FEATURED, FROM LEFT: Rep. Sergio Muñoz, Jr., D-Mission; Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen; and Julián Álvarez, Executive Vice President-Director of Community Relations, Lone Star National Bank, on Monday, February 19, 2024, at an event in the Jackson Medical Plaza in McAllen. Improving border security, stopping child predators from using deepfake and artificial intelligence to harm or exploit minors, further cutting property taxes, and improving broadband infrastructure in Texas are among the major state legislative issues to be examined by Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, and other state senators during the coming weeks and months.
Photograph Courtesy SEN. JUAN HINOJOSA FACEBOOK
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Border security, stopping use of deepfakes technology and artificial intelligence by child predators, further cutting property taxes, and broadband infrastructure among legislative issues to be examined by Sen. Hinojosa and other state senators in the coming weeks and months
By DAVID A. DÍAZ
[email protected]
Improving border security, stopping child predators from using deepfakes technology and artificial intelligence to harm or exploit minors, further cutting property taxes, and improving broadband infrastructure in Texas are among the major legislative issues to be examined by Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen and other senators during the coming months.
Those topics are among 57 interim charges issued on Thursday, April 11, 2024 by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick for Senate committees, of which Hinojosa is a member of three of those legislative bodies.
“The 57 interim charges I released today reflect issues that Texans have asked us to study. Our 31 senators submitted hundreds of ideas, with many senators sharing similar proposals. My staff and I worked diligently for weeks to review each request, and this is the first set of interim charges I am releasing in preparation for the 89th Legislature. We may release a second shorter list of additional charges before next session.”
The 89th Texas Legislature will return to work for its five-month regular session in early January 2025 and ends at the end of May, 2025. Three legislative committees which will be studying some of Patrick’s interim charges, and whose membership include Hinojosa, are the Senate Committee on Border Security, the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, and the Senate Committee on Finance.
Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo/Starr County, also serves on the Senate Committee on Finance.
The Senate’s work to study the list of Patrick’s 57 interim charges will begin in the coming weeks and months.
Following completion of hearings – whose meeting dates and locations will be announced at later dates – those Senate committees will submit reports with their specific findings and policy recommendations before December 1, 2024.
What Are Interim Charges?
The Texas Council on Development Disabilities provides an easy-to-understand explanation about interim charges and how any person can participate in the legislative committees studying these issues.
That information follows:
The Texas Legislature meets in regular session for 140 days every two years. In Capitol jargon, the word “interim” refers to the time frame between these regular sessions.
Lawmakers typically spend the interim conducting oversight of state agencies, reviewing the implementation of new laws, and investigating new areas of concern. These tasks are largely guided by what are known as “interim charges.”
As defined by the Texas Legislative Council, an interim charge is “a directive to study a certain issue during the interim that is issued by the Lieutenant Governor to a senate committee or by the Speaker of the House to a House committee.”
Lawmakers, advocates, and stakeholders commonly submit interim charge recommendations hoping to influence what ends up on each chamber’s batch of directives. Once interim charges have been distributed, committees will meet, take input, study the assigned topics, and produce a report based on their findings.
This report may then result in legislation to be considered in the next regular session.
What Should Texans Do Now?
Interested Texans should review the full set of interim charges, including those listed in the next section, and determine if there are any of interest. If so, they should consider reaching out to their lawmakers and providing feedback on the topic, especially if their representative is on the committee looking into that issue.
Advocates might also want to provide testimony on the matter to a committee at a public hearing. To find out who represents you in the House or Senate, go to the Who Represents Me page on the Capitol website. The site can also be used to find committee membership for the House and Senate, and to sign up to receive alerts when committee hearings are scheduled.
“I thank the entire Texas Senate for their dedication and hard work, and I look forward to reviewing the committees’ recommendations,” Patrick said. “Come January 2025, the Senate will hit the ground running at the start of the 89th Texas legislative session. The priorities of the conservative majority of Texans will be accomplished, including school choice, continued property tax relief, and strengthening the power grid.”
