(The Center Square) – The Texas Senate has passed more than half of 40 bills identified as legislative priorities by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and 133 overall as the legislative session passes its halfway mark.
Several bills passed unanimously with bipartisan support.
They include SB 6, Increasing Texas’ Electric Grid Reliability, filed by Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford. The bill claims to improve transparency and load forecast reliability at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which manages the Texas grid. It also creates provisions to add outage protections for residential consumers, improve transmission cost allocations, and protect grid reliability.
“Texas is open for business like never before. As more people and companies move to Texas, our grid must become even stronger and more reliable to ensure the Texas Miracle continues uninterrupted,” Patrick said.
The state’s grid’s load growth is estimated to reach between 130 and 150 gigawatts of power by 2030. Last year’s peak was roughly 86 gigawatts, it says. Lawmakers have expressed concerns about the need to urgently secure the grid, The Center Square reported.
Patrick says the bill will strengthen the Texas grid, make it more reliable and “make our state more attractive for investors across the globe while protecting residential consumers from rising costs.” He also said the bill “will ensure the ERCOT grid is prepared to grow and place Texas at the epicenter of helping President Trump achieve AI dominance over China and make Texas number one in AI. When we strengthen Texas, we strengthen America, and nobody understands that better than President Trump.”
The Texas Senate also unanimously passed SB 7, Increasing Investments in Texas’ Water Supply, by Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, to expand the state’s water fund. The Senate’s budget allocates $2.5 billion over the next two years to expand infrastructure development projects to transport and integrate new water supplies. It also establishes a framework to invest $1 billion per year to meet the state’s water needs, expands advisory committee oversight, and requires additional reporting requirements, among other measures.
“With rapid population growth and industrial development comes increased demand for water,” Patrick said. “Over the coming years, our state must meet the increased demand for water, so it is imperative to invest in the sustainable expansion of our water supply and related infrastructure.”
Another key bill that passed was SB 16, Stopping Non-Citizens from Voting, filed by Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Tyler, which requires all voters to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote in Texas elections.
Another bill that passed was SB 14, to create a Texas Department of Improving Government Efficiency, DOGE, filed by Sen. King. It creates a Texas DOGE within the governor’s office and advisory panel to oversee regulatory reform. DOGE employees would be tasked with identifying and eliminating unnecessary state agency rules, improving the rulemaking process, and increasing public access to regulatory information.
The Texas DOGE follows Trump’s creation of the federal DOGE “to find ways Texas can save taxpayers and businesses money by cutting burdensome regulations,” Patrick said.
Other priority bills that passed include SB 1, the Senate’s budget; SB 3, banning THC; SB 4, providing some property tax relief by increasing the homestead exemption; SB 5, allocating $3 billion to create a Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas; SB 9, bail reform, and SB 40, stopping taxpayer funded bail; SB 15, amending affordable housing regulations; SB 17, prohibiting foreign adversaries from purchasing land in Texas; SB 19, limiting taxpayer funded lobbying; SB 20, prohibiting AI-generated child porn; SB 21, creating the Texas Bitcoin Reserve; SB 25, expanding requirements for food labeling and public school health requirements to make “Texas Healthy Again;” SB 28, banning lottery couriers; SB 35, improving state infrastructure.
Several bills focus on public school education, including SB 2, which creates the state’s first Education Savings Account through a “school choice” bill; SB 10 and SB 11, allowing for prayer and the Ten Commandments in public schools; SB 12, creating a Parental Bill of Rights; SB 13, banning inappropriate books in public schools; SB 18, banning “Drag Time Story Hour;” SB 24, educating Texas students about the “horrors of Communism;” and SB 26, increasing teacher pay.
The Texas Senate on Thursday also passed SB 27, filed by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, to create a Teacher Bill of Rights. The bill provides expanded authority for teachers to discipline students, revises the complaint process, improves the notification process for campus threats, creates greater contract flexibility and allows paraprofessionals to become teachers. SB 27 included additional measures in an extensive Teacher Bill of Rights package; SB 26 previously unanimously passed the Texas Senate, The Center Square reported. It allocates nearly $5 billion for teacher pay raises and includes incentives for additional pay, liability protection and other provisions.
Texas senators are “working at lightspeed to deliver for the people of Texas,” Patrick said, adding that he hoped the Texas House would pass these and other bills the Senate sends over.
The legislature is working its way through bills to determine how to spend the state’s nearly $24 billion surplus, higher than originally projected, The Center Square reported. Critics of the Republican-led legislature argue not enough is being done to return surplus money to taxpayers, cut spending and reduce red tape.
