The House Has Committee Assignments

From Calendars to Corruption: What you need to know.

Feb 14, 2025

On Day 30 of the Texas Legislature, Speaker Burrows finally gave out committee assignments. Some of them are awful. Others are not so bad. Let’s talk about what matters.

Representative Joe Moody (D-HD78) was appointed Speaker Pro Tem. Moody is an El Paso attorney who served as Speaker Pro Tem in the 86th and 87th Legislative Sessions. He’s well-qualified, and the position is well-deserved. However, that didn’t stop the racists from freaking out.

Brandon Waltens is a podcaster with the Texas Scorecard, the propaganda arm of billionaire Tim Dunn’s network.

This picture of Moody in a “Black Lives Matter” t-shirt has been repeatedly used against him by white supremacists over the last several years. Angry that Moody would take a stance that the lives of Black people matter, they have repeatedly used it as a racist attack on his ability to legislate or participate in leadership positions in the Texas House.

The Speaker Pro Tem takes over when the Speaker is unavailable and assists the Speaker with legislative procedures. Congratulations to Joe Moody! Again, well-deserved.

The Texas House now has a DOGE Committee.

Why? Who the hell knows? The Sunset Advisory Commission is already responsible for reviewing state agencies to determine whether they should continue to exist, be modified, or be abolished. It’s unclear how this Committee will operate differently from the Sunset Commission.

This Committee is chaired by multi-millionaire Giovanni Capriglione (R-HD98), who lives in Southlake, one of the wealthiest zip codes in Texas, and Vice Chaired by Salman Bhojani (D-HD92).

Over the last three weeks, you and I have watched the Senate Finance Committee discuss the Texas state budget. Every agency (besides radioactive waste management) is underfunded and understaffed, working on outdated IT systems and barely having enough money to keep the lights on. But this new DOGE Committee is going to find waste. From where?

It’ll be interesting to see what they come up with. I bet they’ll find ways to strip government agencies even further, putting countless departments into further crisis. Republicans seem to have little understanding of cause-and-effect.

Here is the entire DOGE Committee:

The Calendars Committee is a problem.

The Calendars Committee in the Texas House of Representatives controls the flow of legislation by determining when and if bills are scheduled for debate and voting on the House floor. They set the House agenda and prioritize legislation.

Todd Hunter (R-HD32) of Corpus Christi has been appointed Chair of the Calendars Committee. This is a problem because, in the last several legislative sessions, Todd Hunter has single-handedly killed all bills related to fixing our electric grid and environmental responsibility.

Related:

Powerless in the Heat: Texas’ Failing Grid and Republican Negligence

Hunter’s appointment as Chair of the Calendars Committee guarantees that our electric grid will not be fixed this year, and Texas will not take any steps to combat the climate crisis.

Toni Rose (D-HD110) has been appointed Vice Chair of the Calendars Committee. Here is the full roster:

Calendars is also the only Committee that happens behind closed doors, without cameras present. Of course, Democrats are outnumbered in this Committee, but we’ll never know how hard they fight to stop the worst legislation or push forward bills that benefit Texas, which is unfortunate.

While we’re on the topic of lousy Chair assignments, Burrows appointed Brooks Landgraf (R-HD81) Chair of Environmental Regulations.

Landgraf is so pro-fossil fuels that he drips sludge wherever he walks. Putting someone like Landgraf in charge of Environmental Regulations proves how unserious Republicans are about combatting the climate crisis.

Claudia Ordaz (D-HD79) is the Vice Chair of the Environmental Regulations Committee. We have several solid Democratic fighters, but again, they’re outnumbered.

Democrats did get the Chairmanships of several Sub-Committees.

This made the far-right’s head explode. They’ve been sharing this list on social media to show how much power they believe the Democrats to have:

It’s funny because these Sub-Committee Chairs are some of the most Conservative Democrats we have. Philip Cortez, Harold Dutton, and Oscar Longoria vote with Republicans most of the time and have repeatedly been called DINOs by the grassroots.

However, Chris Turner (D-HD101) and Rafael Anchia (D-HD103) are not Conservative. While neither belong to the Progressive Caucus, both have progressive voting records. Turner is my House Representative, and I’m pleased about his Chair appointment.

Speaker Burrows seemed very fair about the Committee appointments, even though he assigned climate deniers to Calendars and Environmental Regulations. Everything else seemed primarily bipartisan. Of course, that hasn’t stopped the carnival barkers from screaming in rage—but that’s who they are.

JM Lozano tried to re-introduce the Housekeeping Resolution yesterday.

The House gaveled in yesterday only briefly to vote on a few resolutions and read the committee assignments. At one point, JM Lozano (R-HD43) went to the back mic and asked if he could present his resolution for Housekeeping, which the rest of the House moved on from weeks ago.

Burrows did not allow it to come to the floor. The far right is just plain silly sometimes.

Senate Finance Committee, Budget Hearings - Day Twelve.

