Patrick Warns GOP Could Lose State House Majority

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick warned last week that the GOP risks losing its majority in the state House this November and urged party unity behind the winner of the May runoff between U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Without that unity, Patrick said that state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee, could win, The Dallas Morning News reported.

House Speaker Justin Burrows said he believes the GOP will keep its majority in the chamber but agreed unity is critical.

“We’ve got to be on the same page,” Burrows said. “We’ve got to be working and rowing in the same direction.”

Democrats, who have not held a majority in either chamber in more than 20 years, would have to flip 14 Republican seats to achieve a majority in the 150-member House.

Data Centers Set To Get Billions In Tax Breaks 

An exemption for the state’s booming data center industry means Texas will lose $3.2 billion in sales tax revenue over the next two years, The Texas Tribune reported.

Lawmakers say they will consider proposals to either limit the tax break or eliminate it altogether when they meet in January for the next legislative session.

“These new numbers are extremely concerning, and I will say they’re unsustainable,” said state Sen. Joan Huffman, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance. “I plan to look at filing legislation to either repeal the exemption or take a very close look at it and see.”

The tax break was approved by lawmakers in 2014, when there were far fewer data centers and they were much smaller. If nothing changes, exemptions could reach $1.75 billion annually by 2030.

The state already has more than 300 active data centers, with more than 100 additional projects either under development or planned.

Texas Could Face $700 Million in SNAP Penalties 

New federal rules designed to cut waste in the nation’s food stamp program means Texas taxpayers will have to pay $700 million more each year to participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, The Tribune reported. Officials with Texas Health and Human Services disclosed this to lawmakers at a recent committee hearing. Almost 9% of the state’s SNAP payments had an error, slightly better than the national rate of 11%. Texas has until October 2027 to bring the error rate down below 6%. The error rate is based on unintentional mistakes by either the agency or the client receiving the benefits that result in an overpayment or underpayment Nearly one-fourth of the state’s population gets some type of assistance from Texas Health and Human Services.

“We are dealing today with a health care epidemic, but not from a disease or virus,” said Sen Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, the committee chair. “With scandals in places like Minnesota and California drawing national attention, we, as Texans, must examine our own system and see how we measure up to other states.”