Patrick’s 2024 interim charges are posted on the Internet at:
https://www.ltgov.texas.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-Interim-Legislative-Charges.pdf
What follows are the three Senate committees which include Hinojosa as a member, and the interim charges whose members will be studying and taking action:
SEN. HINOJOSA
SENATE COMMITTEE
ON BORDER SECURITY
Securing the Texas-Mexico Border
Review state and local agencies’ participation in border security. Examine the impact of transnational criminal activity on commerce including, but not limited, to organized crime fuel theft to fund criminal operations. Make recommendations to support and strengthen interagency border operations to combat criminal enterprises.
Support for Border Security Personnel
Consider the effect on personnel who have actively served or participated in Operation Lone Star and the impact of their service on their health and well-being, and their regular employment or assignments outside of Operation Lone Star. Study the challenges and barriers that affect the recruitment and retention of personnel engaged in border security efforts.
Operation Lone Star is a joint operation between the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Military Department along the United States-Mexico border in southern Texas. The operation started in 2021 and is ongoing. According to Gov. Greg Abbott, the operation is intended to counter a rise in illegal immigration, the illegal drug trade, and human smuggling.
Operation Lone Star has drawn criticism from the federal government, state officials, and migrant advocates for its treatment of migrants, including the withholding of water and orders to push migrants back into the Rio Grande. Migrants have had a more difficult time crossing areas of the Rio Grande due to razor wire set up by Operation Lone Star, leading to some migrants becoming injured and/or captured in the wire. Texas officials and national guard members have also voiced concerns about hardships sustained during deployment in support of Operation Lone Star.
Monitor Border Law Enforcement,
Property Damages Compensation
Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on Border Security passed by the 88th Legislature, as well as relevant agencies and programs under the committee’s jurisdiction.
Specifically, make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, or complete implementation of the following:
• Senate Bill 602, relating to the law enforcement authority of federal border patrol agents.
Senate Bill 602 changed language in the Code of Criminal Procedure and Government Code to require the Department of Public Safety to develop a training program for federal border patrol agents on Texas’ criminal laws and provide the program to an agent on request.
Senate Bill 602 grants a border patrol agent who completes the training the powers of arrest and search and seizure as to any Texas felony offense if the arrest, search, or seizure is incident to a detainment under federal law and occurs on the premises of a designated port of entry or at a border patrol traffic checkpoint.
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SB602
• Senate Bill 1133, relating to a program to compensate landowners for property damage caused by certain criminal activities.
Senate Bill 1133 changed language in the Code of Criminal Procedure to provide for the establishment of a grant program under the authority of the Office of the Attorney General to compensate landowners who suffer property damage on agricultural land caused by a trespasser as a result of an offense of arson, criminal mischief, or other property damage or destruction or a law enforcement response to a trespasser who was engaged in a “border crime,” which consists of any conduct involving transnational criminal activity that also constitutes the smuggling of persons, evading arrest or detention, a trafficking of persons offense, or an offense under the Texas Controlled Substances Act.
The maximum amount of compensation that may be awarded per incident causing damage is $75,000.
Hinojosa and Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo/Starr County were authors of Senate Bill 1133.
As authors, Hinojosa and Zaffirini filed Senate Bill 1133 and helped guide it through the Senate.
“Filed” is used to refer to a measure that has been introduced into the legislative process and given a number.
Sen. Morgan LaMantia, D-South Padre Island, was a coauthor of Senate Bill 1133.
As a coauthor of Senate Bill 1133, LaMantia was authorized by the primary (main) author of the bill to join in the authorship of the measure.
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SB1133
• Senate Bill 1484, relating to a border operations training program for peace officers employed by local law enforcement agencies.
Senate Bill 1484 changed language in the Government Code and Occupations Code to require the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to establish and administer a border operations training program to prepare peace officers for collaboration and cooperaton with law enforcement agencies, district and county attorneys, the border prosecution unit, and other prosecutors on investigations and prosecutions related to criminal activity in the Texas?Mexico border region.
