With the 89th Texas legislative session officially ending Monday, June 2, and deadlines fast approaching, we are waiting for final approval of several key bills.
HB 2 – School Finance – The Senate passed the school finance bill (HB 2) Sunday, May 25, with amendments, sending it back to the House, where representatives may agree to the Senate changes or ask that the bill go to a conference committee to hash out the differences before going back to both chambers for an up or down vote. HB 2 is on the House agenda today (Thursday, May 29), so we expect to see movement. State runs for the public were released yesterday:
HB 4 – Accountability and Assessment – HB 4, the legislation that would make important changes to our assessment/accountability system by replacing the STAAR tests with three norm-referenced tests administered throughout the year and that would add optional local indicators, was amended in the Senate. The new content of HB 4 is very different from the engrossed version of the bill as it left the House. HB 4 as amended by the Senate has been placed on the House Items Eligible Calendar beginning today (May 29). Representatives can choose to concur with the amended language or request a conference committee.
SB 1 – State Budget Bill – The state’s budget bill, SB 1, has been in conference committee for several weeks, and the conference committee report has been distributed to lawmakers. It reflects the agreed-upon changes from conference committee. It will be on the Senate floor soon and is the only bill the Legislature is constitutionally required to pass each session. If the budget bill is not adopted during the regular session, a special session is inevitable, but we expect the budget to make it across the finish line.
We expect these three bills to be considered very soon and future Capitol Watch Alerts will provide additional information as it becomes available.