Yesterday was the final day of the Senate Committee on Finance budget hearings. The agencies that appeared were the various Texas Commissions (i.e., Medical Board, Board of Chiropractors, Board of Pharmacy, State Dental Board, etc.).

I’ve uploaded them to YouTube if you’re interested. None were particularly revealing, and I didn’t hear about other scandals.

After weeks of Senate Finance Committee budget hearings, one thing is clear: Texas Republicans have created a government that is profoundly dysfunctional and deliberately underfunded. Every agency that has testified, except the Radioactive Waste Disposal Commission, has painted the same picture: it is overworked, understaffed, and operating on outdated IT systems.

Yet, instead of addressing these crises, Republicans remain obsessed with cutting waste and handing out tax breaks to billionaires and corporations. This has created a system where essential government services—public schools, healthcare, infrastructure, and legal aid—are barely functional, while private companies profit from the dysfunction.

Key takeaways from the budget hearings:

Public Services Are Failing Due to Underfunding
- Texas schools, healthcare, and legal aid programs are crumbling. The backlog in child abuse cases, the failure to process Medicaid applications promptly, and the mass exodus of teachers and doctors from public service all point to a government unwilling to fund its responsibilities.
- Agencies like the Texas Workforce Commission and the Department of Family and Protective Services cannot even process their caseloads, which leads to longer wait times, delayed benefits, and overworked staff.
- The Secretary of State’s office still relies on paper records, making election security a joke.
The Texas Lottery Commission is Rife with Corruption
- The bulk ticket purchase scheme remains unresolved, where one group spent $25 million and won $50 million.
- Third-party lottery couriers are openly violating the law, selling Texas tickets out of state and potentially allowing underage gambling.
- Lottery.com and IGT were accused of a criminal conspiracy involving ticket fraud and Powerball manipulation. The state’s response? Nothing.
Texas Universities and Public Research Are Being Exploited
- Public universities conduct groundbreaking research in gene therapy, AI healthcare, and medical treatments, yet the profits go straight to private pharmaceutical companies, not the taxpayers who funded the work.
Texas’ Environmental and Energy Policies Are a Disaster
- The Railroad Commission, which oversees oil and gas, admitted it cannot plug the 8,500+ zombie wells leaking hazardous materials across Texas.
- The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) allows polluters to operate illegally for years and then rewards them with permits.
- Despite significant flooding and extreme weather, Republicans refuse to invest in climate resilience, instead pouring taxpayer dollars into oil-friendly coastal protection projects that benefit corporate refineries.
Criminal Justice and Indigent Defense Are Collapsing
- Texas has a severe shortage of rural defense attorneys, leading to wrongful convictions, longer pretrial detentions, and an exploding legal aid crisis.
- The Texas Indigent Defense Commission spends nearly all of its state funds on Operation Lone Star cases, so every other defendant in Texas must defend themselves.
- Judges are severely underpaid, making it difficult to attract qualified legal professionals, further fueling corruption in the justice system.
Texas Prioritizes Billionaires Over Kids
- One in four Texas children is food insecure, yet the Legislature refuses to expand universal school meals.
- The Alamo restoration has received $400 million in taxpayer funds, with another $150 million requested—a stunning example of misplaced priorities.
- Public schools face massive funding shortfalls, yet the state is actively pushing voucher schemes to funnel tax dollars into private schools, leaving public districts to collapse.

Republicans are manufacturing a crisis to justify privatization.

What’s most infuriating about this budget process isn’t just the sheer incompetence. It’s that the starvation of public services is intentional. By gutting agencies, underfunding education, and creating crises in healthcare and transportation, Texas Republicans are paving the way for full-scale privatization.

Public universities struggle with funding? Turn them into corporate research hubs where Big Pharma profits off public investment.
The legal system is overwhelmed? Privatize legal aid and let the wealthy buy justice while poor Texans rot in pretrial detention.
Infrastructure is failing? Deregulate, offload projects to private contractors, and force Texans to pay tolls for roads their tax dollars already built.

This deliberate sabotage of government institutions isn’t just about “small government.” It’s about consolidating power and wealth into the hands of the corporate elite who fund Texas Republicans’ campaigns.

The Only Solution: Vote Them Out

The Texas Legislature will always prioritize corporate donors over the people and as long as Republicans remain in power.

If we want:

Fully funded schools
Healthcare access for all Texans
Affordable college tuition
Environmental protections that actually protect people
Infrastructure that doesn’t collapse every storm season

Then, we need to replace the politicians responsible for this mess.

Until then, the budget will continue to be a tool for robbing working-class Texans to enrich the billionaire class.

Change is possible, but only if Texans fight for it. We need leaders who prioritize working families over lobbyists, public services over privatization schemes, and a government that works for the people.

The Texas GOP’s incompetence, corruption, and cruelty are not inevitable. The next election is the only thing standing between us and a better Texas.

Until then, they will keep robbing us.