Happy Easter!
The Texas Senate and Texas House are suspending their regular order of business for Easter break. Both chambers are meeting this week, through Thursday, but they won’t be back in Austin until next Tuesday, April 6.
Happy Easter, everyone!
SB 1 Advances to the Senate Floor
The Senate’s version of the state’s budget was voted out of committee Tuesday morning. The plan – a $250.7 billion budget – passed on a unanimous vote.
The full Senate is expected to debate the budget bill in the upcoming weeks.
The House budget negotiators are finishing up their work, as they plan to have the full House chamber debate their version in mid-April.
House Passes Winter Storm Legislation
Yesterday, the Texas House of Representatives took significant action and passed six bills addressing a series of weather-related issues, from the makeup of the ERCOT board to creating a statewide disaster alert system.
The six bills were part of a seven-bill package prioritized by Speaker of the House Dade Phelan, who announced the initiative earlier this month in response to the wide-sweeping electrical blackouts affecting millions of Texans across the state as temperatures plunged to below freezing
Only in Austin…
Pictured above: Senator Cesar Blanco (D-El Paso)
Now that vaccines are available to all Texans, legislators and staff have been eligible to receive their first vaccine dose at the Capitol.
The Texas Division of Emergency Management and the Texas State Guard have been helping administer doses this week.