State of Texas: 'He's got the votes,' Perry touts Phelan in race for Texas House Speaker

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Texas lawmakers submitted over 1,500 bills as the filing period opened on Tuesday, setting a new record for the most number of bills filed on the first day.

Some staffers even camped out in the hallway behind the Senate chamber to secure their spot in line — more of a symbolic move than a strategic one, as there is no real advantage to filing a bill early. Last year, fewer than 15% of bills filed became law — only 1,169 of the more than 8,000 filed.

“A lot of pent-up demand for legislation… certainly Republicans have been emboldened by the election results here in Texas,” publisher of Quorum Report and veteran Capitol analyst Harvey Kronberg said.

Some of the first bills filed this year targeted border security as Republicans look to bolster their immigration enforcement under a new Trump administration. Some of Tuesday’s bills would restrict undocumented students from receiving in-state tuition, require proof of citizenship to register to vote, and allow Texas to negotiate with Mexico on border security.

Democrats filed bills addressing abortion and voting access, including a bill to create an exception for rape in the abortion ban and to allow electronic and same-day voter registration.

The marquee items, though, are still unclear. State leadership will prioritize school choice – a plan to use public money to subsidize private school tuition – another reduction in property taxes, and new border security efforts. Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to name each of those measures and more as an “emergency item,” allowing lawmakers to work on them earlier than other bills.

One big question at the Capitol is who will be the next House Speaker. Speaker Dade Phelan currently faces a challenge from Mansfield Republican David Cook.

Democrats Ana-Maria Ramos and John Bryant also filed to run for Speaker. Republicans will hold the majority in the House in the next session by an 88 – 62 margin, realistically making the Speaker vote a contest between Cook and Phelan.

Former Governor Rick Perry is working to help Phelan retain the Speaker’s gavel. Ryan Chandler spoke with Perry about how he sees the race and what he believes is at stake for the state.

Chandler: How confident are you that Speaker Phelan will remain Speaker Phelan?

Perry: Oh, he’s got the votes to be elected speaker, I’m not concerned about that. What I’m trying to help these members focus on is, how do we move forward in this state? They had a great session last session. Obviously, one of the issues that’s out in front of us is that of our public schools and school choice. I’m a big proponent of school choice, have been for 20 plus years, and I will suggest to you that these education savings accounts that’s going to go forward, that’s going to pass this session of the legislature. And, you know, just helping the members understand, here’s the focus we need to have.

Full interview with Rick Perry

There’s a Nuclear Caucus this session of the legislature. We’ve already talked about small modular reactors. Members of the Legislature are understanding that is important. Even in a state that has this great amount of fossil fuels available to us, we need to have an all of the above energy policy. I supported wind energy, I supported solar energy. I think the federal government’s gone a little over the top on all of the subsidies that they give. Let the market figure this out, but all of those sources of energy are really important for a state growing as much as Texas is we’re going to need it all if we’re going to be luring artificial intelligence data centers in here, we’re going to need a lot of power. So let’s figure out how to make it available.

Chandler: You say Speaker Phelan has the votes, a lot of people are asking, where and who are those votes? We know Representative (David) Cook has put out a list of 48 Republicans who’ve pledged their support to him. How does that stack up with your internal math? Will you be publishing a list of support soon?

Perry: I will suggest we’ll just wait until the votes happen and and see who was right. I’m not sure I could pick Representative Cook out of a lineup. I’m sure he’s a fine young man, and wish him well, but he’s not going to be the speaker when the gavel comes down.

Chandler: Does the pathway for Speaker Phelan — I would assume it would run through keeping Democratic support and then supplementing with Republicans. Does that make sense?

Perry: Yeah, it makes total sense. I’ve been dealing with the legislative process for 40 years now. I came in January of 1985 and there have always been Democrats as chairs when we had Republican speakers, I suggest that will continue to. We are a diverse state, and I think you sit down and you work with Democrats. I’m not going to change my philosophy. I’m going to keep my philosophy and my beliefs, but I’m going to work with you.

I’ll give you a great example. Representative, Senfronia Thompson. She is as different as I am as you can be. She’s a female African American, left-leaning trial lawyer from Houston, Texas. I’m a country boy, Anglo male and Republican. But we found things that we could work on together. And Representative Thompson, she and I don’t agree on a lot of philosophical things in the grand scheme of things, but we found places we could work together. And this was on child sexual trafficking the last session that I was governor in 2013.

