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The Blast: Breaking down the House committee assignments [1]

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Date: 2025-02

And on the 31st day of session, Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows made his committee assignments.



Here are the full lists by committee and by member, and the Tribune’s breakdown of the assignments.



Now, here’s The Blast’s breakdown:



The key committees



The chairmen: Calendars: Chair Todd Hunter of Corpus Christi

of Corpus Christi Appropriations: Chair Greg Bonnen of Friendswood

of Friendswood State Affairs: Chair Ken King of Canadian

of Canadian Ways and Means: Chair Morgan Meyer of University Park

of University Park House Administration: Chair Charlie Geren of Fort Worth Hunter at Calendars is a grand return for the chair who led the committee for four terms under Speaker Joe Straus of San Antonio. Bonnen and Meyer return to the roles they had under Speaker Dade Phelan of Beaumont.



King at State Affairs marks a big promotion for the seven-term rep, and Geren returning to his 12-year home atop House Admin marks a big promotion for the entire committee.



Chair of House Administration was already an important behind the scenes role. But now that the House is operating without a housekeeping resolution, the committee is wholly in charge of a lot of the administrative issues that were addressed in that document. House Administration will control the purse strings for members’ offices and committees, including budgets for the 12 subcommittees. Standing subcommittees are a new piece of the legislative puzzle, with outstanding questions about what resources will be at their disposal.



Burrows supporters



Each Republican who voted for Burrows on the second ballot got rewarded.



Everyone in at least their third term was given a committee chairmanship. Most first- and second-term members earned spots on the powerful Appropriations Committee.



The two exceptions were second-term member Stan Gerdes of Smithville, who got a significant prize on Calendars, and freshman John McQueeney of Fort Worth, who got a spot on State Affairs and its subcommittee dealing with broadband. Calendars controls what legislation goes to the floor, and State Affairs is a catch-all committee for major legislation. Gerdes and McQueeney will also both be on Licensing and Administrative Procedures, which is a committee to watch now that it’s home to Chair Phelan.



In addition to their roles on Appropriations, second-term members Janie Lopez of San Benito and Carl Tepper of Lubbock earned spots on Calendars. Tepper, who has emerged as a bulldog for leadership, will chair the Intergovernmental Affairs Subcommittee on State-Federal Relations, which also encompasses foreign affairs.



Other notable pro-Burrows winners: Darby, Lambert and Dean



Drew Darby’s and Stan Lambert’s decisions to wait out their time in the doghouse have paid off.



Back in 2019, Burrows named Darby and Lambert as two of the 10 that Michael Quinn Sullivan and Empower Texans should target. Now, Darby, of San Angelo, is back at Energy Resources, which he chaired from 2015 to 2018, and Lambert, of Abilene, is a first-time chair atop Pensions, Investments and Financial Services. The only other remaining member is Trent Ashby of Lufkin, who endorsed David Cook for speaker but still ended up with a subcommittee chairmanship.



Darby is a fit for his committee. His West Texas district contains part of the Permian Basin and alternative energies. That includes nuclear energy, which Gov. Greg Abbott named a priority for this legislative session.



However, Darby and Abbott have not repaired their relationship since Abbott backed Darby’s primary challenger as part of the governor’s attempt to pass education savings accounts. Things got ugly during the primary, when Darby said ESAs would support illegal immigrants, and Abbott said Darby had voted to give illegal immigrants free public education. Both claims were stretches, at best.



Darby also had an ill-fated speaker bid in 2018 that further put him on the outs.



Jay Dean of Longview, another anti-voucher member, takes over the Insurance Committee from former speaker candidate Tom Oliverson of Cypress. Oliverson, a physician, brought a doctor’s approach to that committee for two terms as chair and one as vice chair. Dean, whose background was in oil and gas before stepping into politics, won’t have the same perspective.



Dean is in his fifth term, but it’s also his first time chairing — let alone vice chairing — a committee. Insurance isn’t an easy committee to navigate, so keep an eye out for how he negotiates the potential pitfalls.

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