The Blast - June 11, 2025

11 days until the governor’s veto deadline

IN TODAY’S BLAST

• Top 10 most productive House members of 2025

• Burrows Republicans vs. Cook Republicans

• Top-performing GOP freshmen

• Finally, the Democrats

TOP 10 MOST PRODUCTIVE HOUSE MEMBERS OF 2025

The Legislature passed 1,213 bills this session, each of which needed someone to usher it through the House.

Although passing bills isn’t the only indicator of a good lawmaker, lobbyists and activists want to know that if they bring a bill to a member, that bill stands a chance of becoming law.

In the House, there were several dynamics at play this session. While Speaker Dustin Burrows got along well with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the Texas House Republican Caucus was split over how to govern and what makes a conservative body. Beneath that, Gov. Greg Abbott and others waged a primary fight that took out several veteran members of the Legislature, ushering in new blood and a new outlook — at the cost of legislative experience.

With the dust now settled on the 89th Legislature, The Blast tried to unpack how lawmakers’ ability to pass legislation this session was tied to the way they handled those dynamics. For starters, here are the 10 House members who passed the most bills, either as the author of a House bill or as the sponsor of a Senate bill.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, everyone here is a Republican serving on Burrows’ leadership team. Guillen tops the list, as he did the session before, despite voting for Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, for speaker.

Perhaps what’s more notable are the absences compared to the 2023 top 10. Beyond a couple retirements, Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress, is off the list after becoming the first candidate to challenge Dade Phelan for speaker. Also gone is Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, who passed 21 fewer bills than he did in 2023, the biggest drop of any House member. Oliverson was the runner-up with a decline of 18 bills. However, Oliverson arguably deserves credit for one extra after replacing King’s version of the THC regulation bill, SB 3, with Patrick’s approach to ban the product.

Capriglione, Gerdes and King had the biggest jump in productivity after rising the ranks to more important roles in House leadership. Respectively, they passed 19, 15 and 14 more bills than they did last time.

King became chair of the powerful State Affairs Committee and ushered a number of his own bills through the panel, taking advantage of its wide-ranging jurisdiction. Capriglione led the inaugural Delivery of Government Efficiency Committee, while Gerdes — serving in only his second session — was appointed to the Calendars Committee, a panel of members trusted by leadership to set the House floor schedule.

“Every drop of blood, sweat and tears shed in muscling each piece of legislation across the finish line was done proudly for the greatest district in Texas,” Gerdes said in a sine die statement on social media. “We fought hard for countless victories, and we are just getting started.”

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BURROWS REPUBLICANS VS. COOK REPUBLICANS

Beyond Guillen, most Cook supporters didn’t rebound as well from backing the wrong horse.

Veteran Republicans — those serving in at least their second term — who voted for Cook passed an average of nine bills, one fewer than those same members averaged in 2023. Meanwhile, veteran Republicans who voted for Burrows were far more prolific, averaging 17 bills passed — five more than the same cohort passed last session.

Support for Burrows appeared to pay off regardless of experience. Republican freshmen who voted for the speaker were better off than veterans who voted for Cook. Burrows-backing freshmen passed an average of 10 bills.

Here are the 10 Cook-supporting members who passed the most bills, including Senate bills they sponsored.

Six Republicans failed to steer any of their own bills through the chamber. All of them voted for Cook: veterans Brian Harrison of Midlothian, JM Lozano of Kingsville, Tony Tinderholt of Arlington and Steve Toth of the Woodlands; and freshmen Andy Hopper of Decatur and Brent Money of Greenville.

Freshman Jeff Barry of Pearland was the Burrows-voting Republican with the fewest House bills to pass that chamber, with three.

However, whether a member voted for Burrows or Cook doesn’t fully capture the dynamics of the GOP caucus this session. After that first vote for the speakership, members were forced at times to cast votes on issues that divided the House between “reformers” and the “governing majority.” The Blast tracked 11 of those procedural votes from the session and, predictably, the more a member voted with leadership, the more bills they passed. Yet some outliers were evident.

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TOP-PERFORMING GOP FRESHMEN

This session, 25 Republican freshmen swept into office on a wave of anti-leadership sentiment. Those who passed the most bills tended to side with leadership, but that wasn’t always the case.

Freshman Marc LaHood seemed to get a raw deal. Three of his bills passed the House, but he didn’t shepherd a single bill to the governor.

Despite voting for Cook in the speaker election, he became a pretty reliable supporter of House leadership on test votes. However, he was a decisive roadblock to some of Texans for Lawsuit Reform’s priority legislation.

In contrast, Louderback and Hickland ended up among the most productive freshmen despite supporting Cook for speaker and continuing to take antagonistic positions against leadership, at least on the votes The Blast tracked.

