In G/T news, the House has passed HCR 64 (Curry), which designates the first week of April as G/T Week for the next ten years. The Senate companion bill, SCR 23 (Parker), was also heard in committee on Monday. The next step is for the Senate to pass it out of committee, consider it on the floor, and then send it to the Governor's desk for signature.

In budget news, both the House and Senate have appointed members to the conference committee for SB 1 (Huffman). The Senate members are Huffman, Creighton, Kolkhost, Nichols and Schwertner. The House members are Bonnen, Gonzalez, M., Kitzman, Orr and Walle. They will now start deliberating in this small group to iron out the differences in the conference committee. 

In Public Education news, the House debated its public school finance package—HB 2 (Buckley) and HB 3 (Buckley). After 10 hours of debate on Wednesday, HB 2 passed with a vote of 144–4. The bill increases the basic allotment by $395, provides teacher pay raises, and allocates additional funding for special education. HB 3, which passed by a vote of 85–63, allocates $1 billion to establish an ESA program in Texas. An amendment proposing to send the decision to voters failed to pass. Both bills now head to the Senate, where lawmakers may either approve them as passed or substitute their own versions, potentially prompting a conference committee. The two chambers remain divided on these key issues.

HB 977 (Noble) and SB 1613 (Johnson) - the two bills that would double the % of G/T are both awaiting a committee hearing.