At the time of writing this, my countdown clock reads 22 hours until the start of the 88th Texas Legislature. There is always an air of anticipation leading up to a session and what issues the legislature will focus on during their 140-day session. There have already been 1,600 House and Senate bills filed and there will likely be around 7,500 pieces of legislation filed before the session’s end which is May 29, better known around the Texas Capitol as “Sine Die”.
Our TADA Legislative Committee has been hard at work identifying issues where TADA needs to be engaged – and this session will certainly see us involved in playing both offense and defense as the Texas Legislature deals with issues that impact Texas dealers. All 181 members (150 House and 31 Senate) of the Texas Legislature carry legislation that they believe will improve the state of Texas. TADA works to support them when they are right, to educate and inform them when they might not fully understand the impact of a potential piece of legislation, and to pass and modify measures to assist Texas new-car dealers in providing the best sales and service experience possible for their customers.
The session almost always begins with the same cadence… slowly; legislators come in with their families and are sworn in on the first day, each chamber governing the House and Senate operation adopts new rules in the next day or so, and the Comptroller releases an estimate of the state revenue informing legislators how much money is available to be spent. Then, week one concludes.
The next several weeks thereafter will include Governor Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick’s Inauguration, House members filling out their Committee Preference Cards, the Governor’s State of the State, and the corresponding issuance of Emergency Items for the Legislature to address. There is always a loud murmur of complaints that the process is too slow on the front end, but the focus for most legislators in the first 60 days is the filing of legislation, receiving committee assignments, and beginning work on these committees.
The next 60 days will then be a mad rush of Committee hearings with legislators working to get their bills through the process. During the final 20 days, there are usual stand-offs between the two Chambers as they work to reconcile differences in the legislation between the House and Senate. Finally, it’s on to the Governor’s office for final consideration which spills over after session in the 20-day veto period.
As you can imagine, there are a number of pitfalls and that is evident because, ultimately, most filed legislation does not pass.
According to the Texas constitution, the only “must pass” bill of the session is the budget, so that consumes a lot of time and effort in both chambers. This session, the legislature will be dealing with an unprecedented surplus of at least $30 billion in general revenue and more than $12 billion in “Rainy Day” funds. It’s hard to imagine now, but just 20 years ago, the State was facing a $14 billion deficit. Session is almost more difficult when there is money available to spend.
Leadership has mentioned priorities for the session including property tax relief, protecting the power grid, mental health funding, teacher compensation, and state infrastructure investment needs, but there are many more. Both chambers will have a lot of work to do to make sure Texas continues to lead the nation as the best place to do business and a place where people want to live.
I hope you will have the opportunity to come to Austin while the Texas Legislature is in session. We invite dealers to join us every Tuesday for legislative visits and hope you can add a visit to your calendar. The TADA Annual Conference will be held in Austin in April, so please make every effort to join us. The saying is absolutely true that “all politics are local” and the legislators I have visited with over the last year have told me about their favorite local dealer. They want to hear from you on issues that impact your business and their constituents. If you are unable to come, please be ready because you never know when we may be calling for your assistance to send an email or make a phone call or two.
I know we are primed to have a fantastic session and I so much look forward to our team’s work with our TADA Chair Charlie Gilchrist and TADA Legislative Chair Claire McDonald. They may be spending a little more time in Austin than they want, but they will do a great job for you. The TADA team does an amazing job ensuring success in the Texas Legislature, amplifying TADA’s strength because of the fantastic work our Texas dealers do in their local communities and throughout the state.
