Texas House Passes Hill Country Relief Package After Redistricting

The Texas House passed a relief package for Texas Hill Country victims, but it was not without controversy.

While House Democrats claimed their priority was flood relief in the first special session, they left the state for 17 days and missed voting on the flood relief package in the last session. More than 50 Democrats absconded to prevent a quorum from being reached, effectively blocking all legislation and killing the session.

After a second special session was called, a quorum was met and the House passed the congressional redistricting bill Democrats had left Austin in protest over. Next, the Texas House passed a package of six bills to provide relief and implement a series of reforms in response to the July 4 Hill Country flood disaster.

The package includes HB 1, to require safety measures for youth camps; SB 2, to strengthen disaster preparedness and emergency management response across multiple agencies; HB 3, to create the Texas Interoperability Council to develop a statewide strategic plan and implement an integrated emergency communication infrastructure; SB 5, to allocate funding for disaster relief, early warning systems, enhanced weather predictability, and interoperability infrastructure; HB 20, to create protections related to charitable solicitations fraud; and HB 22, to allocate funding for local governments to implement early warning systems and interoperability improvements.

After the package passed, House Speaker Dustin Burrows said the Texas legislature examined “the systems and processes in need of improvement so we are better prepared for all future emergencies.”