Pub. 60 2019-2020 Issue 5

6 A Message From TADA President Darren Whitehurst B y the time you read this article, we will be in the final throes of the 2020 election cycle, and you have likely grown tired of all the commercials and/or have turned your TV set off altogether. I want to encourage you one last time to get out and vote for the candidates of your choice and tell your families and employees to do the same. The 87th Texas Legislature will also be less than 100 days away from convening in regular session. Article 3, Section 5 of the Texas Constitution requires the legislature to meet every two years and is scheduled to start the second Tuesday in January (January 12th) and can meet for up to 140 days. The typical session always starts with a bang — much pomp and fanfare are surrounding the opening day of the session — there is a formal swearing-in of those elected, each respective chamber adopting operating rules for the session, and leadership teams being set. In addition to new faces in the Texas House and Senate this session, we will also see a new House Speaker chosen. Then a brief lull occurs. There is always a wave of excitement when committee as- signments are made, but most of the time members spend on the floor up to that point is specific to resolutions recognizing, honoring and memorializing people, groups and events in Texas. Work outside the chamber is typically limited to the budget and emergency items identified by the Governor. When committees are named, they organize and start meeting and hearing bills. It reaches a fevered pitch around March. Last session, the committees in both chambers worked on thousands of bills (7,795) and passed well over a thousand (1,560). The Texas House had 34 com- mittees and the Texas Senate had 16. AlthoughIhavenodoubt that bothcham- bers will be COVID-ready, it is unclear exactly how the Texas House and Texas Senate will operate — what will be the rules for each chamber given the current environment, how will committees func- tion, howwill floor deliberations and votes occur, etc. Given these challenges and the newpandemic-requirements ofmandatory facemasks, hand sanitizers, social distanc- ing and room cleaning, I would surmise that it will undoubtedly take longer. Ultimately, there is only one must-pass piece of legislation— the state budget. It will prove challenging to find the consen- sus here just as it has been challenging in previous sessions facing budget shortfalls (2003 and 2011).With the pandemic and the collapse of oil prices, the legislature appears to be facing a daunting multibil- lion dollar budget shortfall. There is a slight caveat to the budget be- ing the only required piece of legislation to pass in that once every 10 years, the legislature is charged with redrawing boundaries for Texas House districts (150), Texas Senate districts (31) , State BoardofEducation (15) andcongressional districts (36+). Although there are many interesting redistricting stories from each decade starting in the 1980s and there are processes that occur if legislation is not passed, these are stories for another time. At this point, you may be asking your- self how this applies to you and why