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The Blast: ESA fight clears way for an old Patrick priority [1]
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Date: 2025-02
Jan 29, 2025 | View in browser
By Renzo Downey and The Texas Tribune Politics Team
44 days until the 60-day bill filing deadline
124 days until sine die
Taxpayer-funded lobbying bill is back Ah, taxpayer-funded lobbying. It’s been a while.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick today announced his first round of priorities for the 89th Legislature. The list of 25 bills includes some familiar faces, new acquaintances and Senate Bill 19, the old friend whose invite to last year’s holiday party “must’ve gotten lost in the mail” after the scene it caused the last time around.
After keeping it off his 2023 wishlist, Patrick once again wants to bar local governments from hiring outside lobbyists to represent them in Austin. Senate Bill 19 would ban that practice, commonly called “taxpayer-funded lobbying.”
The Senate passed such bills in 2019 and 2021 while the House failed to pass the measures, part of a domino effect that brought us Speaker Dustin Burrows. However, the tide on taxpayer-funded lobbying could be changing, a byproduct of Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaign for education savings accounts.
As The Blast addressed back in August, 2019 marked the last time there was a record vote in the House on taxpayer-funded lobbying. That year, the House voted 85-58 to block Senate Bill 29, with 25 Republicans joining the opposition. Of those 25, only nine remain in the House.
Nine Republicans plus 62 Democrats gets you to 71 opponents to SB 19, according to the napkin math. Remove Rep. Todd Hunter, the Corpus Christi Republican who is one of Burrows’ lieutenants, and you’re down to 70. That’s shy of the 75 votes the opposition would need to block the bill.
People remember the 2019 Empower Texans recording that took down Speaker Dennis Bonnen, and even more now remember Burrows’ involvement. But how many remember that Burrows’ target list was built on getting the votes to ban taxpayer-funded lobbying?
It all comes full circle.
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The express lane for other Patrick priorities Patrick announced the topics for Senate bills 1-25, with plans for bills 26-40 still to come. Beyond the budget, Patrick’s top three priorities appear to be ESAs, banning THC and decreasing property taxes by increasing the homestead exemption.
Several of last session’s priorities are back, like bills on bail reform and cracking down on drag shows. Some new priority topics include “Texas DOGE,” creating a Texas Bitcoin reserve and attracting the film industry. The bill on displaying the Ten Commandments in public schools has been elevated from Senate Bill 1515 last session to, you guessed it, Senate Bill 10.
Of the Patrick-designated priorities, we only have the text of the budget bill and the ESA bill. The ESA bill became the first bill out of committee yesterday.
Assuming the remaining bills get filed before 10 a.m. on Monday, that day’s morning floor session could be an important one because the Senate plans to refer bills to committees, marking the starting gun on the race to the floor.
Things move quickly in the Senate. SB 2 is already on the Senate’s intent calendar for Tuesday, meaning it should be ready for consideration on the floor on Wednesday.
Paxton’s pitch for OAG salary increases President Donald Trump has been poaching some of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s top aides for roles in the new administration. Now, Paxton appears to be building those losses into his pitch to the Legislature for salary increases in his office.
Paxton is requesting that lawmakers increase salaries in the Office of the Attorney General by 6% for both 2026 and 2027. During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday, he said his office is “losing lawyers to Washington right now.” Referring to the attorney general’s office as a “profit center,” Paxton said that drawing more talent helps his agency “prevent huge losses to the state.”
“Every time that I’ve asked for a salary increase, what I suggest is: Look at the results, and if we don’t produce, then don’t give it,” he said. “But if we produce, let me keep the talent that I have to represent the state because it pays off.”
Recent departures include communications director Paige Willey and associate deputy attorney general Ryan Baasch. Willey, who served in the first Trump administration as special assistant to the president for political affairs and associate chief of staff for the White House Council of Economic Affairs, will take on a new role this time around. She’ll be Trump’s deputy assistant for economic policy and deputy director of the National Economic Council. Baasch will be special assistant to the president for economic policy. Trump announced both appointments in a release earlier this month.
Deputy solicitor general Lanora Pettit and Paxton’s special counsel, Joseph Mazzara, have also left Austin for Washington, according to Bloomberg’s Ryan Autullo, who’s been diligently following the moves among Paxton personnel. Pettit will be deputy assistant to Pam Bondi, Trump’s pick for attorney general. And Mazzara will take on the role of deputy general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security.
There’s also Aaron Reitz, who was deputy attorney general for legal strategy until May 2023, when he became U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s chief of staff. Trump named Reitz to lead the DOJ’s Office of Legal Policy.
The attorney general’s office hires close to 4,000 employees. The median salary in the office is $63,000.
— Pavan Acharya
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Cruz says Panama is playing dirty with the canal U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz feels Panama may not be holding up its end of the deal.
The junior senator, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, held a hearing Tuesday on the U.S.’s future relationship with the Panama Canal, which the U.S. ceded to Panama under an agreement negotiated under President Jimmy Carter. The treaty requires Panama to maintain neutral access to the canal and to charge fair and equitable fees for its usage. Cruz alleged Panama could be violating those conditions by granting access to sanctions-evading Iranian ships and allowing undue Chinese influence.
“I get Panama would be horrified to give up the canal because they were given a gigantic gift from Jimmy Carter at the expense of the United States of America,” Cruz said on his podcast after the hearing. “But I think the arguments that Panama is violating the treaty and forfeited its rights to the canal, I think those arguments are very serious and I expect the administration to pursue them seriously.”
President Donald Trump has said he would be interested in retaking the Panama Canal, along with annexing Greenland — another proposal that Cruz has supported due to Greenland’s strategic location in the Arctic and critical minerals. (The Danish ambassador apparently confronted Cruz on his past comments, saying Greenland was not for sale. Cruz responded “everything is for sale.”)
Cruz said after the hearing that he could see more merit to greater U.S. involvement in control of the canal, though he did not outright say the U.S. should get it back.
“There’s a treaty that governs this, so this is not simply Donald Trump raising an issue, gosh, we want the Panama Canal,” Cruz said. “Panama made a commitment when Jimmy Carter gave this away.”
As for the Panamanians, they are not interested in giving back the canal and deny any undue Chinese influence beyond standard diplomacy and commerce with the world’s second largest economy. The U.S. is Panama’s largest trading partner, though its neighbors have turned increasingly toward China for investment and trade.
— Matthew Choi
HIDDEN IMAGE This week: The Senate Finance Committee will meet at 9 a.m. on Thursday and Friday, if necessary. Secretary of State Office of the Governor Trusteed Programs within the Office of the Governor Facilities Commission Revenue Bonds for Lease Payments State Preservation Board Public Finance Authority Public Finance Authority - General Obligation Bond Debt Service Bond Review Board Department of Information Resources State Office of Risk Management Ethics Commission
View the list of upcoming meeting notices here.
The Senate will convene at 10 a.m. on Monday for the reading and referral of bills.
The Senate will convene for real at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.
The House will convene at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
HIDDEN IMAGE Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu on whether Democrats should be more vocal on social media: “I don’t recommend people go be trolls unless that is actually in your repertoire. The internet has made me a worse person.”
HIDDEN IMAGE San Antonio mayoral: Former Democratic congressional candidate Gina Ortiz Jones yesterday filed her candidacy and today released her first campaign ad of the race. Since losing to Rep. Will Hurd then Tony Gonzales in CD-23, Jones was undersecretary of the Air Force. Last year, she launched Find Out PAC, which sought unsuccessfully to defeat Texas Supreme Court justices Jimmy Blacklock, Jane Bland and John Devine.
HIDDEN IMAGE U.S. Sen. John Cornyn , R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul , R-Austin, attended the White House signing ceremony of the Laken Riley Act today. Cornyn led an amendment that would require Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain migrants who assault a law enforcement officer. McCaul was an original cosponsor of the bill. Former Texas Border Czar Tom Homan , whom President Donald Trump has named as his own border czar, was also there.
, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. , R-Austin, attended the White House signing ceremony of the Laken Riley Act today. Cornyn led an amendment that would require Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain migrants who assault a law enforcement officer. McCaul was an original cosponsor of the bill. Former Texas Border Czar , whom President has named as his own border czar, was also there. Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu told the Tribune’s Jasper Scherer that he won’t file bills while he’s caucus chair because his “only objective this session is to make sure that Democrats are prepared for battle.” That’s a change from how his predecessor, Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio, operated.
HIDDEN IMAGE Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick , state Sens. Paul Bettencourt , R-Houston, and Angela Paxton , R-McKinney, and state Rep. Steve Toth , R-The Woodlands, will join the Judeo-Christian Caucus for a Zoom meeting tomorrow on “The Crisis in Public Education.”
, state Sens. , R-Houston, and , R-McKinney, and state Rep. , R-The Woodlands, will join the Judeo-Christian Caucus for a Zoom meeting tomorrow on “The Crisis in Public Education.” Patrick and Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows will be the special guests at the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life’s Great Conversations event hosted on the evening of Feb. 24 at the UT campus.
HIDDEN IMAGE Do you or someone in your office have a new job you’d like mentioned? Email us. U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, are accepting applications for judicial vacancies in the Northern, Southern and Western districts of Texas. They are also accepting applications for U.S. attorney and U.S. marshal vacancies in the Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western districts of Texas.
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