Among other provisions, the bill requires DPS to identify opportunities for these officers to assist in its border operations?related duties and authorizes the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement to recognize, administer, or assist in administering the training program as a continuing education program for officers.
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SB1484
SEN. HINOJOSA
SENATE COMMITTEE
ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Stopping Child Predators
Study how predators usedeepfakes technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to harm or exploit children.
Deepfakes are synthetic media that have been digitally manipulated to replace one person’s likeness convincingly with that of another. It can also refer to computer-generated images of human subjects that do not exist in real life
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepfake
Artificial intelligence, in its broadest sense, is intelligence exhibited by machines, particularly computer systems.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence
Monitor the implementation of House Bill 2700, 88th Legislature, relating to prosecution of certain criminal offenses prohibiting sexually explicit visual material involving children.
• House Bill 2700 changed language in the Penal Code to clarify that for purposes of certain criminal offenses involving sexually explicit visual material of a child or minor.
Visual material includes a depiction of a child or minor who is recognizable as an actual person by the person’s face, likeness, or other distinguishing characteristic and whose image as a child or minor was used in creating, adapting, or modifying the visual material, including computer?generated visual material that was created, adapted, or modified using an artificial intelligence application or other computer software.
Rep. Ryan Guillén, R-Rio Grande City, was the primary author of House Bill 2700.
As primary author, Guillén was the main legislator who filed House Bill 2700 and guided it through the legislative process.
“Filed” is used to refer to a measure that has been introduced into the legislative process and given a number.
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=HB2700
• Recommend additional legislation to protect children as technology continues to evolve.
Bail Reform
Examine “charitable bail organizations” that pay bail for defendants, thereby relieving them of any financial incentive to appear in court.
Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 17.071 defines a “charitable bail organization” as a person who accepts and used donation from the public to deposit money with a court in the amount of a defendant’s bail bond.
Bail is an agreement consists of a payment and an agreement to appear in court at a later date in exchange for release from jail. Bail is the amount of money that a defendant must pay if they want to be released from custody while the await trial.
A bail bond is a promise that a defendant will appear in court whey they are supposed to. The bond seller, known as a bail bondsman in some states, posts a bond with the court, and the court keeps the bond in case you don’t show up. A bail bond can usually be purchased for about 10 percent of the amount of the bail.
• Study the operations and funding sources of these charitable bail organizations;
• Make recommendations to ensure accountability for “charitable bail organizations” that provide free bond for arrested individuals that reoffend while out on bond. Further restrict these organizations’ ability to post bail for violent individuals; and promote transparency.
Tampering of Electronic Monitoring Devices
Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice passed by the 88th Legislature, as well as relevant agencies and programs under the committee’s jurisdiction.
Specifically, make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, or complete implementation of the following:
• Senate Bill 1004, relating to creating the criminal offense of tampering with an electronic monitoring device and to certain consequences on conviction of that offense.
Senate Bill 1004 changed language in the Code of Criminal Procedure and Penal Code to create the state jail felony offense of tampering with an electronic monitoring device for a person who is required to submit to electronic monitoring of the person’s location as part of an electronic monitoring program or as a condition of community supervision, parole, mandatory supervision, or bail and knowingly removes or disables, or causes or conspires or cooperates with another person to remove or disable, a tracking device that the person is required to wear to enable the electronic monitoring of the person’s location.
The bill increases the penalty to a third degree felony for a person who is in the super?intensive supervision program and commits such conduct.
Senate Bill 1004 authorizes a judge sentencing a defendant convicted of an offense of tampering with an electronic monitoring device committed while on parole or mandatory supervision to order the sentence for the offense to run concurrently with the sentence for the offense for which the defendant was released on parole or to mandatory supervision, or, if the defendant’s parole or mandatory supervision has been revoked, to commence immediately on completion of the sentence for the offense for which the defendant was released on parole or to mandatory supervision.
The bill provides for a defendant who has been sentenced to serve consecutive sentences to be transferred to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) if the defendant has not been taken into TDCJ custody following the revocation of the defendant’s parole or mandatory supervision.
