The main 87th Session of the Texas Legislature is over. As with every session, thousands of bills were filed by hundreds of representatives and senators for only a few to make it all the way to the end. While organizations around the state issue their formal scorecards of how various state legislatures faired at accomplishing certain tasks, this Chamber will not grade people, but report to you, our members, on how our state elected officials in the greater Arlington area represented the business-friendly issues of our community.
The most positive note from the session came in the Texas Senate. On every issue the Chamber had a firm position that went to a vote in the Senate, all of our Senators voted with us – Senators Kelly Hancock, Brian Birdwell and Beverly Powell.
The most important Chamber issue this session was continued funding of the education reforms from the 2019 session’s HB3. All three of our Senators voted in favor of the overall state budget which included full funding these education reforms. The budget also contained more appropriations for higher education than we initially expected. HB1525, a new bill from this session, made some minor improvements to HB3 and was also supported by our Senate delegation.
The Chamber enthusiastically supported SB1102 which will provide $50 million for reskilling and upskilling adult workers displaced by the pandemic. All three of our Senators agreed and supported this important workforce bill.
Transportation infrastructure was a major issue for the Chamber this session. We were tracking seven bills that could have led to creative ways to finance transportation and water infrastructure. Six of the seven died in the House. One passed both and was signed by Governor Greg Abbott. HJR99, if approved by the voters, will allow highways to be funded by cities and counties using tax increment financing. This has the potential to be a major innovation for infrastructure funding, and our entire Senate delegation voted passage of the bill.
The business community had two other major issues, reauthorization of a critical economic development tool and expansion of Medicaid. Neither came up for a vote in the Senate this session.