In my first session as a legislator in 2013, my fellow legislators and I headed in with ideas and plans for what we wanted to accomplish. Of course, some of this was local and some was more statewide, such as water infrastructure and education funding. However, a couple of months into our session, the chemical explosion occurred in West, Texas, where several people were killed and others injured. This immediately caused the Legislature, and specifically the committee on which I served, Homeland Security and Public Safety, to focus on the cause of this tragedy and examine any changes in statute that needed to be made to try and prevent such a tragedy in the future.
The most recent session, the 87th, started the same way — high ideals and goals by the newly elected and re-elected state representatives and senators. However, relatively quickly, some of these ideas landed in the freezer (pun intended) when Snowmageddon hit the state in mid-February.
From a session that was expected to focus on COVID-19 response, gubernatorial powers, budget shortfall and other priorities, the No. 1 issue was suddenly the near failure of our power grid, as well as the questionable management of the grid to production of electricity to delivery of electricity to the retail cost of electricity.
Electricity
The Legislature tackled these electricity issues head on, and while there is always, and I do mean always, significant Monday morning quarterbacking on big issues like this, they did an admirable job under our deregulated electricity marketplace. The governor also did his part by making sure we have new PUC commissioners focused on the issues. State Reps. Craig Goldman (R-Fort Worth) and Chris Paddie (R-Marshall) led the powerful Energy Resources and State Affairs committees, where most of the legislation relating to this was publicly debated and new legislation submitted to the full House for approval.
Sen. Kelly Hancock, a North Richland Hills Republican, led much of this same effort in the upper chamber. With a firm understanding that public policy made in a political environment is 100% the art of the possible and not the perfect, I believe they did an excellent job in addressing the issue of governance, winterization and capacity within the system Texas operates — a free market, deregulated (smartly regulated is a better term) environment.
Health care
Not everything was electricity, however. One of the great successes of the session was the passage of two health care-related bills — HB3924, which allows the Texas Farm Bureau to offer health care plans as a potential answer for some uninsured Texans. Meanwhile, HB3752 directs Texas Mutual Insurance Company — the privately managed but state-controlled workers compensation insurance company — to investigate the viability of Texas Mutual offering health care plans to uninsured individuals and small companies in Texas that would be both cost-competitive and benefit comprehensive. (In full disclosure, I am the governor’s appointee as chairman of Texas Mutual.) Both of these bills represent great efforts on the part of Republicans to help meet the needs of uninsured Texans who are not eligible for Medicaid, Medicare or employer-provided health insurance.
Education
Two other successes were efforts initiated and led by Sen. Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood) and continued in the House by two powerful chairmen, Appropriations chair Greg Bonnen (R-Friendswood) and Calendars chair Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock). Taylor and Bonnen’s SB1716 put into statute a program that allows for parents of public school students to apply for a $1,500 grant to be used for additional education services their child needs, such as speech therapy, occupational therapy or tutoring. The program is operated through the Educational Service Centers around the state and is not a voucher given to parents. The education of many special-needs students suffered greatly, and their setbacks were exponentially worse than students without special needs suffered as a result of the pandemic.
SB1955, by Burrows and Taylor, removes “learning pods” from many local government restrictions and oversight. During the pandemic, many parents quickly understood that the online learning system provided through our public school systems was not adequate or appropriate for their children. As a response, small groups of local parents pooled together and created “learning pods” where their children were taught their particular school subjects by a privately hired teacher or one or more of the parents. This additional flexibility is something that should be celebrated by all parents and elected officials.
Of course, there were more good things, but there were also some bad things that did not pass (yet) such as not passing an election integrity bill, not providing a full 12 months of health care for new mothers and their babies that live in poverty, and bail reform. Hopefully some of these issues and others will be addressed in an almost certain special legislative session later this summer.
All in all it was a good legislative session that not only Republicans, but all Texans, can be proud of.
Ron Simmons is a former Republican state legislator from Carrollton. He is chairman of Texas Mutual Insurance.