News in State Government
Governor:
Governor Abbott Appoints Belt and Kinney to State Securities Board: Governor Greg Abbott has appointed Robert Belt and reappointed Wally Kinney to the State Securities Board for terms set to expire on January 20, 2023 and January 20, 2025, respectively. Click here to read more about this and other gubernatorial-appointments for this week.
Governor Abbott Holds Briefing and Press Conference on Tropical Development in Gulf Of Mexico: Governor Greg Abbott held a briefing and press conference at the State Operations Center on hurricane preparedness and a tropical system development in the Gulf of Mexico that could impact Texas. Click here to read more.
Attorney General:
AG Paxton Tells Fifth Circuit Obamacare is (Still) Unconstitutional; Encourages Real Reform and Experimentation to Address Health Care Access: On behalf of Attorney General Ken Paxton and a coalition of 18 states, Texas Solicitor General Kyle Hawkins argued at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, urging that court to uphold a U.S. district court’s ruling declaring Obamacare unconstitutional in its entirety. Click here to read the full news release.
Railroad Commission:
Texas Oil and Gas Production Statistics for April 2019: Crude oil and natural gas production as reported to the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) for April 2019 came from 176,879 oil wells and 88,240 gas wells. Click here for more.
Texas Drilling Permits and Completions Statistics for June 2019: The Railroad Commission of Texas (Commission) issued a total of 1,001 original drilling permits in June 2019 compared 1,230 in June 2018. Click here to read in more detail about the report.
Environmental Quality:
86th Texas Legislative Session is Complete: Throughout the entirety of the session, staffers from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality work at TCEQ headquarters and at the capitol daily to support the work of lawmakers by providing testimony and analyzing bills that could have impacts on the agency and its processes. The efforts of many individuals create positive momentum for the agency for years to come. Click here to read the full news release.
Other News
State Headlines:
Ross Perot, Brash Texas Billionaire Who Ran for President, Dies at 89: Ross Perot, the wiry Texas gadfly who made a fortune in computer services, amazed the nation with audacious paramilitary missions to Vietnam and Iran, and ran for president in 1992 and 1996 with populist talk of restoring Norman Rockwell’s America, died on Tuesday at his home in Dallas. He was 89. Click here to read the full New York Times article.
Pair Climb Tree to Get Away From ‘Feral Hog’ in Texas Park, but That’s Not What was Chasing Them: A man and a woman found themselves up a tree in a South Texas park in an attempt to get away from what they thought was a feral hog. … or so they thought. Click here to read the full Dallas Morning News story.
Former Houston Rep. Chris Bell to Challenge Sen. John Cornyn: Former Houston Rep. Chris Bell plans to run against Sen. John Cornyn in 2020 with a formal announcement set for late summer or early fall. Subscribers can click here to read the ful San Antonio Express News article.
Houston Leaders Asked to Commit $100M to Massive I-45 Rebuild: A crucial part of paying for Houston’s biggest ever freeway project along Interstate 45 — still years from starting construction — could happen in the next 20 days. Click here to read the full Houston Chronicle article.
Farm to Bottle: Texas Whiskey Boom Fuels Demand for Homegrown Grain: More Texas farmers are wading into the whiskey business, but their end users are far removed from the era of moonshine stills and midnight raids by ax-toting lawmen. Click here to read the full Waco Tribune-Herald.
Congress Has Ambitious Agenda Tackling Health Care Costs: Lawmakers are trying to set aside their irreconcilable differences over the Obama-era Affordable Care Act and work to reach bipartisan agreement on a more immediate health care issue, lowering costs for people who already have coverage. Click here to read the full Fort Worth Business Press article.
Texas is Going to Court to end Obamacare. It Hasn’t Produced a Plan to Replace it:During a legislative session focused on schools and taxes, Texas lawmakers did little to prepare for the possibility that Obamacare will be struck down in its entirety — even as the state leads the charge to have the law declared unconstitutional. Click here to read the full Texas Tribune article.
U.S. Oil Production Passes 12 Million Barrel a Day Mark: U.S. oil production surpassed 12 million barrels a day in April, further extending the nation’s record output during the fracking boom, the Energy Department reported Monday. Click here to the full Houston Chronicle article.
USDA, Texas Department of Agriculture OK Texas Rural Challenge Commitments:The rural development arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Texas Department of Agriculture recently signed a commitment to back the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Texas Rural Challenge. The initiative, which is overseen by UT San Antonio’s Institute for Economic Development, secured a commitment to increase access to financing in rural areas of mutual interest July 17. Click here to read the full SE Texas Record article.
National Headlines:
Houston to Host Third Debate in Democratic Presidential Primary: The debate is scheduled for Sept. 12 and 13. Calling Texas a battleground state, party officials hailed the decision. Click here to read the full Texas Tribune article.
Mark Your Calendar
Dates to Note:
RGA Senior Staff Retreat
July 12, 2019
Carlsbad, CA
NCSL (National Conference of State Legislatures) Legislative Summit
August 5 - 8, 2019
TIPRO (Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association) Summer Conference
August 7 - 8, 2019
August 14 - 16, 2019
Energy Trade Mission to Israel 2019
September 16, 2019 to September 20, 2019
September 26 - 28, 2019
Stalwart Strategies Capitol Appreciation Party
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Texas House Republican Caucus Fall Golf Tournament
October 17 - 18, 2019
Texas Energy Summit at the Capitol
November 12 - 14, 2019
Click here for House of Representatives Capitol Events Calendar.
Click here for Texas Senate Capitol Events Calendar.