Hinojosa was a coauthor of Senate Bill 1004.
As a coauthor of Senate Bill 1004, Hinojosa was authorized by the primary (main) author of the bill to join in the authorship of the measure.
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SB1004
SEN. HINOJOSA
VICE CHAIR
and
SEN. ZAFFIRINI
MEMBER
SENATE COMMITTEE
ON FINANCE
Continue Cutting Property Taxes
Identify the best combination to further increase the amount of homestead exemption and compression to continue cutting Texans’ property taxes. Additionally, establish and report on the cost of eliminating: School maintenance and operation property taxes; All school property taxes; and All property taxes.
Determine the fiscal consequences of each action, including whether revenue reallocations would be required for public education funding and local government funding, and impacts on the state’s ability to respond to disasters and other urgent priorities. For example, determine the effect on other state programs if general revenue were used to fully replace school property taxes, particularly during economic downturns.
Evaluate and report on how much state revenue would need to be generated to replace foregone property tax revenue, and from what source.
Mental Health Services and Inpatient Facilities
Monitor the implementation of Senate Bill 30, 88th Legislature, Regular Session, with regard to appropriations made for expanding mental health services and inpatient facilities across the state.
• Senate Bill 30 makes supplemental appropriations and reductions in appropriations and gives direction and transfer and other adjustment authority with respect to the General Appropriations Act adopted by the 87th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, and the supplemental appropriations acts adopted by the 87th Texas Legislature in the Regular, 2nd Called, and 3rd Called Sessions.
Senate Bill 30 reduces unencumbered appropriations for the 2022?2023 state fiscal biennium from federal American Rescue Plan Act funds by $200 million, from the general revenue fund by roughly $170 million, and from the Foundation School Fund by nearly $8.42 billion.
The bill makes supplemental appropriations for the 2022?2023 state fiscal biennium totaling approximately $22.4 billion, of which $17.4 billion is from the general revenue fund; $4.7 billion is from federal funds; $221 million is from general revenue dedicated accounts; and $44.7 million is from various other sources.
In addition, the bill appropriates slightly more than $1.3 billion in unexpended and unobligated balances remaining from various appropriations made by the 87th Texas Legislature; these appropriations are from the same sources and for the same purposes for which the original appropriations were made.
As part of the appropriations outlined above, Senate Bill 30 provides for a five percent pay raise for most state employees effective July 1, 2023, and adjusts the state salary schedule accordingly. Moreover, the bill sets the sum?certain appropriation to the Foundation School Program for state fiscal year 2023 at $23,901,066,584.
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SB30
• Report on the progress of inpatient facility construction projects.
• Assess and report on the effectiveness of spending on mental health services.
Monitor Property Tax Relief
and Infrastructure Funds
Monitor the appropriations supporting, and implementation of, the following legislation passed during the 88th Legislature, Regular or Special Sessions, and approved by voters, amending the Texas Constitution:
• Senate Bill 2 and House Joint Resolution 2, 88th Legislature, Second Called Special Session.
The Senate gave unanimous approval to two measures on Wednesday, July 12, 2023 as part of a deal between the House and Senate on how to deliver billions in property tax relief to Texas citizens. As in previous proposals, Senate Bill 2 raised the homestead exemption, more than doubling the amount homeowners can write off before assessment. This was a firm sticking point for the Senate, with Lt. Gov. Patrick saying throughout the summer that any deal on property taxes must include an increase in the homestead exemption. The House of Representatives’ plan had focused on limiting appraisal growth.
“The blockbuster part of the plan is of course the residential homestead exemption increase from $40,000 to $100,000,” said Bettencourt. “This increase in homestead exemption is going to result in savings of $681 for all 5.72 million Texas homesteads if the voters approve in November (2023).” He added that the total tax cut package, $18 billion in all, is the largest in the history of the state.
https://senate.texas.gov/news.php?id=20230712a&lang=en
• House Joint Resolution 2 proposed the constitutional amendment, approved by Texas voters in November 2023, that – among several other provisions – increased the homestead exemption proposed in Senate Bill 2.
