Texas Legislative Session Update From Texas Commission on the Arts

Texas’ 87th Session will wrap up at the end of this month. Currently, the budgets proposed for TCA remain as they were introduced in House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 1. Senate Bill 1 cuts $2 million per year from TCA’s Cultural District Projects budget but House Bill 1 does not. Neither bill restores the 5% cut with the House and Senate.  

 The differences between the two bills will be addressed and reconciled by a conference committee made up of five members each of the House and Senate. The Conference Committee members are Senators Jane Nelson (Chair, Flower Mound), Joan Huffman (Houston), Lois Kolkhorst (Brenham), Robert Nichols (Jacksonville), and Larry Taylor (Friendswood) and Representatives Greg Bonnen (Chair, Friendswood), Giovanni Capriglione (Southlake), Mary González (Clint), Armando Walle (Houston), and Terry Wilson (Marble Falls). Senator Huffman & Representative González will be working most directly on resolving TCA’s budget differences. You can use this page to follow the progress of each bill.  

Since the Texas Legislature meets biennially, it will make decisions on two years’ worth of State budgeting, including TCA’s budget for fiscal year 2022 (September 1, 2021-August 31, 2022) and fiscal year 2023 (September 1, 2022-August 31, 2023). The Legislative Session will end on May 31.