The Blast - May 20, 2025

3 days until the House’s local bill deadline
7 days until the House’s Senate bill deadline
13 days until sine die

IN TODAY’S BLAST

• The House’s leverage for school funding

• Goodwin jumps in

• A gavel inquest in the Texas House

• Roy softening on reconciliation

THE HOUSE’S LEVERAGE FOR SCHOOL FUNDING

With sine die only two weeks away, the House and Senate are locked in key negotiations over the THC bill and public education funding.

Today, the House was supposed to take up Senate Bill 3, the bill to restrict THC in Texas. However, the House postponed SB 3 till the evening, then followed that up by closing shop for the day before the bill was called up.

Behind the scenes, House Speaker Dustin Burrows, Public Education Committee Chair Brad Buckley, R-Salado, committee Vice Chair Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, and committee member Trent Ashby, R-Lufkin, had traveled across the Rotunda to the Senate side this afternoon, as negotiators try to reach a consensus on the public school funding plan, HB 2. Shortly after Burrows and his entourage returned from the Senate, the House recessed until tomorrow morning. While Burrows and Ashby returned to the floor, Buckley and Bernal walked into the back hall, likely to continue discussions on the funding plan.

At this point in session, SB 3 and HB 2 are some of the biggest chips still in play, and the final opportunities for political maneuvering. With the House and the Senate likely headed to a conference committee to hash out their differences on HB 2, the House wants SB 3 to go to a conference as well, according to Republican and Democratic House members and staff. If the bills move in tandem, the House can use SB 3 as leverage to boost school funding in HB 2.

However, Rep. Tom Oliverson added a wrinkle to that plan yesterday.

The Republican from Cypress says he has the votes for an amendment to SB 3 that would revert the bill from the House’s THC regulation approach to the total ban that passed out of the Senate. If the House passes the Senate bill, there will be no conference on SB 3, giving up the House’s leverage to get school funding increases.

There’s also the elephant in the room: Oliverson and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick are neighbors and share Allen Blakemore as their consultant.

Voting against banning consumable THC could invite backlash in a Republican primary, when the electorate is dominated by the most fervent conservatives. Moreover, shooting down a ban — which Patrick has said would be worth a special session — could spoil members’ hopes at future dealings with the Senate, or even a seat in the upper chamber.

The House has acceded to the Senate’s position on nearly everything this session. The exceptions would be that the chambers met in the middle on the business personal property tax proposals, and the House got its negotiated version of the voucher bill. However, Democrats, who along with Burrows are pushing for increased higher education funding, felt like they got rolled during the voucher talks, particularly after Republicans backed away from an amendment that would have put the voucher bill to a public vote.

So far during school finance negotiations, the Senate has resisted raising the basic allotment to the levels that the House wants. The House wants to raise the basic allotment by $395 while the Senate plan includes an only $55 increase. SB 3 is perhaps Patrick’s biggest remaining priority that the House could use as leverage to compel the Senate to bridge that gulf.

Some senators believe that House members “still have a conscience” when it comes to banning consumable THC products, but the next 24 hours will be an important sign for the outcomes of school funding negotiations.

Burrows and his entourage made one more trip to the Senate floor just before 7:30 p.m.

The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.

GOODWIN JUMPS IN

State Rep. Vikki Goodwin is the first Democrat to announce a statewide campaign for 2026, announcing plans to challenge Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

Goodwin, a fourth-term representative from a safe district in Austin, has been planning this campaign since at least the 2023 session. She’s known as a bit of a policy wonk in the Capitol, but as far as her general election potential, some Democrats question whether she has the star power to take down Patrick, a political behemoth.

The moratorium on fundraising for Texas elected officials is in effect until June 14, meaning Goodwin isn’t able to fundraise alongside her campaign launch. Still, Goodwin wants voters to know she’ds be a “Good Win” for Texas.

Jumping in early generally serves to cut off other challengers who could announce before they build momentum. Whether Goodwin’s candidacy is enough to scare others off is still to be determined.

A GAVEL INQUEST IN THE TEXAS HOUSE

House Administration Chair Charlie Geren has launched an investigation into the dramatic increase in gavel destruction this year in the Texas House.

After Rep. Cody Harris, R-Palestine, busted two gavels in eight minutes, Geren, a Republican from Fort Worth, nabbed the gavels and shipped them off to their makers at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to figure out what the heck is going on.

It was the gavel that broke the chairman’s back, you could say.

Several of the gavels break where the mallet head and handle come together, the handle splintering within the head. Others pop clean off, perhaps an indictment of the glue on the gavels, which are made by inmates in Texas prisons.

“I’ve never spent the night in a TDCJ facility,” Geren told The Blast. “I’m not qualified to comment on that.”

Gavels have broken before, but never like this. Members on the dais have broken at least 16 gavels.

As chair of House Administration, Geren is in charge of House facilities, equipment — and safety.

Harris’ first broken gavel this morning flew off the dais and landed on the desk of House staffers. The gavel that popped off a few minutes later lacked sufficient glue, Harris said.

There was already heightened scrutiny on the House gavels this morning following the story by the Austin American-Statesman’s Bayliss Wagner diving into the background and lore behind the prison-sourced gavels. 

But she also got Harris to admit that he deliberately breaks the gavels, a shock to those in the House’s peanut gallery.

