Two members of the Arlington delegation in the House of Representatives will chair committees in the 87th Texas Legislature: Chris Turner (D) will serve as Chair of the Committee on Business and Industry, and Matt Krause (R) will serve as Chair of the Committee on General Investigating.
Chairman Turner was Chair of the Higher Education Committee last session. He will serve as a member of that committee this session. He was also the Vice-Chair of the Redistricting Committee last session; this session, he will serve on that committee again.
Chairman Krause was a member of the Committee on General Investigating last session and has moved up to the Chairman position this session. He is a huge advocate for Arlington’s entertainment and tourism industry and was added as a member of the Culture, Recreation and Tourism Committee this session. He will also serve on the Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee which may be a critical committee if reforming the judicial system gets momentum in the session.
Representative Tony Tinderholt was appointed to Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee and the Defense and Veterans Affairs Committee, both of which he served on last session. Lat session, he was Vice Chair of Veterans Affairs.
Freshmen Representatives Jeff Cason and David Cook will both serve on the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. Cason will also serve on the County Affairs Committee. Cook will serve on the Juvenal Justice and Family Issues Committee.
Looking at all committee assignments, Speaker Dade Phelan made good on his promise to have Democrats chair House Committees this session. Democrats will chair 15 of the 36 committees including Public Education (Harold Dutton of Houston) and Business and Industry (Chris Turner of Grand Prairie). Representative Gio Capriglione who had been named chair of the House Appropriations Committee during the interim, was removed as chair in favor of Greg Bonnen (R-Friendswood).
In another surprise move, Chris Paddie (R-Marshall) was named chair of the Committee on State Affairs. This is the committee that will likely hear the controversial bill banning lobbying by taxing entities. Chairman Paddie voted against a similar bill last session.
To see the committee assignments for all members of the Texas House of Representatives, visit house.texas.gov/committees.