Time is quickly running out on this year's legislative session in Austin -- leaving hundreds of bills stuck in committee.
Amond those waiting for a vote is the so-called "Buffett Bill" involving billionaire Warren Buffett's exemption request from a Texas law prohibiting vehicle manufacturers from becoming dealers. Buffett owns Berkshire Hathaway Automotive which owns an RV dealership in Indiana.
Meanwhile, electric car maker Tesla Motors has also been asking to open up the state's auto market.
“The auto dealers are afraid that if they do 'carve outs' for Buffett then the optics of prohibiting Tesla from manufacturing and selling in Texas would be too much to bear,” says Harvey Kronberg of The Quorum Report.
Kronberg says lawmakers right now are focused on budgetary issues.
“The House is proposing additional $1.5 million for education that doesn't appear to be going anywhere in the Senate,” he says.
“The biggest road block right now is that the House and Senate can't come to terms on the budget, the only thing they have to pass,” says Kronberg. “Not because they're so far apart in terms of dollars being spent or how they're being spent, but the funding mechanism of whether to use the state's Rainy Day fund,” he says.
The deadline for second readings on House bills is Thursday, while Senate bills have until May 23.