Day 35: Cutting Services, Criminalizing Poverty, And Praising Paul Wall

When Republicans grandstand, Texans suffer.

Yesterday, after a long weekend, the Legislature met for Day 35 of its 140-day session. The first House Committee of the session, the Senate Committee on Business and Commerce, and both chambers met. Things are finally starting to happen, which isn’t necessarily good. If you watch enough of these hearings in Austin and DC, you become numb to some of the Republican absurdity (like when MTG showed pictures of Hunter Biden’s penis), but now and then, the comedy is subtle.

For example, in the House Appropriations Committee, when Comptroller Glenn Hager (R) subtly told Representative Brian Harrison (R-HD10) to “jump off a roof.” This came after Harrison spent over five minutes asking hypothetical, non-feasible questions… like taking the entire budget of Texas and buying down property taxes.

Now that the House has its Committee Assignments, it can meet. However, no bills had been referred to Committees until yesterday afternoon. The first meeting is when they usually vote on the rules and get organized. However, the Appropriations Committee met yesterday and is meeting today to hear testimony from various state agencies regarding the budget.

The budget again? The Senate held hearings on its version, SB1. Now, the House has its version, HB1. Eventually, one will be voted on, debated in each chamber, and sent to the governor for signing. 

Today, the House Appropriations Committee met to discuss:

We also heard from Comptroller Glenn Hager for the third time this month. 😭

Aside from his quip at Harrison, here are the primary points he made:

• Texas has $155.4 billion from tax revenues.

• $1 billion from non-tax receipts (fees, fines, lottery, etc.).

• Out of the $23.8 billion surplus, $4.5 billion in unspent public education funds.

• Sales tax collections remain the largest revenue source (expected to be 59% of total tax revenue in 2026-27).

• Oil & gas taxes are projected to bring in $11.8 billion for 2026-27.

Speaking of oil and gas, did you know that parts of America are seeing historic flooding… again. It’s Kentucky this time, and the death toll is already at 14.

One alarming thing I heard discussed in the hearing was the cutting of severance taxes. Severance taxes are state-imposed taxes on extracting oil and natural gas. These taxes are meant to compensate the state for the depletion of finite resources. In Texas, the severance tax funds:

• Schools.

• Infrastructure.

• Environmental clean up.

If Texas reduces severance taxes, oil and gas companies would pay less to the state, increasing their profit margins. In a time when society should be providing incentives to clean energy and taxing Earthkillers out of existence, Texas is looking to do it backward. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Carl Tepper spoke about expanding vagrancy laws.

If you aren’t familiar with vagrancy laws, they are laws that criminalize houselessness and poverty by penalizing individuals for sleeping in public spaces, panhandling, or loitering. Historically, these laws were used to target marginalized communities during Jim Crow rather than address the root causes of being unsheltered, such as lack of affordable housing, mental health services, and living wages.

Carl Tepper (R-HD84) spoke about increasing incarceration for unsheltered individuals. He even called unsheltered people a “public danger” and blamed them for crime and unsafe conditions in cities.

At the end of the clip, Nicole Collier (D-HD95) chimes in, asking the witness if being poor was illegal.

Framing unsheltered people as a “public safety threat” is core reactionary politics. The actual safety threat comes from poverty, the lack of services, and the failure to address root causes.

It should be noted that Carl Tepper, the Republican who accused Brian Harrison of “grandstanding” and giving a “self-serving” speech last week, is the one who doesn’t seem to like one another. Even though their personalities may clash, they have terrible and reactionary policy ideas. So, even though their personalities may clash, there is no difference between the two from an ideological perspective.

Behavioral health testified.

This included serval agencies. The testimony was about three hours long, but we learned some vital information.

• School-based telemedicine programs are aimed at identifying and treating children with mental health concerns. However, 22% of Texas students remain uncovered.

• Texas has a severe shortage of mental health professionals, particularly child and adolescent psychiatrists.

• ER overcrowding due to mental health cases and hospitals are struggling with long wait times for psychiatric patients, particularly those with aggressive or complex needs.

• Jails are being used as holding facilities for individuals awaiting psychiatric beds.

• 3.7 million children in Texas could benefit from the Summer EBT program, with $450 million in federal funding potentially coming to the state, but the Texas government has not designated a lead agency, which is needed to proceed.

The worst part of yesterday’s hearing was that Brian Harrison wouldn’t shut up. I feel sorry for the rest of the committee members for enduring him. He was the only Representative who had to ask questions of every single witness, and for most of that time, he talked about himself and his previous job working for the Trump administration.

I think you call this narcissism.

Houston rapper Paul Wall was honored in the Texas House and Senate.

Along with other famous artists.

And in the Senate:

The Senate Committee on Business and Commerce met yesterday to discuss several bills. I haven’t had a chance to watch the meeting yet, so I don’t know if there was anything contentious that we should be paying attention to. I’ll try to have an update on that committee in tomorrow’s newsletter.

The rest of this week.

The House Appropriations Committee is meeting again this morning. Here is what they will be discussing:

Tomorrow, the Senate Committee is scheduled to discuss SB26, teacher pay raises. Otherwise, no other Committee hearings in either chamber are planned for the rest of the week. 

It’s not a big deal. Within a month, the Legislature will reach the point where the House and the Senate have multiple Committee hearings daily. At that point, we’ll have to pick and choose which hearings to watch.

Bad ideas, reactionary policies, and a lot of self-aggrandizing from certain members (looking at you, Brian Harrison).

Yesterday’s hearings offered a preview of the legislative chaos ahead. Texas Republicans are doubling down on their worst instincts while ignoring real issues like mental health care shortages and the dire need for programs like Summer EBT.

Plenty of money is in the state’s coffers, yet lawmakers are finding new ways to enrich corporations and punish the poor instead of investing in public services. Meanwhile, mental health professionals are in short supply, psychiatric patients are languishing in ERs and jails, and over 3.7 million Texas children could benefit from federal food aid. If only the state could get its act together.

With Committee hearings picking up and bills finally moving, things are about to get even more chaotic. Expect more performative nonsense, fights over budget priorities, and more moments of absurdity, intentional or not. Buckle up because the actual work (or obstruction) is just getting started.

• March 14: The last day Legislators can file bills.

• June 2: The 89th Legislative Session ends.

• Click here to find out what Legislative districts you’re in.

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