On Thursday, April 11, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick issued 57 interim charges for the Texas Senate. 

During this biannual procedure, each Senator submits ideas for the Lt. Governor to consider and, then, each Senate committee is assigned different topics by the Lt. Governor to study for the next legislative session by the Lt. Governor. 

The list gives some indication of what the Lt. Governor’s legislative priorities are going to be in the next legislative session. 

“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,” Patrick said in a statement on Thursday.

Below is a sample of the interim charges released by Lt. Governor Dan Patrick. You can find the full list here.

Border Security Committee: Securing the Texas-Mexico border. 

Business & Commerce Committee: Electricity Market Design.

Criminal Justice Committee: Stopping child predators.

Education Committee: Reading and math readiness.

Finance Committee: Continue cutting property taxes. 

Health and Human Services Committee: Children’s mental health. 

Higher Education Committee: Higher Education - “Faculty Senates” 

Local Government Committee: Additional property tax relief and reform

Natural Resources and Economic Development Committee: Enhancing workforce productivity. 

State Affairs Committee: Maintaining election security. 

Transportation Committee: Transportation funding. 

Veterans Affairs Committee: Veteran mental health. 

Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs Committee: Water system reliability 

Property tax relief, the Texas Energy Fund, and mental health were the only three issues that appeared in multiple committee charges. 

The work by each of the committees will begin in the coming weeks and months and will include public hearings and discussions and each committee will submit a report with policy recommendations by December 1, 2024. 

“I thank the entire Texas Senate for their dedication and hard work and I look forward to reviewing the committee’s recommendations. Come January 2025, the Senate will hit the ground running at the start of the 89th Legislative Session. The priorities of the conservative majority of Texans will be accomplished, including school choice, continued property tax relief, and strengthening our power grid,” Patrick said in his statement on Thursday.