My point is this: saying to the Democrats, ‘we don’t like you and you’re banned to the hinterland’ is bad public policy, and quite frankly, it’s just a bad look. We’re the Republican Party. We’re the majority party, but we need to be open to other people’s ideas. Talk to us. You’re not gonna run the show. You are not going to come and and brow beat us into doing things we don’t want to do, but we’ll work with you. We’re all Texans, and I think that’s a really important message

Speaker Phelan has basically said, ‘Look, we’re going to work with you.’ You’re part of this. We’re going to need your votes for constitutional amendments that require 100 votes, and there’s not 100 Republicans. So you’re going to have to work with the Democrats, find out ways to do it in a thoughtful way. This idea of Texas turning into Washington, D.C. and we won’t even talk to each other because you have the wrong initial behind your name. I think that’s really bad long term policy, and I know it’s bad short-term policy .So I think Speaker Phelan properly has the right outlook. He’s going to be the speaker. And we need to come together and, frankly, quit all of this fighting that’s going on. And, what’s best for Texas? That ought to be the question to everything that’s out.”

Republicans backing Cook are skeptical of Perry’s claim that Phelan has the votes to be Speaker. Newly elected Rep. Mitch Little reacted to the interview on social media, calling on Phelan to name his supporters.

“Post the names,” Little wrote.

Many elected Republicans oppose the traditional practice of allowing members from the minority party to chair committees, positions of influence. Phelan has continued that tradition.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick does not allow Democrats to chair Senate committees. He has been a vocal critic of Phelan and his approach to running the lower chambers.

“People ask me all the time about the difference between the Texas House and the Texas Senate. The difference is that the Speaker allows Democrats to control him on many important conservative issues,” Patrick posted earlier this week on X. “He kills a lot of conservative legislation by ensuring it never reaches the floor for a vote. And if it does get to the floor, he makes sure it’s watered down, killed on a point of order, or voted down—like he did with school choice,” Patrick wrote.

Texas Supreme Court: lawmakers exceeded authority with subpoena in death row case

The Texas Supreme Court said Friday that state lawmakers exceeded their authority with legal moves that delayed Robert Roberson’s execution.

Roberson is on death row for the murder of his two-year-old daughter in 2003. He maintains his innocence. Roberson’s attorneys say the conviction was based on discredited science and he should have a new trial.

Roberson was scheduled to be executed on October 17. One day before, lawmakers subpoenaed Roberson to testify before the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee at a date after his execution.

The subpoena led to a rush of legal activity in the hours before Roberson’s scheduled execution that delayed his lethal injection. Hours after he was scheduled to die, the Texas Supreme Court stepped in to halt the execution and said the subpoena must be honored.

Now, the state’s highest civil court is saying lawmakers overstepped by subpoenaing Roberson in a way that delayed his execution.

Justice Evan Young, writing for the court, wrote “We conclude that under these circumstances the committee’s authority to compel testimony does not include the power to override the scheduled legal process leading to an execution.”

However, the opinion also said Roberson can be compelled to testify before the committee.

“If the committee still wishes to obtain his testimony, we assume that the department can reasonably accommodate a new subpoena. To the extent that an accommodation is not forthcoming, so long as a subpoena issues in a way that does not inevitably block a scheduled execution, nothing in our holding prevents the committee from pursuing judicial relief in the ordinary way to compel a witness’s testimony,” Justice Young wrote.

“Initial reaction was sadness because this means the temporary stay is now lifted, and a new execution date could be set,” Roberson’s attorney Gretchen Sween said.

In a joint statement posted to X, Rep. Joe Moody, chair of the Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence, and Rep. Jeff Leach, chair of the Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence, said they “look forward to working with the Executive Branch” to hear Roberson’s testimony.

Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office pushed back against previous attempts by lawmakers to have Roberson testify in person.

“In holding that a legislative subpoena cannot delay an execution – never our specific intention – the Supreme Court also rightfully agreed that our legislative subpoena and this suit were valid,” Moody and Leach said.

Roberson was convicted under the shaken baby syndrome hypothesis, however, medical experts testified to committee members Oct. 16 that this is now bad science.

A 2013 “junk science” law allows for new trials when scientific evidence used in a case is later found faulty. Roberson’s testimony before state lawmakers was meant to assist their inquiry into whether the “junk science” law is being adhered to properly.

“So often people who are incarcerated and claim innocence feel they are never heard,” Sween said. “They have to rely on lawyers, they have the rely on courts to interpret what those lawyers file, and there’s a sense that the person who’s most affected is never being seen. So, for Robert, the idea that lawmakers would want to hear from him was very moving to him.”

The Anderson County district attorney, where the conviction was obtained, could decide to seek a new execution date, though under Texas state law an execution must have at least 90 days’ notice.

