在会议的最后几天, 众议院法案5 passes off the Senate floor 和 heads to conference, the budget moves one step closer to the Governor’s desk, 和 we take a look at Houston-specific bills passing the legislature.

Economic Development Bill Clears the Senate Floor

众议院法案5 was voted out of the Senate Committee on Business & Commerce on Sunday, paving the way for a vote on the Senate floor on Wednesday. 法案作者, 查尔斯·施沃特纳(R-Georgetown), accepted five amendments 和 the final measure passed with a decisive 27-4 vote. 

接下来是什么: The Senate made significant changes to the version that passed the House earlier this month. We expect a conference committee to be named to work out the two versions. Following the work of the conference committee, each chamber must accept the conference committee report before the bill can head to the Governor’s desk. 

底线是: Stakeholders have raised concerns about the changes made to the legislation, but all parties recognize the importance of creating a new school property tax abatement program. 没有新程序, Texas will fall behind other states in l和ing large-scale, 资本密集型项目. 

他们说的是: During the committee hearing on Sunday, Senator Creighton (R-Conroe) emphasized the transformational change that comes when new 和 emerging industries decide to locate in local Texas communities: “If we’re going launch into a new phase of new economic development incentives… [we need to think about] the culture we want to create to really l和 these companies that will change lives forever for Texans.”

众议院法案1 和参议院第30号法案 - The State’s Budget
 
预算法案 is the only bill the Texas Legislature must pass each session. This week, the two chambers struck a deal on a two-year budget for the State of Texas totaling $321.30亿年. 

立法机关 entered this session with an unprecedented budget surplus. 然而, due to constitutionally m和ated restrictions on spending, the Legislature had more money available than it could spend. The budget prioritized spending on tax cuts, 大专院校, 网格弹性, 宽带, 水利基础设施. 

休斯顿焦点: 预算协议包括1美元.25 billion for flood mitigation 和 storm surge protection. 

• $625 million for the Flood Infrastructure Fund out of one-time General Revenue Funding. 
• $550 million for the Gulf Coast Protection District, with $350 million of the appropriation allocated to be used as state matching funds for the Coastal Texas Program. 
• $50 million for the Lake Houston Dam Improvement Project. 

接下来是什么: 在立法机构通过之后 众议院法案1, 一般拨款法, 和参议院第30号法案, 《补充拨款法案, both bills head to the Governor’s desk, w在这里 the Governor has line-item veto power for budget items. The Governor’s veto period ends 20 days after the last day of the legislative session. 

休斯顿焦点: Bills Impacting the Region 
 
Here is a look at several bills that have passed that will directly impact the Houston region: 

• 参议院第1057号法案, 约翰·惠特迈尔参议员(休斯顿民主党), allows the City of Houston 和 Houston First access to funds for much-needed renovations to the George R. 布朗会议中心. 
• 众议院第3474号法案, by Representative Jeff Leach (R-Plano), 该州的综合法院法案, establishes six new criminal courts for Harris County. 
• 众议院第2416号法案, by Representative Dennis Paul (R-Houston), creates the Gulf Coast Protection Trust Fund. The funding will be used for flood infrastructure developments within the Gulf Coast Protection District (GCPD), 包括德州海岸计划, better known as the Coastal Spine or the Ike Dike. 
• 众议院1595号法案 和 众议院联合决议3, by Representative Greg Bonnen (R-Friendswood), establishes the Texas University Fund (TUF), a permanent endowment fund investing in four Texas public university systems. The University of Houston will receive as much as $50 million dollars annually from the Fund. 

接下来是:会议结束报告 
 
最后休庭时, the Partnership’s 公共政策 Division will send one final update with a link to a comprehensive end-of-session report. 

The overview of outcomes will provide insight into key policy issues facing the greater Houston region 和 how the Partnership advocated for these priority areas during the 88th Legislative Session. We look forward to sharing our work with you. 

第八十八届立法会议期间, the Greater Houston Partnership will provide a weekly update on 新闻worthy items from Austin. You can view more policy 新闻 和 archives of our weekly updates 在这里. 订阅这 to get our weekly legislative updates