“He does it on purpose, he said,” Wagner reported. “Once he sees a crack developing in the head of the gavel, he hits it on that crack until it splits.”

Fellow gavel smashers Brooks Landgraf, R-Odessa, and Cody Vasut, R-Angleton, denied ever gunning for a gavel crack, although Landgraf told The Blast he wasn’t surprised to learn that Harris does. And the numbers bear that out. Harris has broken 12 gavels as of this morning’s display, while no one else has more than two.

Some of the Legislature’s top arbiters of morality immediately cried foul.

“Shattered both emotionally and in terms of gavel integrity to learn [Harris] is out here breaking gavels on purpose,” the anonymous parody account Article XI posted on social media. “Someone [please] take the gavel away from Cap’n Crush before he opens a portal to a special session.”

The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.

ROY SOFTENING ON RECONCILIATION

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, one of the biggest critics of President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” is on the fence about whether he may support it as it’s set to be voted on by the House this week.

As of 4:30 p.m. Central Time, the Republican from Austin has said he has not decided how he will vote on the budget reconciliation bill on the House floor and he doesn’t know if he will vote to move forward with the megabill in the House Rules Committee, which is scheduled to meet after midnight.

This comes after Roy helped block the bill from moving out of the Budget Committee on Friday and voted “present,” in the same committee on Sunday to move the bill on to the Rules Committee.

Roy said Monday there has been progress made over the weekend to get the bill to a “good spot.”

The House Freedom Caucus member has been open about his desire to cut down on “waste, fraud and abuse,” of the Medicaid system, including moving up the year when able-bodied medicaid recipients would have to follow work requirements.

He has also repeated that he needs the “math to add up,” to cut federal spending.

Roy told The Texas Tribune that he expects during the Rules Committee tonight that reimbursing Texas for its border security initiative — known as Operation Lone Star — will be included in a management package.

Roy has been working with Sen. John Cornyn on language to reimburse the state for $11.1 billion for border spending that occurred during the Biden Administration. 

Rep. Keith Self, R-McKinney, told the Tribune just after 4 p.m Central that “nothing has changed,” to cut spending. Self, as of now, is expected to vote against the spending and tax bill if more spending cuts are not made. 

— Katharine Wilson

Shape the future of Texas at the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Nov. 13-15 in downtown Austin.

TribFest is more than just another political event; it’s a catalyst for shaping the future of Texas, today. We bring together Texas’ most inspiring thinkers, leaders and innovators to discuss the issues that matter to you.

Dive into TribFest’s unforgettable conversations spanning education, the economy, health care, energy, technology, public safety, culture, the arts and more. Emerge inspired to transform your boldest ideas into reality.

Get tickets now and join us this November. Donate $50 or more to become a Texas Tribune member and get a ticket discount, access to members-only sessions, and more. Also, discounted tickets (just $65!) are available for educators and students.

Buy tickets now and see the future of Texas at TribFest.

TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.

• The House may try again tomorrow on SB 3, the THC restriction bill, and SJR 1, the proposed constitutional amendment to deny bail to immigrants who are in the country illegally when they have been accused of certain violent crimes.

• The House’s calendar for tomorrow includes Senate priorities like SB 31, the Life of the Mother Act, SB 33, stopping taxpayer-funded abortion travel, SB 20, banning AI-generated child pornography, and SB 10, the Ten Commandments bill.

• One anti-squatter bill, SB 1333, is on the calendar for tomorrow, but the Senate’s main bill, SB 38 is scheduled for Friday.

• The House State Affairs Committee voted 10-4 today to advance SB 3070, the compromise bill that would abolish the Texas Lottery Commission but transfer the lottery and bingo to the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation.

• The House voted to concur on the business personal property tax portion of the property tax relief package.

View the House and Senate floor calendars here and here.

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

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

HD-47: State Rep. Vikki Goodwin’s chief of staff, outgoing Travis County Democratic Party Chair Pooja Sethi, announced her campaign to succeed Goodwin now that Goodwin is running for lieutenant governor.

• The federal case over the 2021 redistricting maps is set to go to trial tomorrow.

Do you or someone in your office have a new job you’d like mentioned? Email us.

• Texas Tech University has appointed Kamau Siwatu as dean of the College of Education beginning in June.

“Another big tax cut for Texas homeowners appears imminent” by Joshua Fechter of The Texas Tribune

“Texas Legislature moves to build Texas Life Memorial on Capitol grounds” by Sofia Sorochinskaia of The Texas Tribune

“Veterans, parents, liquor, and beer: The complicated lobby fight over Texas’ proposed THC ban” by Brad Johnson of The Texan

“Why is Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo asking commissioners to pay for her staff to go to Paris?” by John Lomax V of the Houston Chronicle

A snippet from the House’s debate over covering the student loans for mental health professionals, Senate Bill 646:

SPONSOR MESSAGES 

Texas Tech University - Out here, we're ALL IN. The work we do, and the impact it makes, will go ON & ON.

ACT - Bill SB 2420 claims to “protect kids”. Look closer: It’s being backed by porn websites.

Water Grows… our food, economy, & future! Discover how Texas farmers make strides to make water last for Texans now & for generations to come.

Learn about the Housing Accelerator Loan Fund—an initiative of Austin Community Foundation. Details at austincf.org/housing.

Disclosure: Texas Tech University has been a financial supporter 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.