Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan issued interim charges to twelve House Committees related to illegal immigration activity on the Texas border with Mexico. The charges are focused on measuring the impact of the current wave of illegal immigrants on public health, transportation, detention and criminal justice infrastructure on the border. Committees are also being asked to communicate the need for additional financial resources to the House Appropriations Committee.
It is standard practice for the Speaker and Lt. Governor to assign interim responsibilities to House and Senate committees. It is unusual to have interim charges issued before the fall of a legislative year. Even more unusual is to have them issued a week before the start of what is predicted to be a packed and contentious special session.
One charge, given to all affected committees, is to review the development of federal laws and regulations which will govern how much of the expected federal stimulus funds can be used on activities at the border. Democrats are said to have requested that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, whose department is writing the regulations on the use of the expected $18 billion in federal funds, to preclude use on the border.
Local members of the Texas House involved in these charges include Gio Capriglione (Appropriations), Jeff Cason (County Affairs), Tony Tinderholt (Defense & Veterans’ Affairs and Homeland Security), Stephanie Klick (Human Services), Matt Krause (Judicary & Civil Jurisprudence) and David Cook (Juvenile Justice).