House Committees Have Been Assigned
The 86th Texas Legislative Session is now underway and last week the Texas House of Representatives committees were assigned by Speaker Dennis Bonnen. It is a privilege to be able to serve you in the Texas Legislature as your state representative. This session, there will be a long list of topics that we will cover and the committee assignments will play an important role in representing District 32 and the Coastal Bend. Last week, the Speaker appointed me to serve on the State Affairs and Criminal Jurisprudence committees.
I wanted to take this opportunity to feature a breakdown of the committees that I will be serving on as defined by the House 86th Texas Legislative rules:
STATE AFFAIRS: The committee shall have 13 members, with jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to:
(1) questions and matters of state policy;
(2) the administration of state government;
(3) the organization, operation, powers, regulation, and management of state departments, agencies, and institutions;
(4) the operation and regulation of public lands and state buildings;
(5) the duties and conduct of officers and employees of the state government;
(6) the duties and conduct of candidates for public office and of persons with an interest in influencing public policy;
(7) the operation of state government and its agencies and departments; all of above except where jurisdiction is specifically granted to some other standing committee;
(8) access of the state agencies to scientific and technological information;
(9) the regulation and deregulation of electric utilities and the electric industry;
(10) the regulation and deregulation of telecommunications utilities and the telecommunications industry;
(11) electric utility regulation as it relates to energy production and consumption;
(12) pipelines, pipeline companies, and all others operating as common carriers in the state;
(13) the regulation and deregulation of other industries jurisdiction of which is not specifically assigned to another committee under these rules;
(14) advances in science and technology, including telecommunications, electronic technology, or automated data processing, by state agencies, including institutions of higher education;
(15) the promotion within the state of an advance described by Subdivision (14) of this section;
(16) cybersecurity; and
(17) the following organizations and state agencies: the Council of State Governments, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Office of the Governor, the Texas Ethics Commission, the Texas Facilities Commission, the Department of Information Resources, the Inaugural Endowment Fund Committee, the Sunset Advisory Commission, the Public Utility Commission of Texas, and the Office of Public Utility Counsel.
CRIMINAL JURISPRUDENCE: The committee shall have nine members, with jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to:
(1) criminal law, prohibitions, standards, and penalties;
(2) probation and parole;
(3) criminal procedure in the courts of Texas;
(4) revision or amendment of the Penal Code; and
(5) the following state agencies: the Office of State Prosecuting Attorney and the Texas State Council for Interstate Adult Offender Supervision.
If you would like to follow the Texas House and learn more information on news, committees or other aspects of the legislative body, you can access its website at Texas House of Representatives. If you would like to follow the Texas Senate, you can visit Texas Senate. Additionally, the Governor’s office website is full of important resources, which you can access by visiting Office of the Texas Governor.
If you have questions regarding any of the information mentioned in this week’s article, please do not hesitate to call my Capitol or District Office. Please always feel free to contact my office if you have any questions or issues regarding a Texas state agency, or if you would like to contact my office regarding constituent services. As always, my offices are available at any time to assist with questions, concerns or comments (Capitol Office, 512-463-0672; District Office, 361-949-4603).
– State Representative Todd Hunter, District 32
Rep. Todd Hunter currently represents Part of Nueces County. He can be contacted at todd.hunter@house.texas.gov or at 512-463-0672.
