Lawmakers in Austin are setting the stage for a busy 2023.
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick says in the next several days he'll unveil his 30 priorities: bills he wants brought to the Senate floor. He says the top legislative issues for Republicans include property tax relief, election integrity, and school choice. He spoke Thursday night during a telephone town hall about why Texas lawmakers haven't passed more bills supporting programs like vouchers in past sessions.
“School choice hasn’t passed because of rural Republicans, quite honestly,” Patrick said. “You got a lot of school districts out there. They may be small, but you got a lot. So, you’re hearing from the superintendents all the time ‘No school choice, No school choice.’ The true is, the people support it.”
He also says more needs to be done to make sure Texas has enough reliable energy for its growing population. Many Republicans have wanted to make sure the state shores up the power grid so that Texans don’t encounter a situation like during the ice storm in February of 2021.
“We’ve got to have more natural gas plants built,” Patrick explained. “If we don’t do that then I’m going to do whatever I need to do to put us into a special session. If we don’t build more plants we are going to be in trouble in Texas because that would mean it would be two more years before we could do that, and we don’t have two more years.”
Even with a lot on their plate, Patrick is confident lawmakers can address all these issues and make the 88th Legislative Session a success.