We’re days away from the start of Texas’ 89th legislative session, and from Donald Trump’s inauguration. Soon, the Texas GOP will unleash its agenda for 2025.
We don’t know how the new administration will affect Texas lawmaking. Will the Republican-led state Legislature be emboldened to bring the state farther right with controversial legislation? Or will it focus on kitchen table issues as Trump takes the spotlight on hotter topics? The second option seems possible: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who leads the state Senate, has said the state can stop spending so much on the border wall as the federal government will now pick that project up, for example. But in a world where Texas Republicans don’t have to expend as much energy on hot-button issues, how will they alter the state’s public education, taxation, energy production, health care, and other crucial systems?
Answers will lie partly in who leads the Texas House. State Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, has earned the House Republican Caucus’ nomination for House speaker. His votes during the regular and special sessions of 2023 placed him in the ideological middle of House Republicans, per The Texas Tribune. Meanwhile, Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, is doing a tightrope walk as he gathers support from more moderate and establishment Republicans, as well as House Democrats. When the full chamber votes on its leader Jan. 14, the first day of the session, we’ll have a better sense of what legislation will find traction this year. For now, let’s look at the bills Texas lawmakers have already filed.
This article appears in January 10 • 2025.