Louderback’s key seemed to be his emergence as a go-to member among senators, particularly on law enforcement policy. Before joining the House, he was a five-term sheriff of Jackson County and aligned himself with Donald Trump on border policy during the president’s first term. He was also familiar with the legislative process thanks to leading the legislative division of the Sheriff’s Association of Texas.

Hickland, by comparison, didn’t have a particular niche. However, she was Gov. Greg Abbott’s flagship candidate during the 2024 primaries. Before taking out former Rep. Hugh Shine, R-Temple, she was an education advocate.

In swapping their Republican incumbents for more conservative members, primary voters were signaling their desire for more conservative representation. They appeared to get it even from freshmen who failed to pass much legislation.

Many newcomers felt they were there to provide more property tax relief, pass school vouchers and block liberal policies. They certainly made their voices heard on those issues, which doesn’t require a bill to do.

Any district would take a hit in bills passed from session to session if its member is replaced with a freshman. They lose a member with more seniority and experience for a member who is new to the Lege. However, the drop-off was more pronounced among freshmen who ousted their successors in the primaries than those who replaced a retiring member.

FINALLY, THE DEMOCRATS

Here are the 10 Democrats who passed the most bills:

The standout here is Davis, a freshman from Dallas who previously served on the State Board of Education. She only passed four of the bills she filed, but she successfully shepherded seven Senate bills that were filed by a fellow member of the Dallas delegation, Democratic Sen. Royce West. She also partnered with Republican Sens. Bryan Hughes of Mineola and Angela Paxton of McKinney.

Most of the bills Davis helped usher to the governor’s desk dealt with health care or the Department of Family and Protective Services.

In total, 10 Democrats failed to pass a single bill this session, and another 10 passed only one. Many of those who passed none withheld their vote from Burrows on the second round of the speaker election. Among them is lieutenant governor candidate Vikki Goodwin of Austin.

We’re hosting a series of events across Texas that recap the major policy debates of the 2025 legislative session and what new legislation will mean for you. 

On June 13, we’ll be in Arlington to talk with North Texas legislators about the state budget, education, property taxes, water, social issues and more.

First, state Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville, and state Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, will join Tribune Editor-in-Chief Matthew Watkins and law and politics reporter Eleanor Klibanoff for a live recording of TribCast, our weekly podcast, for a conversation about which bills passed, what didn’t make the cut and what new laws mean for North Texans.

Then, Drew Shaw, Fort Worth Report’s local government accountability reporter, will moderate a 30-minute program with state Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, and state Rep. Salman Bhojani, D-Euless, about the impact of the 2025 legislative session.

Doors open at The University of Texas at Arlington’s The Commons student center, Nueces Room, at 11:30 a.m., and the live recording of TribCast begins at noon. The Tribune will provide lunch.

RSVP today

• Gov. Greg Abbott held a bill-signing ceremony for SB 2308, the bill to study ibogaine as a treatment for opioid use disorder.

TX-SEN: U.S. Sen John Cornyn’s campaign released an ad linking Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to the grants his office sent to organizations that oppose the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

Attorney general: The U.S. Department of Justice’s Aaron Reitz, former chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and a former deputy to Paxton, is expected to run. Reitz resigned from the DOJ’s Office of Legal Policy today, telling President Donald Trump he’s returning to Texas to serve “in an even greater capacity.”

HD-118: State Rep. John Lujan, R-San Antonio, and his previous Democratic challenger, Kristian Carranza, both announced campaigns to seek this office again. The seat was a top target for Democrats in 2024.

Harris County: Former Houston Mayor Annise Parker is running for county judge. Lina Hidalgo currently holds the office.

• Gov. Greg Abbott declined to say whether he’d spoken to Donald Trump about the president’s interest in congressional redistricting. Earlier in the day, he told reporters, “I haven’t identified a need for a special session.”

• Abbott is sending Texas National Guard troops across the state to the sites of planned protests against federal deportation raids. Read the story here.

• Gov. Greg Abbott will sign pro-business bills in Houston tomorrow with House Ways and Means Committee Chair Morgan Meyer, R-University Park, and Houston Republican Reps. Mano DeAyala and Lacey Hull, along with Houston Region Business Coalition leaders.

• Austin’s version of the nationwide “No Kings” protest will take place at the Capitol steps on Saturday evening. Scheduled speakers include U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, state Rep. John Bucy and state House candidate Pooja Sethi.

“Trump aides want Texas to redraw its congressional maps to boost the GOP. What would that mean?” by Owen Dahlkamp of The Texas Tribune and Natalia Contreras of VoteBeat and The Texas Tribune

“Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s push to ban THC in Texas draws rare backlash from the right” by Alejandro Serrano of The Texas Tribune

“Greg Abbott says he still hasn’t decided if he will veto THC ban” by Jeremy Wallace of the Houston Chronicle

“Judge upholds Austin vote on plan to redevelop old Statesman site” by Audrey McGlinchy of KUT

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