“There’s so much discretion and ultimately seeking something as serious as an execution date really falls on the shoulders of one person,” Sween said. “There’s no law saying you have to do it on X date, it just becomes an option now because there is no longer a stay in place.”

Texas’ highest criminal court, the Court of Criminal Appeals, handles death penalty appeals and will ultimately decide if Roberson will get another day in court. So far, Roberson’s attorney has been unsuccessful in getting the court to accept that there is new evidence that deserves a new hearing.

“Now what is looming is will there be another execution date set when all this new evidence showing no crime occurred has still not been considered by anyone with power over the execution,” Sween said.

‘Sell or you get pushed out.’ Some Texas property owners face 14-day eminent domain deadline

An old coffee can scrapes the side of a metal bucket as Angela Wetuski’s boys scoop up food to feed the catfish in her family’s tank. The pea-sized pellets scatter, rippling the water with dots the fish gulp on sight.

The pond’s stark-white limestone cliff and glimmering green pool are some of her favorite things about the property in Granger, a small community in eastern Williamson County. But Wetuski worries a tentative road project will force her out in the near future.

“I think that what we’re looking at right now is what do we do about this,” Wetuski said.

Williamson County laid out the general ideas for Arterial K in its Long-Range Transportation Plan. According to the county, the project would connect I-35 to a future segment of the East Williamson County Highway.

Construction on the first two segments of the East Williamson County Highway have already been underway. A groundbreaking ceremony for Segment 2 of the highway took place this fall, and Segment 1 opened to traffic in October 2023.

Wetuski’s parents still own the land her home sits on. The couple bought the property more than 30 years ago and still live there, but have since downsized their residence.

At the edge of Wetuski’s front yard sits the new, smaller abode where her parents live. If it’s quiet enough, the wind can carry the sound of her mother watering plants or murmurs from their TV set over to the rocking chair on the porch where Wetuski sits.

This past spring, Wetuski said her parents received a letter from a third-party contractor hired by Williamson County, informing them of meetings to discuss Arterial K, at the time called Corridor K.

“My parents went in just thinking, ‘Oh, we’ll check it out.’ And then mom looked at the map and said, ‘that’s our barn where you want to put the road,'” Wetuski said.

The road as it’s currently proposed would cut through several plots of land, including 3.5 acres of the Wetuski’s property.

Wetuski said she’s lived on the land most of her life and has dreams that her own children will take it over one day.

With Arterial K a possibility, Wetuski said that image of the future is in jeopardy.

“I just said, ‘No way. It’s not going to happen. I’m going to do what I can to try and learn all I can and find out what — what rights we have,'” Wetuski said.

Connie Odom, director of communications for Williamson County, says Arterial K is in an early phase called a Right-of-Way Preservation Study.

During this phase, engineers fine-tune the project by visiting with landowners and learning more about the landscape and structures they don’t want to disturb during construction.

Odom says the big driver of the project is the county’s growing population and a desire for roads to keep up with it. She stressed it could be years before the need for Arterial K arises and the project is officially green-lit.

“Generally, we are not building a roadway until growth in that area dictates that the road needs to be built,” Odom said.

The county’s population has nearly doubled in the last 15 years. Census data shows the county’s population in 2010 was around 420,000. Today it’s nearly 700,000, according to the county.

The population is expected to hit 1.3 million in the next 20 years.

Wetuski said if the population continues growing the way it is, it’s likely the project will move forward. She said she’s worried about going up against the county to keep her property.

“At some point, eminent domain comes into play. You either have to sell or you get pushed out,” Wetuski said.

House Bill 2730 went into effect in 2022, laying out new protections for landowners when it comes to eminent domain.

According to the law, entities that seek private land for public use must now provide owners with items like the Landowner’s Bill of Rights and a written appraisal of their land when making an initial offer.

At least 30 days after making that initial offer, an entity must send its final offer to a property owner. After that, property owners have 14 days to respond.

“I would love to see more — more time, frankly,” State Rep. DeWayne Burns, R-Cleburne, said.

Burns helped write HB 2730 and now chairs the House Land and Resource Committee which oversees legislation regulating eminent domain.

Burns says it took three legislative sessions to come out with terms for the law that appeased oil and gas companies, local governments and landowners groups — including the 14-day time frame for landowners.

“Given the whole parameter of everything, once (landowners) have been initially contacted — they’ve received the Landowner’s Bill of Rights — they know about the project. They know what’s coming. They’ve had time to prepare,” Burns said.

Burns stressed that if the law is not realistic in its implementation, representatives need to be contacted.

“If there are folks that have legitimate concerns with parts of that bill not working for them, then they need to let us know,” Burns said.

