Lubbock's Burrows, Tepper appointed to high-profile Texas House committees

John C. Moritz and Niki Griswold, Austin American-Statesman
·9 min read
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The Texas House stuck with its tradition of awarding committee chairmanships to both parties, but Democrats, who are outnumbered in the 150-member chamber, received fewer positions of power than they did in 2021 during the last legislative session.

Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, announced his committee chairmanship picks Wednesday.

"I want you to know that everything that you requested was taken with the utmost deliberate care and utmost respect for yourself and your district," the second-term House leader told members before his list was read aloud on the House floor. "My goal is for every single one of you to have the tools you need to be a vital part of this House and accomplish what you came here to do."

Rep. Dustin Burrows
Rep. Dustin Burrows

State Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, was again appointed to chair the powerful House calendars committee and was also appointed to serve on the Elections Committee and on the Higher Education Committee.

“I greatly appreciate and am humbled by the Speaker’s confidence and trust in me, and I look forward to working with all of my House colleagues in what I expect to be a productive session on behalf of all Texans," Burrows said in a statement. "Besides guiding the Calendars Committee, I am eager to author and joint-author bills focusing on school safety, tax reform and regulatory consistency. The conservative victories of the last session will serve as guideposts for legislation this session.”

And State Rep. Carl Tepper, another Lubbock Republican who was elected to a first time last year, was appointed to serve on the House Committees on Appropriations and Urban Affairs.

Upon receiving his committee assignments, Tepper said, "I'm excited for the opportunity to serve on the House Committees on Appropriations and Urban Affairs and am grateful to Speaker Phelan for allowing me to serve the constituents of House District 84 on such incredible committees. I look forward to working with my colleague."

Carl Tepper
Carl Tepper

Committee breakdown

Republicans, who hold a comfortable 86-64 House majority, won many of the most prestigious assignments: Angleton's Greg Bonnen, a six-term veteran was again tapped to head the budget-writing Appropriations Committee, and Corpus Christi's Todd Hunter, who is among the chamber's most senior members, given reign over State Affairs. The State Affairs Committee traditionally handles many of the most consequential, and often most controversial, bills in any given session.

Nine Democrats were given chairmanships:

  • El Paso’s Joe Moody (Criminal Jurisprudence)

  • Robstown’s Abel Herrero (Corrections)

  • Dallas County’s Victoria Neave Criado (County Affairs)

  • Houston’s Harold Dutton (Juvenile Justice and Family Issues)

  • Houston's Senfronia Thompson (Select Committee on Youth Health and Safety)

  • Mission's Oscar Longoria (Business and Industry)

  • Uvalde's Tracy King (Natural Resources)

  • Edinburg's Bobby Guerra (Resolutions Calendars)

  • Edinburg's Terry Canales (Transportation)

More:Last session Democrats broke quorum. Texas House now has penalties to prevent that.

Notably, Phelan named Fort Worth Republican Charlie Geren to be speaker pro tem. The position is largely ceremonial, but was previously held by Moody in the last legislative session until Phelan stripped him of the title during the Democrats’ quorum break.

Public Education gets Republican chairman

Arguably one of the biggest shake ups was on the Public Education Committee. Phelan picked Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Killeen, to lead the group, taking the chairmanship from the minority party.

Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, previously held the position during the last legislative session, where he helped slow the progress of a controversial bill that restricted transgender youth's ability to participate in sports until Phelan redirected the legislation to a Republican-chaired special committee during a special session. House Bill 25 ultimately passed.

The Public Education Committee is set to be the stage of a number of battles this session with Republicans looking to push a school voucher program that faces fierce opposition from Democrats and rural Republicans.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation, an Austin-based conservative think tank, applauded Buckley’s appointment in a news release Wednesday.

“Representative Buckley will be an excellent chair for the House Public Education Committee, and we look forward to working with them this legislative session,” said Mandy Drogin, campaign director for TPPF’s Next Generation Texas initiative. “This is an important first step in ensuring that Texans have a system that respects the parent and ensures transparency and a high-quality education on school campuses.”

Why committee assignments matter in the Texas House

Every piece of legislation that lawmakers act on is vetted through committees, both in the House and Senate. The Senate named its panels late last month, about two weeks into the 140-day session that started Jan. 10.

Each committee member, regardless of party, gets to vote on whether to send a bill to the full chamber. But it's up to the committee chairs to decide which bills even get hearings and which ones get passed over.

And even if a bill is heard, the committee chairs decide if and when any vote will be called. Each committee has a vice chairman — often from a different party than the chairman — but vice chairs traditionally adhere to a chairman's wishes when they preside over a panel when the chairman is absent.

More:Texas Senate: Here's who will chair committees in the 88th legislative session

Why have a Democratic chairman?

Many hardline conservatives in and out of the Legislature have tried to pressure Phelan away from giving committee chairmanships to Democrats but the speaker made clear he intended to continue the tradition. Dating back to when Democrats were in charge of the House, tradition held that chairmanships would be handed out at the discretion of the speaker, and each has seen value in giving at least some members of the opposition party a seat at the adults’ table.

Matt Rinaldi, a former state representative who now chairs the Texas Republican Party, saw a mixed bag in this year’s bipartisan assignments.

“The good: Opposition to Democrat Chairs clearly had an effect, as the # of Dems in leadership was significantly reduced,” Rinaldi said in a tweet. “The bad: Republicans awarded 8 of 33 standing committees to Democrats, including putting left wing Democrats in charge of important & partisan policy areas like criminal law, business, family Issues, and youth health.”

What's next in the Legislature?

With the House and Senate having made their committee assignments, the bills lawmakers have filed since November can be scheduled for hearings.

That means individuals and interest groups with stakes in the outcome will be increasing their presence in the Capitol to either testify for or against the legislation on their radar or open back-channel connections to target lawmakers and their staffs in hopes to influence outcomes.

Who's in charge?

Here is a list of the chairs and vice chairs of the Texas House Committees for the 88th legislative session. For a list of all the members on each committee go to the committee page on Texas Legislature Online.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Lubbock Burrows, Tepper appointed high-profile Texas House committees