Legislative Services

Senate Panel Considers Ban on Public Funds for Dues, Lobbying

The Senate State Affairs Committee considered Senate Bill 19 by Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston) on Thursday. SB 19 would prohibit the use of public funds to pay certain association dues, including to the Texas Association of Counties and associations representing county offices.

The bill would further prohibit the expenditure of public funds to employ a lobbyist. With short notice between the committee’s Tuesday afternoon posting and Thursday morning’s hearing, witness turnout was lighter than for last session’s SB 175, also by Middleton. The bill was left pending.

Archived video of the hearing is available in two parts: Part I and Part II. Part II of the video archive includes consideration of SB 19.

Senate Budget Writers Organize to Finalize Budget

On Feb. 13, the Senate Finance Committee completed its first major action on the 2026-27 state budget when it heard invited testimony from staff members of regulatory agencies under Articles VIII and IX. The hearing was the last in a series of hearings in which state agency leaders appeared before the committee to detail agency budget requests and answer committee questions.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Chair Joan Huffman (R-Houston) appointed working groups. The three-member working groups will undertake detailed reviews of their assigned budget articles and return recommendations to the full committee. A list of working group chairs and members is available on the committee’s website.

House Committees Prepare for Action

The House Public Education and Ways & Means committees held their inaugural meetings this week to organize for business as the pivotal 60th day of the session approaches. Per the Texas Constitution, only matters given emergency status by the governor or those receiving a four-fifths majority vote by the Legislature may be considered before the 60th day. On March 14, legislators are free to act on any filed bill. At that point, the floodgates will open, with thousands of bills in line for the 80-day sprint to the June 2 conclusion of the 89th Legislature.

Notice of upcoming House meetings is available online; automatic alerts by email are also available.

County Officials to Brief Legislators on Indigent Defense

In recognition of the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1963 Gideon v. Wainwright ruling, county officials will travel to Austin on March 18. Attendees will join TAC’s Tuesday Morning Breakfast, then head to the Capitol to meet with lawmakers to discuss indigent defense issues and funding.

Help Lawmakers Understand Costs

Throughout the 89th Legislature, the Texas Association of Counties will assist the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) in its preparation of fiscal notes — written estimates of the costs, savings and revenue gains or losses associated with a bill or joint resolution. TAC relies on data and feedback from our members to provide the LBB with estimates of the fiscal impact of proposed bills on county finances. TAC’s legislative consultants and policy analysts will contact you to solicit your input, then assemble the collected data and provide it to the LBB, which it may use to populate the local government section of the fiscal note.

If you have any questions about the fiscal note process, please feel free to send your inquiry to FiscalNotes.

For more information about this article, please contact Pete Winckler.