Two weeks to go in the Texas Legislative session folks. And there’s even less time than that for lawmakers to pass bills before constitutional deadlines make it nearly impossible to get things done.
So we turn once again to our legislative guide, the Texas Tribune’s Ross Ramsey, to let us know what’s happening under the dome. We begin with an explanation of this week’s deadlines.
Friday is the final day for the Texas House to consider local bills on 2nd or 3rd reading. Saturday is the final day for a House committee to vote out a Senate bill. And Sunday is the final day for a Senate bill to be placed on the House Calendar.
"So what you're going to see this week is a couple of things, people racing to get Senate bills through committees and into the system and people who's House bills died trying to figure out which live Senate bills they can attach their proposals to," Ramsey said.
So what's left to consider, well not to sound like a broken record, but as it's been all session water, roads, tax cuts and education are still the unfinished priorities.
If things don't get finalized Governor Rick Perry could call a special session to address each. But does the state have any agencies on the brink if the bills don't pass?
"You know not really," Ramsey said. "These are long term problems. These aren't the kind of problems where you push a button and something immediately happens. You push a button and something happens in four years. So it's not necessarily true that the decisions that they make now will be immediately apparent to voters."
Before we wrap up the 83rd legislative session, do you have any questions about the way the state makes its laws? Start sending them in to AgendaTexas@KUT.org or on Twitter: @AgendaTexas – and before the session ends we'll use a segment to answer as many as we can.
