Aggies in the Legislature tapped for committee chairs

The 89^th Legislative Session is well underway, and important decisions impacting Texas A&M University will be made before the legislature adjourns on or before June 2.

This session, 21 Aggies are serving as members of the Legislature, representing their districts and the entire Aggie Network in the Texas Senate (two members) and the Texas House of Representatives (19 members).

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick announced the Senate committee assignments on Jan. 17, with House committee assignments from Speaker Dustin Burrows following on Feb. 13. Several members of the Aggie Legislative Caucus were tapped to lead committees, subcommittees and working groups.

Both Aggie senators are serving as committee chairs this session, with Sen. Pete Flores ’83 leading the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice and Sen. Paul Bettencourt ’80 leading the Senate Committee on Local Government. Bettencourt was also tapped to lead the Article III – Higher Education workgroup on the Senate Finance Committee, which will make recommendations on funding for Texas public higher education institutions for the FY 26-27 biennium.

In the House, 10 committee will be chaired or vice-chaired by former students:

• Agriculture and Livestock – Ryan Guillen ’00
• Appropriations – Greg Bonnen ’88
• Corrections – Venton Jones ’06 (Vice Chair)
• Criminal Jurisprudence – Gene Wu ’00 (Vice Chair)
• Environmental Regulation – Brooks Landgraf ’03
• Higher Education – Terry Wilson ’88
• Local and Consent Calendars – Jared Patterson ’05
• Natural Resources – Cody Harris ’06
• Public Education – Brad Buckley ’89
• Redistricting – Cody Vasut ’09

Three additional Aggies were appointed as chair or vice-chair of permanent subcommittees in the 89^th Legislature:

• Academic and Career-Oriented Education (permanent standing subcommittee of Public Education) – Trent Ashby ’95
• Disease Prevention and Women’s and Children’s Health (permanent standing subcommittee of Public Health) – James Frank ’89
• Family and Fiduciary Relationships (permanent standing subcommittee of Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence) – Richard Hayes ’76 (Vice Chair)

A fourth subcommittee, led by Rep. Stan Kitzman ’88, is the subcommittee on Article III under the House Appropriations Committee. In the state budget, Article III appropriates all funds for public colleges and universities, as well as K-12 public education.

As a public institution of higher education, Texas A&M University depends on state support to fulfill its core mission of educating Texans and creating leaders for tomorrow. The investment from the Texas Legislature in the last legislative session enabled Texas A&M and other public institutions of higher education to freeze tuition for the FY 24-25 biennium.

We thank the Legislature for its support of higher education and send a "gig 'em" to our Aggie Legislative Caucus members for the remainder of the 89th Legislative Session!