Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan announced longtime lobbyist Mike Toomey as his new chief of staff. Toomey is a former lawmaker turned lobbyist who has also served as chief of staff for multiple governors. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry also joined Speaker Phelan’s staff temporarily as a senior advisor. Toomey and Perry were classmates in the Texas House in the 1980s and Toomey later served as chief of staff for Governor Perry.
The Texas House of Representatives will elect its speaker when the legislature convenes January 14, 2025. There are now seven announced candidates including current Speaker Phelan. Republicans David Cook, James Frank, Tom Oliverson, Shelby Slawson, John Smithee and Democrat Ana-Maria Ramos have all announced their intentions to challenge Speaker Phelan for the position.
The Senate Finance Committee received testimony related to the elimination of property taxes and was told it would cost the state approximately $81 billion annually to replace tax. For perspective, the current two-year state budget is approximately $144 billion.
Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the launch of an illegal voting email tipline (illegalvoting@oag.texas.gov) for members of the public to report suspected violations of Texas election law. This follows an announcement by the Texas Secretary of State’s office that it intends to assign state inspectors to Harris County during the November election to observe the handling and counting of ballots and monitoring of election records. The SOS said the decision is the result of a recent audit of Harris County elections from 2021 and 2022.
Steve McCraw, Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, announced his plans to retire at the end of the year. Director McCraw has served as the head of law enforcement for Texas for more than 15 years.