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The Blast: ESAs and TPPF takeaways [1]
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Date: 2025-02
Feb 19, 2025 | View in browser
By Renzo Downey and The Texas Tribune Politics Team
16 days until SXSW begins
23 days until the 60-day bill filing deadline
103 days until sine die
Abbott rallies TPPF crowd — twice Gov. Greg Abbott helped kick off the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Texas Policy Summit today, focusing 25 minutes of his half-hour keynote speech on the effort to pass private school vouchers through the Texas House.
“We would not be where we are with the advancements that we’ve made on school choice without TPPF,” Abbott said, before calling those in the room to action. “We’re going to make sure that we do fulfill what the speaker said, and that’s to ensure he has the votes to get this done.”
Abbott was referring to House Speaker Dustin Burrows, who on Monday appeared with Abbott at TPPF’s latest “Parent Empowerment Night” event in San Antonio. Burrows has been the first speaker to publicly support a program to give parents state dollars to use for their child’s K-12 education outside of public schools.
House Public Education Committee Chair Brady Buckley, R-Salado, joined Abbott and Burrows in San Antonio. Now that Texas House committees are beginning to meet, the House’s education savings account bill will be one of the first bills out of the gate.
But before that can happen, Buckley must file the bill and his committee must get its preliminary work out of the way, including calling Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath to speak to his panel.
On Monday, Burrows said Buckley will file the ESA bill this week. Expect the committee to take up the bill next week or the week after.
Here are a few other notes from today’s Texas Policy Summit talks: TPPF CEO Greg Sindelar apparently lost a bet to Abbott over the UT-Texas A&M football game last year, meaning Sindelar had to wear a burnt orange blazer for the Policy Summit. “There’s a reason why Sindelar is against the expansion of gambling in the state of Texas, and he’s wearing it right now,” Abbott joked.
apparently lost a bet to Abbott over the UT-Texas A&M football game last year, meaning Sindelar had to wear a burnt orange blazer for the Policy Summit. “There’s a reason why Sindelar is against the expansion of gambling in the state of Texas, and he’s wearing it right now,” Abbott joked. Abbott touched on the border, acknowledging that President Donald Trump is only president for four more years. “Our goal is to ensure that, over the next four years, we do a great job of preparing the border for security for the next 40 years in the great state of Texas,” Abbott said.
is only president for four more years. “Our goal is to ensure that, over the next four years, we do a great job of preparing the border for security for the next 40 years in the great state of Texas,” Abbott said. Buckley said to expect a bill on the parental grievance process in cases of purported student abuse at school.
Buckley shared the stage with former Texas Rangers All-Star Mark Teixeira , who noted that he uses social media “as needed,” including to retweet Abbott’s posts about ESAs.
, who noted that he uses social media “as needed,” including to retweet Abbott’s posts about ESAs. Rep. Ellen Troxclair, R-Lakeway, said she believes the House will finally pass a ban on taxpayer funded lobbying. [h/t The Texan’s Brad Johnson]
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Button and Meyer censured The Dallas County Republican Party has censured state Reps. Angie Chen Button of Richardson and Morgan Meyer of University Park, which could potentially be the first step of an effort to remove them from the Republican ballot next year in the wake of the Texas House’s speaker election. With all the violations tabulated, it comes out to 39 counts each.
Earlier this month, the State Republican Executive Committee stopped short of calling for the censure of the 36 House Republicans who broke from the Texas House Republican Caucus to elect Dustin Burrows as House speaker. However, the SREC took a step toward preparing censures when it outlined how county parties could go about disciplining its members, leaving the threat hanging over their heads.
On Monday, the Dallas County GOP Executive Committee, led by former Texas GOP Chair Allen West, censured Button and Meyer on several “censurable acts,” with plans to penalize them, including keeping them off the primary ballot in March 2026.
The SREC must first review the censure before the Dallas GOP could move to kick them off the ballot. The resolutions ask the SREC to censure Button and Meyer, and the SREC may next vote to impose that penalty or other penalties.
The Dallas GOP accuses Button and Meyer of four “censurable acts.” It accuses them of abandoning the Texas House Republican Caucus meeting where Rep. David Cook of Mansfield was endorsed for speaker, voting against the caucus in favor of Burrows, and voting to end debate early on the House rules resolution — denying the caucus’ right flank an opportunity to propose changes to the rules. Additionally, the resolution counts each Democrat named as a committee vice chair and subcommittee chair as censurable acts credited to Button and Meyer, pinning them each with 36 additional counts.
Notably, the Dallas GOP got the date wrong on the caucus meeting, saying it took place on Jan. 7 when it took place on Dec. 7. Regardless, that part of the censure could get tricky, because the Texas GOP rules say the censurable acts must take place in the official’s current term, which began on Jan. 14.
No other county party has moved to censure their representatives this year.
House office budgets get additional boost The Texas House Administration Committee delivered on House Speaker Dustin Burrows’ call to give members’ offices an even bigger budget than what was previously planned.
In lieu of passing a procedural housekeeping resolution that was spiked last month, House leadership this year decided to give the House Administration Committee additional budgetary responsibility. Yesterday morning, Chair Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, and House Administration approved committee and office budgets, including $2,000 monthly budget increases for House offices during session.
Office budgets cover staff salaries, office supplies, office equipment, postage, printing, telephone services, travel and more. It does not address member salaries, which are set by the Texas Constitution and the Texas Ethics Commission.
The initial housekeeping resolution (House Resolution 3) — which never came up for a vote — included raising the in-session monthly budgets of member offices from $19,250 to $20,250 and out-of-session budgets from $17,500 to $18,500. House Administration upped the in-session monthly budget to $21,250.
But Geren and House Administration also threw in additional benefits beyond what were included in the scrapped housekeeping resolution. Initially, HR 3 would have increased the number of staffers that each member can pay more than the $6,780 monthly salary cap from one to two. House Administration eliminated the salary cap entirely. Additionally, the resolution would have raised the amount of unused money members can roll over from session to session, increasing it from $20,000 to $25,000. House Administration instead boosted that to $30,000.
All those steps help address funding concerns shared by several members — and particularly by staffers, who feel underpaid.
As always, House Administration also approved committee budgets based on the size of each committee. However, new this session is that the committee budgets include $25,000 for the committee vice chairs, all Democrats, to use at their discretion, effectively $5,000 per month. Additionally, each standing subcommittee got $35,000 for the session, although it’s unclear if that includes funding for subcommittee vice chair budgets.
Rep. J.M. Lozano, R-Kingsville, has filed his own housekeeping resolution, House Resolution 144, which includes some of the amendments that the anti-Burrows members wanted to add to HR 3. That measure has been referred to the House Administration Committee, but it’s not going anywhere.
Dan Patrick, investigative journalist Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick placed additional scrutiny on the Texas Lottery yesterday when he released an edited video — starring him — in which he drops by an Austin game store to investigate. The store is owned by a courier service that sold a winning lottery ticket worth $83.5 million. He claims both the store and the courier service are owned by fantasy sports giant DraftKings.
Patrick’s exposé includes some SpongeBob-inspired editing and a golden line from the store worker that greets Patrick: “I have a media contact for you all if you would like to reach out to them.”
Former interim Secretary of State David Whitley and former House Speaker Dennis Bonnen’s business partner, Shera Eichler, are the registered lobbyists for Jackpocket, the courier service that sold the ticket. The Texas Lottery is up for sunset this session.
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HIDDEN IMAGE CD-28: Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina, who recently switched parties to join the Republicans, is considering running against U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, according to Politico. Cuellar is charged with accepting bribes and is up for trial later this year.
HIDDEN IMAGE New Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin was in Houston today for a few interviews and to meet with Texas Democratic leaders. They discussed Martin’s vision for the party and continued partnership with the Texas Democratic Party. Martin’s trip comes after Texas Democrats have called for the national party to be more involved in the Lone Star State. Martin, who was elected this month, is also making stops in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri.
was in Houston today for a few interviews and to meet with Texas Democratic leaders. They discussed Martin’s vision for the party and continued partnership with the Texas Democratic Party. Martin’s trip comes after Texas Democrats have called for the national party to be more involved in the Lone Star State. Martin, who was elected this month, is also making stops in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri. As the Texas House gets ready to take up its education savings account bill, a new nonprofit called Our Schools Our Democracy is out with a report today focusing on charter schools, saying charter schools have had insufficient state oversight while lagging on performance measures. Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, was quoted in the press release.
HIDDEN IMAGE Do you or someone in your office have a new job you’d like mentioned? Email us. The UT System Board of Regents has named Jim Davis as the UT-Austin interim president. Davis, a former deputy attorney general to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton , was serving as the school’s senior vice president and COO. Outgoing UT-Austin president Jay Hartzell was initially going to serve until May 31, but Davis’ appointment is effective immediately. Hartzell is headed to become the next president of Southern Methodist University.
as the UT-Austin interim president. Davis, a former deputy attorney general to Texas Attorney General , was serving as the school’s senior vice president and COO. Outgoing UT-Austin president was initially going to serve until May 31, but Davis’ appointment is effective immediately. Hartzell is headed to become the next president of Southern Methodist University. Texas Democratic Party communications director Brigitte Bowen will serve her last day with the party on Tuesday. After that, she’ll join Travis County Judge Andy Brown ’s office as comms adviser.
will serve her last day with the party on Tuesday. After that, she’ll join Travis County Judge ’s office as comms adviser. Hearst Newspapers is buying the Austin American-Statesman, adding to its Texas portfolio that includes the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News.
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HIDDEN IMAGE After state Rep. J.M. Lozano, R-Kingsville, supposedly brought controversial congressional candidate Valentina Gomez to the House floor: HIDDEN IMAGE
HIDDEN IMAGE Do you or someone in your office have a birthday you’d like mentioned? Email us.
(Feb. 19) State Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville
(Feb. 20) Former state Rep. Lynn Stucky, Sanger
(Feb. 20) State Rep. Richard Hayes, Hickory Creek
SPONSOR MESSAGES Coalition for Education Funding - Join thousands on Sat. 2/22, 11-1 for Save Texas Schools Rally at TX State Capitol! Fund Schools Now! info @savetxschools.org The Beer Alliance of Texas - Texas Beer Distributors contribute $34 billion in total economic impact value for the Texas beer industry. Texas Managed Care Alliance is working to protect high quality health care for Medicaid patients, ensure accountability for taxpayer dollars, and advocate for fair and competitive contracting policies.
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