Capital Highlights March 3 – 7, 2025

Voucher bill has backing of House majority

  A slim majority of Texas House members have indicated they will back House Bill 3, which creates education savings accounts that allow families to use taxpayer money for private school education. The Dallas Morning News reported that 75 Republican legislators have signed on with the bill’s author, state Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Salado, to support the measure.
“For the first time in our great state’s history, the Texas House has the votes to pass a universal school choice program,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement.
  The Texas Senate has already passed a voucher bill, though it contains different provisions. The two measures will have to be reconciled before a bill reaches Abbott’s desk.
  The House bill has more stringent requirements based on income and whether a child has a disability. Both bills carry a $1 billion price tag.
  House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, said his chamber welcomed public input.
  “We want to continue to make the bill better and improve it,” he said. “If there’s room for improvement or to make the bill better, that’s part of the process.”

First measles fatality recorded in West Texas as cases rise

  A measles outbreak in West Texas has resulted in the death of a school-aged child, and 146 cases have been identified  as of Friday, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. DSHS predicts more cases are likely to occur, given the highly contagious nature of the disease.
  An additional case was reported in an adult living in Rockwall County, in North Texas. An adult male tested positive after traveling out of the country. State officials say he was not vaccinated. The man spent about a week in a hospital but is now recovering at home.
  Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children’s Hospital, told the Houston Chronicle also believes the outbreak, the state’s largest in 30 years, will continue to increase because of a growing number of children who are not being vaccinated.  The Centers for Disease Control estimates nine in 10 people who are not vaccinated will become infected if exposed to measles.
  “I think these numbers will continue to accelerate for a while,” Hotez said. “So this is going to be a very large, very dangerous measles epidemic.”

Senate votes to ban lottery brokers

  The state Senate voted unanimously last week to outlaw third-party brokers who buy mass numbers of Texas lottery tickets online, the Austin American-Statesman reported. The bill is similar to one passed in the Senate two years ago that died in the House, but the issue has gained momentum after a ticket broker, called a “lottery courier company” bought all possible combinations for a single entity and won a $95 million Lotto Texas jackpot last April.
  Abbott last week ordered the Texas Rangers to investigate that incident and another last week in which a player won $83.5 million with tickets purchased through an online courier company, the Chronicle reported.
  “Texans must be able to trust in our state’s lottery system and know that the lottery is conducted with integrity and lawfully,” Abbott said in a statement.
  Lottery Commissioner Clark Smith, appointed by Abbott in 2023, resigned abruptly last week.

Wildfire risk growing in western half of state

  State officials are gearing up for an increased wildfire danger across the western half of Texas, including the Panhandle, South Plains, Permian Basin, and parts of the Hill Country. The Texas A&M Forest Service is reporting one active wildfire in Kimble County. It has consumed 722 acres and was 70% contained as of Sunday
  “It’s important for Texans to prepare for wildfires, work to prevent them and heed warnings of local officials” Jared Karns, forest service fire chief, said.
  The Texas comptroller’s office recently released a report concluding that Texas communities face elevated wildfire threats as subdivisions spread into previously undeveloped areas with easy-to-ignite vegetation. Since 2005, more than 243,000 separate Texas wildfires have burned 13.9 million acres.
  Last year, the Smokehouse Creek Fire near Canadian burned more than 1 million acres, the largest wildfire in state history.
  As of Sunday, 100 Texas counties had burn bans in place.

‘Floodgate’ of uncertified teachers causing concern

  More than half of new teachers hired last year lacked state certification, according to The News, and Education Commissioner Mike Morath expressed concern at a recent House committee hearing. Morath said it was impossible to know what type of training uncertified teachers received.
  “We are setting these folks up for a very rough ride,” Education Commissioner Mike Morath told lawmakers during a recent House committee hearing.
  The Legislature a decade ago loosened hiring requirements for school districts to hire teachers because of a shortage of certified applicants.
  “We need to take responsibility for some of that because we’ve made it easier to get into a classroom without certification,” state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, told her colleagues. “That is a policy decision that we have made.”
  The Texas Education Agency reports that schools with higher shares of uncertified teachers have worse outcomes on annual standardized tests. Legislation has been proposed to rein in the system that allows districts to hire uncertified teachers.

Growing number of leaking oil wells causing concern

  State regulators are struggling with a growing number of leaking oil wells that threaten to contaminate aquifers, according to an investigative report in the Chronicle. The latest known leak is from an orphaned well in Pecos County, from which black, salty water is flowing along the sandy surface. Orphaned wells were previously owned by companies that went bankrupt or out of business.
  “The number one concern is groundwater contamination,” Schuyler Wight, a neighboring rancher, said. “Also, this well is adjacent to the Imperial Reservoir, which impacts downstream.”
  The Texas Railroad Commission plans to send a rig to plug the Pecos well. It has requested $100 million in new funding from the Legislature to address the issue.

Gary Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He published a number of community newspapers in Texas during a 30-year span, including in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin and Cedar Park. Email: [email protected]