The first round of interim charges for the Texas Senate committees were released January 30, 2026. In a statement from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, he said:
“These first 5 interim charges, released today, reflect issues that I am particularly focused on, and Texans have asked the Texas Senate to study. The Texas senators have been asked to provide their interim charge recommendations by February 20th, and my staff and I will diligently review those hundreds of interim charge ideas. The full list of interim charges will be released later in March. As always, Texans can rest assured the Senate will hit the ground running on day one of the 90th Texas Legislature to ensure the priorities of the conservative majority of Texans are accomplished including, but not limited to, continued property tax relief via ‘Operation Double Nickel,’ eliminating fraud and abuse in state government, strengthening the power grid, and promoting a Texas-first agenda across the board.”
Interim charges of note for the public education community include:
Education Committee
Promoting America & Texas First in Our Schools: Examine the current practices of some public schools promoting events, partnerships, or associations with federal or state-designated hostile agents or their surrogates. Provide recommendations to strengthen laws stopping hostile countries or related entities from infiltrating our classrooms. Make recommendations to ensure public schools promote students’ learning about American and Texas exceptionalism.
Finance Committee
Further Property Tax Cuts: The Homestead Exemption has proven overwhelmingly popular with voters. It has eliminated school property taxes for the average senior and reduced school taxes in half for those under 65. Study and report on the effect of the continued increasing of the Homestead Exemption. Assess the impact of reducing the senior homestead exemption from 65 to 55 years of age. This change would freeze home values 10 years sooner for over 3 million homeowners, saving 55 plus homeowners thousands of additional dollars.
See a complete list of the first round of interim charges for the Senate.
