Texas Legislative News: May 22, 2023

TX Legislative News
TX Legislative NEWS FEAT

Welcome to the latest edition of Texas Legislative News for the 88th Texas Legislature. In this weekly feature, we provide information on disability-related issues being considered at the State Capitol. We also include overviews of how lawmakers conduct business and provide details on upcoming TCDD events.

Table of Contents

Just one week remains for the legislative session, and time is running out for many disability-related bills. Tuesday, May 23 is the deadline for the House to pass bills on its regular daily calendar. Wednesday, May 24 is the deadline for the Senate to pass bills and for the House to pass legislation on its local and consent calendar, which is generally reserved for noncontroversial bills.

In these remaining days, lawmakers will amend many bills with language from other pieces of legislation that haven’t gotten as far in the process. Some of these amendments may be a few extra lines of text, but others might be a dozen pages or more. In some cases, controversial language will be added to a previously uncontested bill, potentially putting that legislation at risk of failing.

Bills passed before the deadlines on May 23 and May 24 will head to the governor’s desk for review if the versions from the House and Senate are identical. For versions with differences, there will still be work left to do. Each chamber will either agree with the other’s changes to a bill — in which case the bill will move forward to the governor — or request a conference committee to work out any differences. Once those differences are addressed, both chambers must approve the new bill language by Sunday, May 28.

Due to House layout requirements, which require that bills are publicly available for a certain period of time before discussions begin, the primary House calendar in these final days is known as the “Items Eligible for Consideration” calendar. As with any legislative calendar, it can get backed up and some bills may fail to be brought up in time for approval. So, it’s important for the conference committees to work out any final changes quickly. This also means that both the House and Senate as well as anyone paying close attention to their activity can expect a few more late nights in the next week.

You can review all of the remaining legislative deadlines on the Legislature’s Deadline Action Calendar (PDF). You can check the progress on the total number of bills passed on the legislative statistics page of the Texas Capitol website.

At this point in the legislative session, House and Senate committees have essentially finished their work, and few if any public hearings are scheduled for the upcoming week. To keep track of what’s going on, you can find live and archived broadcasts of the respective chambers on the House and Senate websites.

Disability-Related Bills Passed

The following bills were approved in the past week and now head to the governor’s desk for signature into law:

  • House Bill (HB) 3132 by Rep. Bobby Guerra, relating to an optional designation on a driver’s license or personal identification certificate indicating that a person is deaf or hard of hearing
  • Senate Bill (SB) 904 by Sen. Drew Springer, which clarifies enforcement of the unauthorized use of parking spaces designated for people with disabilities (This is a recent TCDD Bill of the Week.)
  • SB 2304 by Sen. Morgan LaMantia, relating to driver education courses and driving safety courses and the provision of information on the Texas Driving with Disability Program to public school students

Disability-Related Bills Still Viable

Here are some of the disability-related bills expected to come up for consideration prior to this week’s deadlines:

  • HB 4164 by Rep. Philip Cortez, relating to the improper use and treatment of an assistance animal or service animal and increasing a criminal penalty
  • SB 55 by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, relating to a study and report by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board regarding best practices for assisting students with autism
  • SB 477 by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, relating to accommodating voters with a disability (This is a previous TCDD Bill of the Week.)
  • SB 681 by Sen. Nathan Johnson, relating to how certain laws for the occupational licensing of people with criminal convictions might apply to licensing for certain long-term health care facility personnel
  • SB 1606 by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, relating to evidence and orders regarding intellectual disability or mental condition in certain guardianship proceedings
  • SB 2429 by Sen. Kelly Hancock, relating to reporting procedures and training programs for law enforcement regarding missing children and missing people
  • SB 2479 by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, relating to procedures for certain people who have or may have a mental illness or intellectual disability  

For complete lists of bills being considered each day, you can find the House and Senate calendars on the Capitol website.

Disability Policy Academy

When the 88th Legislature adjourns on May 29, it will have seen the largest number of bills ever filed in a single session in Texas. Hundreds of those measures relate to disability issues such as special education, employment, guardianship, transportation, and others. Our policy team has watched these bills, offered public testimony, and tracked their progress. Once the session ends, we’ll review what passed, what didn’t, and how the disability community will be impacted.

On Wednesday, June 14, TCDD will host a Disability Policy Academy titled “A Capitol Recap: Disability Policy in the 88th Legislature.” The event is free, open to the public, and will feature:

  • an overview of new disability-related laws;
  • a summary of disability issues that remain unaddressed;
  • a discussion on topics lawmakers may cover in special session; and
  • a Q&A session with TCDD public policy analysts.  

Registration Details
The event will be held via Zoom. Participants must register ahead of time to attend.
Date: Wednesday, June 14
Time: 1-2:30 p.m. CT
Register to attend (This registration period has ended. Visit the Disability Policy Academy page to see upcoming programs.)

Accommodations
Communication Access Real-time Translation (CART) service will be provided. If you need other accommodations to participate, please email Koren Vogel or call her at 512-948-2035.

Stay Informed

TCDD will close on Monday, May 29 for Memorial Day. As a result, we’ll distribute next week’s Texas Legislative News on Tuesday, May 30.

To stay up to date on how disability-related issues are addressed by the Legislature, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on TwitterFacebookLinkedInYouTube, and Instagram.

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