Capitol
Hearings, bills & the Lubbock delegation · Updated 2026-09-06 ⓘ How Capitol works
- