Capitol Update

Texas House
​Speaker Burrows has released the full 2026 Interim Committee Charges to the Texas House. The House interim charges overlap with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's initial to-do list in their shared focuses on reducing property taxes, securing Texas from potential foreign threats, and addressing potential fraud and abuse in government spending. However, the Speaker’s interim charges cover a broader range of policy issues for committees to tackle in preparation for the 90th legislative session in 2027.

Speaker Burrows also created three new select committees:

• Governmental Oversight Committee, chaired by Rep. Cody Vasut (R- Angleton), will have broad jurisdiction over matters related to the accountability and integrity of state and local governments.
• Health Care Affordability Committee, chaired by Rep. James Frank (R- Wichita Falls), will provide a cross-jurisdictional forum to examine factors impacting health care cost and access for Texans.
• General Aviation Committee, chaired by Keith Bell (R- Forney), will advance aviation infrastructure across Texas, supporting rural economic growth, improving transportation access and emergency services, and promoting aviation safety.

Data centers are on the agenda for both the State Affairs and Natural Resources committees. State Affairs will focus on the development of data centers in Texas and review the existing regulatory framework governing data center development and recommend proposals to streamline regulations. The Natural Resources Committee will examine the total water usage of data center operations and consider how to "optimize water resources and enhance water stewardship" to ensure "water-efficient" data center development.

The House Committees on Energy Resources and State Affairs had the most interim charges listed, with 10 interim charges each.

Texas Senate
Earlier this week, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced new chairs of standing committees, filled vacancies, and created interim select committees. Five members of the Senate, including four chairs, will not be returning next legislative session, so six standing committees have new chairmen, and two previous standing committees were shifted to select committees.
Those two select committees are now the Homeland and Border Security Select Committee and the Veterans Affairs Select Committee, chaired by Sen. Phil King (R-Weatherford) and Sen. Brent Hagenbuch (R-Denton), respectively. The Jurisprudence Committee also appears to have been abolished. Lt. Gov. Patrick also named Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) as the new Chair of the Sunset Advisory Commission, the entity that reviews state agencies and determines how or whether each one will continue into future. Lt. Gov. Patrick also established the new Senate Select Committee on Religious Liberty, chaired by Sen. King. The committee is to find ways to educate Texans on their religious liberty rights and to ensure those rights are not infringed upon.
The new Senate committee chairs serving on the interim select committees will remain in their positions through the 90th Legislative Session, as the select committees will be made permanent standing committees when the 90th Legislature commences in January 2027.
Also, the Public Education and Higher Education committees that were consolidated into one committee last year under former Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe) are now two separate committees. Sen. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels) now chairs the Senate Committee on Education, and Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) chairs the Senate Committee on Higher Education.
Lastly, newly elected Sen. Taylor Rehmet (D-Fort Worth) was not listed as a member of any of the Senate committees. Sen. Rehmet won a special election to fill the unexpired term of former Senator Kelly Hancock. This situation created a brief dust up between the policy makers but was quickly addressed by the Lt. Governor. Historically, members who win their special elections have also not been appointed to interim committees until they win their election to serve a full term in the legislature.


WHAT'S NEXT?
The House's work to study the list of charges, released today, will begin in the coming weeks; an update of the House schedule can be found here. In the Senate, there are several interim committee hearings already scheduled for the coming weeks, starting next week with the Senate Business and Commerce Committee scheduled to meet on April 1st at 10 am; a full schedule of Senate committee hearings can be found here.

Following the completion of hearings, committees will submit reports detailing their specific findings and policy recommendations before the 90th session is set to begin on January 12, 2027.