Blog

Overview of the 2021 Third Special Session

November 1, 2021

• Senator Kel Seliger (R – Amarillo) will be retiring from the Texas Senate. He has been in office since 2004 and currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, and sits on the Senate Committees for Health & Human Services, Natural Resources & Economic Development, Veteran Affairs & Border Security, and Nominations. Senator Seliger is also a former Chair of Senate Higher Education.
• Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr. (D – Brownsville) has announced his retirement after 35 years in the Texas Legislature. He served two terms in the Texas House of Representatives before being elected to the Texas Senate in 1991. Lucio served most recently as the Vice-Chair of Senate Education and Senate Finance, as well as a committee member on Natural Resources & Economic Development, State Affairs, Constitutional Issues, Ports, and Redistricting.
• Representative Dan Huberty (R – Kingwood) has also announced his departure from the Texas House of Representatives.  Sworn into office in 2011, Representative Huberty currently serves on the House Committee on Public Education, and Licensing & Administrative Procedures. He worked to pass monumental legislation during the 86^th Legislative Session in 2019, specifically HB 3, which reformed public school finance. , which reformed public school finance.
• Representative Kyler Biedermann (R – Fredricksburg) recently announced his intentions to leave the Texas House of Representatives. Elected in 2016, Representative Biedermann serves on the Defense & Veterans’ Affairs Committee as well as Land & Resource Management.
• Representative John Frullo (R – Lubbock) was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2010 and is another member on the list of those ending their time with the Texas Legislature. Frullo currently serves on the Culture, Recreation & Tourism committee as well as on Higher Education.

• The concurrent resolution notes that students rely on school buses for safe transportation, and many school districts have experienced difficulty in keeping up with demand due to federal licensing requirements, which have exacerbated the shortage.

• As finally passed, this legislation will prohibit interscholastic athletic teams sponsored or authorized by school districts or open-enrollment charter schools from allowing a student to compete in a competition designated for the biological sex opposite to the student’s official birth certificate. If the birth certificate is unobtainable, another government record will be required.
• The University Interscholastic League (UIL) will have to adopt rules to implement the bill subject to the approval by the education commissioner.

• This bill amends current law to include surviving children of certain public services who may be college students over 18 to receive tuition benefits. Previously, state law did not include children who were over 18 to receive certain tuition benefits.

• Senator Creighton’s bill authorizes the issuance of $3.3 billion in capital construction revenue bonds for higher education institutions.
• The House and Senate focused on the need to comprehensively look at capital construction and higher education finance in general during the interim.
• The House adopted an amendment creating a capital project oversight commission and requirements for institutions to seek approval to use funds in excess of $25 million.
  • Project oversight is no longer referred to as Tuition Revenue Bonds (TRB) and has been renamed Capital Construction Assistance Projects (CCAP).
• Amounts designated for each institution are listed in SB 52.

• The House’s redistricting plan passed with a current partisan breakdown of 83 Republicans and 67 Democrats.
• The plan also pairs many incumbents from both sides of the aisle due to the need to create 85 districts in the new map.

• This legislation passed both chambers, with a shift in the partisan makeup from 18 Republican and 13 Democrats to 19 Republicans and 12 Democrats.

• Two new districts were added in Austin and Houston.

• $40 million for Texas Epidemic Public Health Institute.
• $1 million for Disaster Resiliency Institute at Texas A&M University.

• $325 million for debt service for over $3b in capital construction assistance projects at institutions of higher education.
• $20 million to establish a performance-based funding for at-risk students at comprehensive regional universities.
• $15 million to operate the Texas Reskilling and Upskilling (TRUE) program.
• $100 million in institutional enhancements for Texas Tech University and the University of Houston (split evenly).

• $286 million to TRS to cover COVID-related healthcare claims, avoids premium increases due to COVID & allows premium holiday for retired teachers.

• $113 million appropriated to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) for purposes of supporting the operations and expansion of the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium. Funding is also included for enhancements and expansion of the Child Psychiatry Access Network, Texas Child Access through Telemedicine program, expansion of the child and adolescent mental health workforce and an additional $3.2m to the Consortium for oversight and evaluation of initiatives.
• $237 million for constructing the Dallas State Mental Health Hospital.
• $15 million for expanding capacity at Sunrise Canyon Psychiatric Hospital.

• $40 million for Permian Basin Behavioral Health Center.

• $7.2 billion for unemployment compensation fund to pay back outstanding advances and to bring the balance of the fund to the statutory floor.

• $180 million for tourism & hospitality, to implement a new tourism, travel, and hospitality grant program for a two-year period. Priority will be given to potential grantees that have not received direct federal aid and it is intended that each authorized grant awarded does not exceed $20k.
• $160 million for crime victims funds and programs.
• $1.2 million for new IT system for children’s advocacy centers.

• $500.5 million for broadband infrastructure, $75m of which is to be used for the Texas broadband pole replacement program.

• $2 billion for reimbursement for hospital surge staffing, purchasing therapeutic drugs, and operation infusion centers; will be available through the end of 2022.
• $380 million for critical staffing for nursing facilities, assisted living, etc., establishing HHSC to administer one-time grants and report annually on these grants.
• $21.7 million to DSHS for the purpose of providing funding for emergency medical response service staffing which includes recruiting & training EMS personnel in rural & underserved areas.
• $75 million for grants from HHSC to support rural hospitals affected by COVID-19.
• $25 million for creating a consolidated internet portal for CHIP and provide technology upgrades for Medicaid eligibility systems.
• $16.7 million for medical lab capacity in South Texas.
• $20 million for use during a two-year period for the Federally Qualified Health Center Incubator Program.

• $300 million for Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM) to acquire land and construct a State Operations Center.
• $25 million for State Preservation Board facilities.
• $100 million for the Bob Bullock Museum.
• $35 million to upgrade ventilation at veteran’s homes.

• $54 million for the Crime Victim Compensation Fund.
• $16 million to address court fees revenue shortfall.
• $52 million to replenish the sexual assault fund.

• $95 million to provide supplemental funding to foodbanks during a two-year period.
• $5 million to provide funding for home-delivered meals.

• $200 million for cybersecurity projects funded through the Department of Information Resources.
• $150 million for Next Generation 9-1-1 Services.

• $359 million to the Department of Criminal Justice for the purpose of providing compensation for agency employees; these federal funds replace state funds appropriated for this purpose in the regular session.