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=882&Bill=HJR2
Texas Energy Fund
• Senate Bill 2627 and Senate Joint Resolution 93, 88th Legislature, Regular Session.
Senate Bill 2627 changed language in the Utilities Code to enact the Powering Texas Forward Act, which seeks to support the construction, maintenance, modernization, and operation of dispatchable electric generation facilities by creating the Texas Energy Fund, which is to be used to provide up to $7.2 billion in low?interest loans to construct new facilities and upgrade existing facilities and in completion bonus grants for facilities that are interconnected in the ERCOT power region by a qualifying date.
The bill also provides for up to $1 billion in grants to be used for transmission and distribution infrastructure and electric generating facilities outside the ERCOT power region for facility modernization, facility weatherization, reliability and resiliency facility enhancements, or vegetation management.
Senate Bill 2627 provides for up to $1.8 billion in funding for grants or loans for the design, procurement, installation, and use of stand?alone, behind?the?meter, multi-day backup power sources that can be used for islanding to ensure the reliability or adequacy of an electric power grid for facilities on which communities rely for health, safety, and well?being.
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SB2627
Senate Joint Resolution 93 proposed the constitutional amendment to the Texas Constitution, approved by Texas voters in November 2023, that created the Texas Energy Fund authorized in Senate Bill 2627, which will be administered and used by the Public Utility Commission of Texas to provide loans and grants to finance or incentivize the construction, maintenance, modernization, and operation of electric generating facilities, including associated infrastructure, necessary to ensure the reliability or adequacy of an electric power grid in Texas.
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SJR93
Texas Water Fund
• Senate Bill 28 and Senate Joint Resolution 75, 88th Legislature, Regular Session
Senate Bill 28 changed language in the Water Code to establish the New Water Supply for Texas Fund as a special fund in the state treasury to be administered by the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB).
The bill requires the TWDB by rule to undertake to finance projects through the fund that will lead to seven million acre?feet of new water supplies by December 31, 2033. The bill sets out authorized uses of the fund, which include the provision of financial assistance to political subdivisions to develop water supply projects that create new water sources for the state.
Senate Bill 28, effective January 1, 2024, established that the Texas Water Fund, which is a special fund in the state treasury outside the general revenue fund to be administered by the TWDB for the purpose of transferring money to specified water assistance funds and accounts for applicable uses.
The bill requires money in the fund to be held and invested by the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company and provides for certain input by the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas Advisory Committee with regard to the fund’s operation.
Senate Bill 28 turns the statewide water conservation public awareness program into the broader statewide water public awareness program and establishes the statewide water public awareness account as an account in the general revenue fund to be used by the TWDB to develop, administer, and implement the program.
Senate Bill 28, among other provisions, requires the TWDB by rule to establish a program to provide technical assistance to retail public utilities in conducting applicable required water audits and in applying for financial assistance from the TWDB to mitigate the utility system’s water loss.
Except as otherwise provided, Senate Bill 28 took effect on September 1, 2023 following passage by Texas voters in November 2023.
Hinojosa and Zaffirini were coauthors of Senate Bill 28.
As coauthors of Senate Bill 28, Hinojosa and Zaffirini were authorized by the primary (main) author of the bill to join in the authorship of the measure and help guide it through the Senate.
Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, and Rep. Janie López, R-San Benito, were cosponsors of Senate Bill 28.
As cosponsors of Senate Bill 28, Canales and López joined with the primary sponsor to help guide the measure through the House of Representatives.
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SB28#
Senate Joint Resolution 75 proposed the constitutional amendment, approved by Texas voters in November 2023, that established the New Water Supply for Texas Fund.
Senate Joint Resolution 75 requires the legislature by general law to provide for the manner in which money from the Texas water fund may be used, subject to the limitations provided by the resolution, and requires the TWDB to allocate not less than 25 percent of the amount of money initially appropriated to the fund to be used only for transfer to the New Water Supply for Texas Fund.
