

Back in January, Hartzell promoted Davis Mersey to executive vice president and provost of UT-Austin after she had served in the position on an interim basis for months. He announced he would be leaving UT-Austin for SMU, a smaller, private university in Dallas, a day later.

Hartzell said he’d stay at UT-Austin until the end of the academic year, but his tenure was cut short in February when university system leadership announced Davis would take over as interim president immediately. Davis then named David Vanden Bout, the dean of the College of Natural Sciences, interim provost.

The leadership shakeup comes at a time when SMU has joined UT-Austin in the ranks of top-tier research universities — and state and federal attacks threaten to curtail research.

Davis Mersey previously served as dean of the Moody College of Communications and as director of global research and partnerships at Meta, the parent company of Facebook.

Hartzell and Davis Mersey start in their positions at SMU on June 1.

The Texas Tribune reached out to Hartzell and Mersey but has not heard back.

— Jessica Priest

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State Sen. Phil King’s son, Josh, died this weekend at the age of 35. The House and Senate honored Josh today.

Committee highlights next week:

• Former Speaker Dade Phelan and Rep. Brian Harrison became Republican joint authors last month on a bill by Rep. Venton Jones, D-Dallas, to decriminalize “homosexual conduct,” a Class C misdemeanor. The measure, House Bill 1738, is scheduled for a public hearing in the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee tomorrow following the House’s floor session.

• The House State Affairs Committee will meet at 8 a.m. on Wednesday to hear from ERCOT and take up a slew of bills, including a pair of Phelan’s campaign finance measures. House Bill 3592, the one placing caps on out-of-state contributions, has a Senate companion filed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick ally Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston.

View the full list of upcoming committee notices here and here.

The House will convene at 10 a.m. tomorrow.
The Senate will convene at 11 a.m. tomorrow.

View the House and Senate floor calendars here and here.

• It was DJ Daniel Day in the Capitol today. The 13-year-old has been battling brain and spinal cancer and was made an honorary law enforcement officer by multiple agencies. Nearly two dozen law enforcement agencies were in the House to swear him in, according to House Speaker Dustin Burrows.

TX-18: Gov. Greg Abbott has set the special election to replace the late U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner for Nov. 4. “No county in Texas does a worse job of conducting elections than Harris County,” Abbott said in a statement. “The appropriate time to hold this election is November, which will give Harris County sufficient time to prepare for such an important election.”

• U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida have placed their bets on tonight’s Houston-Florida game for the NCAA men’s basketball title. Cruz will send Scott barbecue, Shiner Bock beer and Blue Bell ice cream and wear a University of Florida jersey if the Gators win. Scott will send Cruz Cuban food, a key lime pie and Florida beer and wear a University of Houston jersey if the Coogs win.

• Cruz is continuing to push back against President Donald Trump’s tariffs effort. On his podcast, Cruz said Trump has “angels and demons” on his shoulders, and he hopes Trump will lower tariffs now.

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• Sources say Monique Alcala is out as Texas Democratic Party executive director after new Chair Kendall Scudder was elected late last month. Alcala began with the TDP in August 2023 after serving as a regional director for EMILYs List.

“Texas Republicans take aim at public transit in two major cities” by Joshua Fechter of The Texas Tribune

“San Antonio funds abortion travel, attorney general sues” by Kim Roberts of The Texan

“UT ends Flags courses requirements, including diversity; plans new model. Here’s why.” by Lily Kepner of the Austin American-Statesman

“In the first week of return-to-office in Austin, TxDOT employees end up parking in fire lanes” by Andrew Weber of KUT

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(April 7) State Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston
(April 7) U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Richmond
(April 7) Texas Rangers baseball Hall of Famer Adrián Beltré
(April 8) State Rep. Linda Garcia, D-Mesquite

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Disclosure: Facebook, the Moody College of Communication, Southern Methodist University, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Houston have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.