Legislative Services

Speaker, Lieutenant Governor Establish New Committees

House Speaker Dustin Burrows and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick joined together to form House and Senate committees that will meet jointly to investigate the July 2025 floods. A date for the committees’ first meeting has not yet been announced. Membership for the respective committees follows.

House General Investigating Committee on the July 2025 Flooding Events:

• Morgan Meyer (R-University Park), Chair
• Joe Moody (D-El Paso), Vice Chair
• Drew Darby (R-San Angelo)
• Paul Dysoin (R-Bryan)
• Erin Elizabeth Gamez (D-Brownsville)

Senate General Investigating Committee on the July 2025 Flooding Events:

• Pete Flores (R-Pleasanton), Chair
• Charles Perry (R-Lubbock), Vice Chair
• Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola)
• Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham)
• Jose Menendez (D-San Antonio)

For more, see Patrick’s announcement.

Seasons Change; Lawmakers, Too

With around six weeks to go before the Dec. 16 candidate filing deadline, the list of legislators who have announced they will not seek reelection continues to lengthen. While nothing is official until the filing deadline passes, the following lawmakers have announced they will not run again.

House of Representatives:

• Alma Allen (D-Houston), House District 131
• Trent Ashby (R-Lufkin), HD 9
• Briscoe Cain (R-Deer Park), HD 128
• Giovanni Capriglione (R-Southlake), HD 98
• David Cook (R-Mansfield), HD 96
• Vikki Goodwin (D-Austin), HD 47
• Bobby Guerra (D-Mission), HD 41
• Sam Harless (R-Spring), HD 126
• Gina Hinojosa (D-Austin), HD 49
• Stan Lambert (R-Abilene), HD 71
• Ray Lopez (D-San Antonio), HD 125
• Jon Lujan (D-San Antonio), HD 118
• Dennis Paul (R-Houston), HD 129
• Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont), HD 21
• Jon Rosenthal (D-Houston), HD 135
• Nate Schatzline (R-Fort Worth), HD 93
• James Talarico (D-Austin), HD 50
• Tony Tinderholt (R-Arlington), HD 94
• Steve Toth (R-Conroe), HD 15

Senate:

• Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe), Senate District 4
• Brian Birdwell (R-Granbury), SD 22
• Kelly Hancock (R-North Richland Hills), SD 9
• Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville), SD 3
• Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston), SD 11

In addition to the above list, Sens. Sarah Eckhardt (D-Austin), Joan Huffman (R-Houston) and Nathan Johnson (D-Dallas) are seeking higher office. Huffman and Johnson are running to succeed Ken Paxton as Attorney General, while Eckhardt is running to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul. All three are running mid-term and are guaranteed to return to the Senate should their bids for higher office fall short.

TAC’s Legislative Analysis Report Available

After each legislative session, the TAC Legislative Services team reviews all legislation passed for any impact to county government. The selected legislation is then summarized and organized by subject and published in the biennial Legislative Analysis Report.

The 2025 report is available in a searchable, online format or in print using this online order form. A special-session addendum summarizing selected legislation pertinent to county government will soon be added to the online report.

Legislative Directory Available

The Texas Association of Counties’ 2025-26 Legislative Directory remains available for order. The directory includes contact information for lawmakers, committees, county official associations and TAC’s Legislative Services team.

Order free your copies here.

Month in Review is a collaborative column from TAC Legislative Services.