Hinojosa and Zaffirini were coauthors of Senate Joint Resolution 75.
As coauthors of Senate Joint Resolution 75, Hinojosa and Zaffirini were authorized by the primary (main) author of the bill to join in the authorship of the measure and help guide it through the Senate.
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SJR75
Centennial Parks Conservation Fund
• Senate Bill 1648 and Senate Joint Resolution 74, 88th Legislature, Regular Session
Senate Bill 1648 changed language in the Parks and Wildlife Code to create the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund as a trust fund held outside the treasury by the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company and administered by the Parks and Wildlife Department for the purpose of the creation and improvement of state parks.
The bill provides for the administration and management of the fund, requests for distributions from the fund, the required approval of real property acquisitions by the fund, prohibited expenditures by the fund, expenditure audits by the state auditor, and requirements, as prescribed under state law, for a strategic plan of operation. The bill took effect January 1, 2024 following voter approval in November 2023 of the constitutional amendment proposed by Senate Joint Resolution 74.
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SB1648
Senate Joint Resolution 74 proposed the constitutional amendment to the Texas Constitution, approved by Texas voters in November 2023, to establish the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund as a trust fund outside the treasury to be used only for the creation and improvement of state parks.
The resolution provides, among other provisions, for the fund’s composition and authorizes the legislature to appropriate money from the fund to the Parks and Wildlife Department or its successor in function for the purposes prescribed for the fund by the resolution’s provisions and general law.
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SJR74
• Fund House Bill 9 and House Joint Resolution 125, 88th Legislature, Regular Session.
House Bill 9 changed language in the Government Code to create the broadband infrastructure fund for use in supporting the broadband development office, providing funding for 9?1?1 and next generation 9?1?1 services, supporting the deployment of the next generation 9?1?1 service, supporting the Texas Broadband Pole Replacement Program, providing matching funds for federal money provided for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, and expanding access to broadband service in economically distressed communities.
House Bill 9 requires the comptroller of public accounts, not later than September 15, 2024, to make a one?time transfer of $155,200,000 from the broadband infrastructure fund to the next generation 9?1?1 service fund.
The bill requires the comptroller to make a second one?time transfer of $75 million from the broadband infrastructure fund to the broadband pole replacement fund and authorizes the comptroller to additionally transfer any available amount from the broadband infrastructure fund to the credit of the broadband pole replacement fund.
House Bill 9 took effect January 1, 2024, following statewide voter approval of the constitutional amendment proposed by House Joint Resolution 125.
Rep. ÓscarLongoria, D-Mission, was an author of House Bill 9.
As an author, Longoria filed House Bill 9 and helped guide it through the House of Representatives.
“Filed” is used to refer to a measure that has been introduced into the legislative process and given a number.
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=HB9
House Joint Resolution 125 proposed an amendment to the Texas Constitution, approved by Texas voters in November 2023, to create the broadband infrastructure fund as a special fund in the state treasury outside the general revenue fund to be administered by the comptroller of public accounts.
The fund is to be used, without further appropriation, for the expansion of access to and adoption of broadband and telecommunications services, including the following:
•• The development, construction, reconstruction, and expansion of broadband and telecommunications infrastructure or services;
•• The operation of broadband and telecommunications infrastructure;
•• The provision of broadband and telecommunications services; and
•• The reasonable expenses of administering and managing the investments of the fund.
The proposed amendment took effect January 1, 2024, and expires September 1, 2035, unless extended by adoption of a concurrent resolution approved by a record vote of two-thirds of the members of each house of the legislature. Such a resolution suspends that expiration date until September 1 of the 10th year following the adoption of the resolution.
López was a coauthor of House Joint Resolution 125.
As coauthor of House Joint Resolution 125, López was authorized by the primary (main) author of the bill to join in the authorship of the measure and help guide it through the House of Representatives.
Hinojosa was a cosponsor of House Joint Resolution 125.
As cosponsor of House Joint Resolution 125, Hinojosa joined with the primary sponsor to help guide the measure through the Senate.
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=HJR125
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