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August 1, 2025 2:56 PM
Power players, staffing changes, association news, and more
There’s been
so much energy in the building this past week you could mistake it for a regular
session in full swing: News conferences, leaks to the press, lobby in the
gallery, the Senate moving quicker but not necessarily smarter
than the House, etc.
On top of
that, field hearings in Houston, DFW, and Kerrville saw state government
showing in places where most civilians don’t usually give any of this much
thought – certainly at this time of year, anyway. And for all the talk that
this special session is focused on flooding response, property taxes, and banning
THC, the real urgency is instead focused on a mid-decade redistricting driven
by President Donald Trump, spurring a personal appearance by national
Democratic leadership at the Texas Capitol. The pedal is hittin’ the metal now so buckle up, y’all. The rough water
is ahead.
Meantime,
political professionals are making moves, starting new ventures, and one longtime
veteran is departing Texas for the first time in nearly three decades. People
on the Move, as you know, is the most efficient way to let the entire Texas
Capitol community know about your new gig. You can also brag on a
friend or tattle on an adversary by sending the scoop to ksbraddock@gmail.com. If you use POTM in
the subject line, it makes it easier to keep it all straight. Thanks so much.
Here’s the
latest edition:
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright August 01, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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August 1, 2025 10:20 AM
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Copyright August 01, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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August 1, 2025 9:36 AM
Quorum Report Editor Scott Braddock and the Dean of Texas talk radio Mark Davis visited about redistricting, the proposed THC ban, and more
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Copyright August 01, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 31, 2025 4:44 PM
“Counties should not be faced with the funding of alert systems through local property taxes, which is basically our only form of income, and which have been capped or reduced through property tax relief over the years”
Legislators
on the Select Disaster Preparedness & Flooding Committee traveled
to Kerrville today to hear from elected officials and others who were at the
center of the storm when the July 4th Central Texas floods killed
180 people, ripping apart families and calling local and state leadership into
question.
Despite
the brow beating of local officials, one clear takeaway was that flooding
simply happens, and emergency response infrastructure is woefully lacking in
rural Texas. There was also ample pushback to Lt. Gov.
Dan Patrick and Speaker Dustin Burrows’ policy priority over the years
of restricting the way local governments can raise and spend revenue. That’s
just as the Senate prepares – as we told you first yesterday at Quorum Report –
to further rein in cities and counties with a tighter tax cap under the proposed
language in Senate Bill 9.
Among the
most common solutions proposed by lawmakers has been installing louder -and
more – sirens in those areas.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By James Russell
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Copyright July 31, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 31, 2025 4:40 PM
"It won't just happen in Texas, I imagine Trump is making similar calls across the country and it's a big deal...we're going to respond in a transparent way," Newsom said during a news conference this afternoon. Developing...
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Copyright July 31, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 30, 2025 8:04 PM
Motion failed 6-3 along party lines
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Copyright July 30, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 30, 2025 3:39 PM
SB9 to be changed to set the rollback rate at 2.5% for cities and counties over 30k population
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Copyright July 30, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 30, 2025 9:03 AM
The bill's been referred and a hearing is set for Friday at 10am
Here’s the link to the info
incluiding the map
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Copyright July 30, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 30, 2025 7:33 AM
Punchbowl news in Washington reports: Cuellar and Vicente Gonzales in the RGV move to +10 Trump districts, Julie Johnson district drawn Republican, Casar and Doggett are paired in Central Texas, Veasey likely loses the Fort Worth part of the district, and incumbent Houston Democrats all have seats to run in because of the vacancy in CD 18
Here’s the
scoop from
Punchbowl News
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Copyright July 30, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 29, 2025 9:58 AM
Chair Phil King agreed with Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Alvarado that a vote could be held on live stream but he’s waiting for an opinion from legislative attorneys on the committee’s authority
Texas
Senate Democrats are
pushing to subpoena the Trump Administration Department of Justice
official at the center of this mid-decade redistricting.
But Texas
Senate Redistricting Committee Chairman Phil King, R-Weatherford,
on Tuesday morning said he would like to first see an advisory opinion from
legislative attorneys on whether the panel has the authority to do that.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright July 29, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 28, 2025 4:01 PM
“The evidence at that trial was clear and unequivocal: the Texas legislature did not pass race-based electoral districts for any of those three political maps,” wrote Paxton in bold in a letter obtained through a public records request.
Reporter
Phil Prazan got
the scoop at NBC 5 in Dallas-Fort Worth:
On July 7,
President Trump’s Department of Justice sent a letter to Texas leaders claiming
three Houston-area and one Fort Worth-based Democratic congressional districts
were unconstitutional racial gerrymanders.
In a
letter four days later, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton disagreed with the
Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division's interpretation.
He
mentioned that a lawsuit against Congressional District 18 had already been
dismissed and the other three districts – TX 9, 29, and 33 – were drawn
race-blind. The state just wrapped up a four-week trial in El Paso defending
the constitutionality of the 2021 maps.
“The
evidence at that trial was clear and unequivocal: the Texas legislature did not
pass race-based electoral districts for any of those three political maps,”
wrote Paxton in bold in a letter obtained through a public records request. The
Attorney General went on to write that Texas State Senator Joan Huffman, R –
Houston, as chair of a redistricting committee, testified under oath she drew
the districts race-blind and only sought “to maximize Republican political
advantage."
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Copyright July 28, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 28, 2025 2:30 PM
Actual Democratic organizing in Texas? $20 million fundraising goal announced for Democrats in congressional races here, the DNC begins to mobilize around redistricting field hearings, and US House Democratic Leader Jeffries plans an Austin visit this week
As Texas GOP
leadership moves ahead with redistricting hearings in select communities around
the state, the Democratic National Committee announced Monday the
party is "deploying its 30,000 volunteer organizers to contact persuadable
Republican and independent Texas voters” about this fight while the party ramps
up fundraising for Congressional races that may end up even more competitive
here depending on what maps eventually look like.
Their stepped up efforts unfold as we got
word at Buzz Central that US House Democratic
Leader Hakeem Jeffries plans to visit the Texas Capitol on
Wednesday.
Among
other things, the party said so far they've:
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright July 28, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 28, 2025 2:26 PM
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Copyright July 28, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 28, 2025 1:40 PM
Both are more in line with Lt. Gov. Patrick's position than what Abbott laid out in his veto message before confusing people with his public comments last week
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Copyright July 28, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 26, 2025 12:10 PM
Texas Senate Democrats want to ask the DOJ official about the agency's letter cited by Gov. Abbott as the reason for a mid-decade redistricting. The DOJ raised concerns that some Congressional districts here are racially discriminatory after Texas Republicans have argued in court that they are not. Developing...
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Copyright July 26, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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