A House Disrupted, Phelan Releases Committee Assignments

Texas House committee assignments were released Thursday morning and Speaker Dade Phelan has made some changes to key committees.

As RA News reported as a possible choice last week, Rep. Harrold Dutton has been chosen to chair the powerful House Committee on Public Education, replacing Rep. Dan Huberty. Dutton was given close to $50,000 by the Charter Schools last year. Vice Chair Lozano. He will most likely focus on the cost of HB 3 rather than the programmatic side of the bill.

Rep. Stephanie Klick, who authored the bill for medical marijuana legalization for epilepsy patients in 2015, but voted against expanding the legislation in subsequent legislative sessions has been named chair of Public Health.

Rep. Dustin Burrows who chaired the House Ways and Means Committee last session, and whose chairmanship was under speculation due to his involvement with the Empower Texans and Speaker Bonnen meeting in 2019 will now chair the Calendars Committee. Rep. Morgan Meyer replaces Burrows role on Ways and Means.

Rep. Chris Paddie will chair the House Committee on State Affairs which Speaker Phelan chaired last session, and Rep. Todd Hunter replaces Rep. Phil King as Redistricting chair.

Another shake up this session is Phelan’s choice of Rep. Briscoe Cain as chair of the Elections Committee. Cain, who volunteered to work on Trump and Paxton’s failed election lawsuit, and also filed a bill seeking to disenfranchise voters will now head the committee responsible for regulating elections.

Rep. Matt Krause who is one of the five original members of the House Freedom Caucus will chair the Committee on General Investigating.

Rep. Charlie Geren who was chair of House Administration since 2009 will now head the House Committee on Local & Consent Calendars.