With 18 days left in the legislative session your chamber is on track to have a good session. We approached the 87th Texas Legislature with goals in four primary areas: Economic Development, Education and Workforce Development, Transportation and Healthcare. Along the way we added recovery from Covid-19 and a few other issues to our priorities.
Our first big priority was maintaining the education funding program passed as HB3 in the last session. It was looking good and then we got a little help from the Biden administration. Getting the education funds from the latest round of federal stimulus was tied to maintaining at least the same level of education funding from last year. The same requirement applied to higher education funding which protected some higher education dollars we thought might be cut.
Also, among our Education goals was the expansion of broadband in the state to facilitate distance learning in rural Texas and in the broadband deserts that exist in most metropolitan areas. HB5 which creates a state plan for broadband passed both the House and Senate and is now in conference committee. We should finally have a plan. Prior to the session we were one of 6 states in the US without one.
Three workforce development bills are closing in on passage. The most promising is SB1102 (Creighton) which was promoted by the community colleges of Texas. If passed and signed into law, it will provide funds to reskill or upskill 30,000 workers displaced by the recession and get them industry recognized credentials. This bill passed the Senate and is in the Calendars committee in the House. There is plenty of time for it to pass the House.
Considering expansion of Medicaid in Texas as a workforce development issue, we supported bills in the House and Senate that would have let Texas join the other 38 states which have expanded Medicaid. These bills would have provided health insurance coverage to the working poor. Ninety percent of the funds were to come from the federal government. Both bills were left pending in committee where they will die.
Economic Development goals included reauthorizing Chapter 313 of the tax code which allows school districts to choose to participate in economic development incentives. It will “sunset” in 2022 if not reauthorized. Our goal was a 10-year extension. It now looks like we will get a 2-year extension. We aimed to protect the “bullet train” from Houston to Dallas from eminent domain bills designed to make it die. None of those bills advanced and the subject is dead for this session. We supported funding the Governor’s economic development funds and we won’t know if we were successful until the budget passes.
We had hoped to see bills that would encourage creative ways to finance transportation and water infrastructure. There were six bills filed that shared our goals. Two are still alive, one would study the issues in advance of the next legislature, the other will impose a fee on electric vehicles. House Bill 4420 (by Matt Krause) which provides for the study, must pass the House by midnight tonight or it is dead. The electric vehicle fee bill (SB1728 by Schwertner) still has life. It passed the Senate and is in the House Transportation Committee.
Three bills were supported that provide businesses some relief from the impact of Covid-19. HB7 (Chen-Button) revises the way unemployment insurance rates will be calculated for the immediate future to prevent a sharp spike in unemployment insurance rates for employers caused by state mandated business closures. HB1195 (Geren) will prevent loan forgiveness from the PPP program from counting as taxable income under the franchise tax. Still pending, but moving quickly toward passage, is SB6 (Hancock) which will protect employers and many workers from frivolous lawsuits if they have followed state and federal Covid guidelines.
Along the way, several bills we did not support have died. All things considered this will likely be recorded as a good legislative session for our member businesses. Your Chamber will stay on alert. A lot can happen in the last 18 days of a Texas Legislature.