The Blast - April 25, 2025

21 days for the House to pass legislation that originated in the House
38 days until sine die

IN TODAY’S BLAST

• House leadership wants hardliners and Dems to play nice

• What about the bail negotiations?

• Big Three relations: Still good

• Town hall trouble for congressional Republicans

HOUSE LEADERSHIP WANTS HARDLINERS AND DEMS TO PLAY NICE

There’s just three weeks left for the House to pass House bills, and the repeated tit for tat on the floor threatens to blow up the Legislature’s work, including on conservative priorities.

Today, Republicans from the caucus’ right flank blocked nearly every Democratic-filed measure on the local and consent calendar, a list of uncontroversial bills that the House can roll through quickly. In response, Democrats blocked every remaining Republican-filed measure on that list.

The hardliners’ volley was in retaliation against the majority of Democrats who, on Tuesday, blocked a constitutional amendment (via a House joint resolution, or HJR) to create a homestead exemption for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities. 

“Today was a show of force of us saying, hey, listen, we are not going to sit idly by as you’re refusing to vote on HJRs,” Rep. Nate Schatzline, R-Fort Worth, told The Blast.

Some in House leadership contend that the band of conservative Republicans is merely obstructionist and don’t want the current Legislature to get anything done.

Democrats began the blockade weeks ago to exact concessions from Republicans on multiple policy points. However, Republicans all but unified last week to block a bipartisan proposal to put the state’s upcoming voucher program before voters. That made it clear, in the eyes of the caucus, that the speaker answers more to the governor and the lieutenant governor than to House members. That’s triggered a more aggressive approach from the Democratic caucus. More on the Big Three’s relationship later.

Herein lies the problem for Republicans:

House leadership wants to see the Texas GOP’s priorities passed, too, members tell The Blast. However, Republicans need Democratic support to pass the bail measure or anything else that requires 100 votes to pass the House. By repeatedly angering Democrats, they only drive them farther away.

By removing more than three dozen bills from the local and consent calendar, the spat between Democrats and hardline Republicans will bog down the Calendars Committee and the regular House calendar, stealing from the short amount of time the House has left in session.

House leadership is trying to tell the hardliners that, in the end, the tit for tat could block the chamber from getting to any other priorities. So far, it hasn’t gotten the hardliners to back down.

Items from the Texas GOP’s list of priorities are moving, however. The House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee on Tuesday took up House Bill 1375 by Schatzline, which would let parents sue those who expose their children to obscene content. The House Homeland Security, Public Safety and Veterans’ Affairs Committee yesterday advanced Senate Bill 17, the measure cracking down on foreign-owned land. Both are Texas GOP priorities.

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WHAT ABOUT THE BAIL NEGOTIATIONS?

The HJR blockade so far has not stopped negotiations between the Senate, House Republicans and House Democrats on the bail measures.

Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, is carrying the effort in the Senate. Democratic Leader Gene Wu of Houston, Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso and Rep. Ann Johnson of Houston are running point for Democrats. Meanwhile, House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee Chair John Smithee, R-Amarillo, is tasked with shepherding the measures through that chamber.

Failing to pass the bail measure could trigger a special session.

As it stands, negotiations between the House and Senate are focused on a handful of bills, not just the constitutional amendment to increase opportunities for “no bail” for some of the most violent charges. The Blast hopes to bring you more details soon.

BIG THREE RELATIONS: STILL GOOD

Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows have all commented on the working relationship between the Big Three.

In response to a post from Patrick yesterday in which he said his relationship with Burrows is “light-years beyond any other speaker I’ve worked with over the last decade,” Burrows said he and the lieutenant governor have discussed the “state of play in both chambers, the progress of our respective legislative priorities and what lies ahead in the final weeks of session.”

Patrick noted they “have set forth a plan.”

That came out of a dinner between Patrick, Burrows and their chiefs of staff, which came on top of the regular weekly Big Three breakfast.

Abbott commented on the strength of their relationship during his bill signing press conference this week.

“We are working collaboratively together better than any time that I’ve been governor, and I think that that same collaboration will seep into and be a part of both the House and the Senate,” the governor said. 

He also had some words on the pace of session. Burrows may be hoping that the House’s right flank was paying attention.

“Listen, not everything is going to get passed on Day 1, and there is the give and take to this process,” Abbott said. “But I have no doubt that, when the sun sets on this session, that it’s going to be viewed as one of, if not the most successful session we’ve seen in more than a decade.”

Abbott also joked that the biggest beef between the House and the Senate this session may be over the state steak.

That could be bad news for Democrats.

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TOWN HALL TROUBLE FOR CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS

Congress is nearing the end of its two-week-long Easter recess during which constituents across Texas made their voices heard both for — and against — their representatives’ work at district town halls.

Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Tyler, held a town hall in Tyler on Tuesday, where he was met with several protesters who swore and yelled at the congressman over heated topics like immigration and Medicaid. People in the crowd held up pieces of paper with the words “Lie,” and “False,” while the lawmaker was speaking.

“When I’m in Congress and when I debate issues substantially with folks I’ve actually never treated somebody the way you guys just treated me,” Moran said during the town hall.

Several attendees questioned Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Magnolia, last week over his pro-Trump positions during a town hall in Conroe. Among other subjects, Luttrell was grilled on his position on the SAVE Act, tariffs and mistakenly deported Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The latter subject caused a small but mighty group in the audience to chant “bring him home.”

In March, the National Republican Campaign Committee chief told Republicans to not host any more town halls after a district work week turned into viral moments across the country, as Democrats flocked to Republican district town halls.

While Republicans are feeling the pressure to, or not to, host town halls, at least one Texas Democrat is seizing the opportunity.

Rep. Greg Casar has so far hosted two town halls in Austin-area Republican districts represented by Rep. Chip Roy in March and Rep. Rep. Mike McCaul on Saturday. He also traveled to Colorado on Thursday to host a town hall in Republican Rep. Gabe Austin’s district.

“It is our job to represent people and answer questions,” Casar said in McCaul’s district.

— Katharine Wilson

• The House State Affairs committee is still underway, working through testimony on four controversial bills.

• The House adjourned for the day without completing its lengthy calendar. Thus begins the end-of-session backlog.

• The House calendar for Monday includes House Bill 103, the bill for a database of local government bond, tax mechanisms and related projects.

• The House agenda for Monday also has three House joint resolutions, on top of the seven constitutional amendments that sit postponed so far. The list includes House Joint Resolution 133 by Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, perhaps another attempted blockade runner.

Committee highlights for next week:

• The Ten Commandments bill, Senate Bill 10, has been scheduled for a public hearing in the House Public Education Committee at 8 a.m. on Tuesday.

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

The House and Senate will convene at 11 a.m. on Monday.

View the House and Senate floor calendars here and here.

Texas is facing a significant increase in electricity demand, with needs projected to nearly double by 2030. How do we prepare the state’s power infrastructure for this dramatic increase in demand? What investments should Texas lawmakers and business leaders make to expand the grid, keep prices affordable and prepare for the future?

Confirmed speakers include:

• Sandra Haverlah, president, Texas Consumer Association

• Michael E. Webber, Sid Richardson Chair in the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the John J. McKetta Centennial Energy Chair, mechanical engineering department, UT Austin; chief technology officer, Energy Impact Partners

Additional speakers will be announced soon. Tribune reporter Kayla Guo will moderate.

Doors open at Dallas College Cedar Valley at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, May 8, and the one-hour event begins at noon. Lunch is provided.

RSVP today

• Leadership-backing House Republicans heckled hardliners as they scraped together six votes against the surviving remnants of the local and consent calendar. “Mitch, c’mon, Mitch,” a couple members shouted at Rep. Mitch Little of Lewisville, the first hardliner to hold out as a “nay” against the surviving local and consent bills. “We can’t eat dirty oysters!” Rep. Jay Dean, R-Longview, yelled after the vote, a nod to House Bill 609 by Rep. Cody Vasut, R-Angleton.

TX-SEN: President Donald Trump weighed in again on the race between U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. “In a way, I wish they weren’t running against each other,” he said. “I’ll make a decision somewhere along the line.”

State House: The Tarrant County GOP’s resolutions committee advanced a resolution yesterday censuring Reps. Giovanni Capriglione, Charlie Geren and John McQueeney. The county party is expected to take a vote on the resolutions in the coming weeks.

• Gov. Greg Abbott will deliver the keynote address at the Texas Peace Officers’ Memorial Ceremony tomorrow evening in Austin.

• Abbott will speak at the Governor’s Prayer Breakfast on Monday morning in Round Rock.

• Travis County Judge Andy Brown, Democratic Rep. John Bucy of Austin and members of the Dallas and Bexar county delegations will hold a press conference Monday morning ahead of a committee hearing on Bucy’s House Bill 483, which would call for the state to hire a private entity to construct, maintain and operate high speed rail between Dallas, Austin and San Antonio along the Interstate 35 corridor. The press conference will come one week after President Donald Trump cut the federal project funding high speed rail in Texas.

“Courier’s lawsuit seeks to block Texas Lottery from banning its services” by Ayden Runnels of The Texas Tribune

“Texas hospitals spent $121M on undocumented migrants in one month, state says” by Aarón Torres and Emily Brindley of The Dallas Morning News

“Wesley Hunt has met with White House aides about entering the Texas Senate primary, AP sources say” by Thomas Beaumont of The Associated Press

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