Forty-five days remain until the 86th Texas Legislature concludes its business. As the clock continues to click, more and more hot button issues like the budget, school finance, abortion and property tax reform are taking center stage in the news.  Even though most news coverage focuses on these heavily publicized issues, thousands of other bills continue to advance under the radar.

TSCRA government and public affairs staff are closely monitoring more than 700 pieces of legislation that could impact Texas ranchers and property owners. Staff engages with legislators and legislative staff daily on a wide array of issues such as eminent domain, water rights, forced annexation, municipal regulation, animal health, open space property tax valuation, environmental regulation and more.

On the eminent domain front, we reported last week that S.B. 421, heavily supported by TSCRA, was voted favorably from the Texas Senate. Three Senators voted against the legislation – Nathan Johnson (D-Dallas), Jose Menendez (D-San Antonio) and Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood). If any of these Senators represent you, we highly recommend that you contact them to express your disappointment that they abandoned your property rights in favor of oil and gas company profits.

S.B. 421 has now been sent to the House of Representatives and referred to the Committee on Land and Resource Management where it is awaiting a hearing. You can find a list of the committee members here. Please contact these members and urge them to hold a hearing on S.B. 421 as soon as possible!