Eminent domain lawyer Dan Gattis practices in Williamson County and served in the Texas legislature for 8 years.

He said lawmakers have the difficult task of managing the needs of private citizens as well as public and private corporations when drafting reforms for eminent domain.

Because it can take a long time to write laws that appease all sides, Gattis said it is unlikely that a solution to concerns raised by people like Wetuski will be addressed by the legislature anytime soon.

However, Gattis said in lieu of state-mandated transparency efforts, public and private entities can and should be more forthcoming with citizens about what they’re planning. He suggests that might look like hosting public forums with impacted residents or mailing out information on projects much earlier.

“When you’re talking about roadways and those types of things, and even in pipelines and power lines, we could be more transparent about that process,” Gattis said.

After an entity sends an initial offer for someone’s property, it must send a final offer no more than 30 days later, according to the Texas Property Code on Eminent Domain.

If a landowner and entity are unable to reach an agreement on the terms of the offer, the entity can then file for condemnation just 14 days after the final offer was submitted.

Condemnation is a legal term defined by the Texas State Law Library as “the appropriation of private property by the government against the will of the owner.” 

Thirty days after a condemnation petition is filed, a judge must set a hearing with a special commission made of three people who reside in the county and are “disinterested parties.”

Historically, members of those special commissions are landowners, real estate professionals and property developers in the county where the petition was filed.

At the hearing, the special commission assesses damages to the property owner, whether they’re being offered fair compensation for their land and if the entity is acting within its powers of eminent domain.

Either side has the right to appeal the decision of the special commission. That appeal then proceeds like a typical civil case with a trial, evidence, witnesses and potentially a jury. The outcome of this trial decides if the entity or landowner owns the property being condemned.

Gattis and Odom say it’s rare that an eminent domain case reaches a courtroom, but that number is growing in Williamson County.

As of 2023, there were 2,600 eminent domain cases on the county’s docket. That number is now almost 2,900 in 2024.

Gattis said it’s usually the monetary value an entity offers that most often brings those cases to court.

He points to the ever-evolving land values of Williamson County, spurred partly by the arrival of Samsung’s Semiconductor Manufacturing Plant in Taylor, as a factor that’s further complicating local Eminent Domain cases and makes it more difficult for landowners to be paid fairly.

“The prices are not what they were 50 years ago. They’re not what they were six months ago. We need to be allowed to put in more evidence of what real values are,” Gattis said.

Gattis said long-term project planners can fail to consider how much a land’s value can change in just a few years. For example, in 2019, Wetuski’s land was worth $1.6 million. That value is closer to $3.2 million this tax year, according to records from the Williamson County Appraisal District.

Wetuski said even if her family does eventually decide to sell, options are limited because the land is already marked by Arterial K.

“I don’t see any way that you could sell without disclosing it and then that changes your buyer completely,” Wetuski said.

In the months since first hearing about Arterial K, Wetuski and others affected by the project formed the group Preserve Wilco Now, sending out letters about the road project and encouraging people to speak up against it.

“We held a town hall meeting the first week of April, and had over 150 almost 170 (people) probably. It was standing room only,” Wetuski said.

Wetuski says as of now, all she and organizers can do is keep an eye on the project and any developments.

Most recently, Williamson County commissioners had the project on the agenda to discuss during executive sessions in two different commissioners court meetings in October.

Because plans for Arterial K aren’t yet final, Wetuski says she’s still weighing her options, but it’s not knowing when the project could happen that’s heaviest on her mind.

“If it’s 10 or 15 years away, and we could still do something with that, I would make an effort to just pretend like it’s not coming and carry on,” Wetuski said.

‘I rise in the memory of my mother.’ Daughter to finish term of late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee

Texas has a new member of Congress. Democrat Erica Lee Carter will only serve for a few weeks, but she’s honoring a legacy that goes back decades.

Carter is the daughter of the late Houston Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. The Congresswoman’s death in July prompted a special election on November 5 to fill the final few weeks of her term. Carter ran in the special election and won.

On Tuesday, Carter took the oath of office and then addressed her new colleagues on the floor of the House.

“I rise in memory of my mother,” she said. “I am grateful for this moment in time to do this work and be a small part of my mother’s tremendous legacy in this body,” Carter added.

In addition to the special election on November 5, Houston voters had a separate vote on the same day to choose who would represent the district for the next two years. Jackson Lee died months after winning the primary election. Democratic precinct chairs selected former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner to replace her on the ballot.

Turner won the seat by almost 40 percentage points. On the day Carter took the oath of office to finish out her mother’s term, Turner was in Washington for orientation events for newly elected members of Congress. Turner will take office in January.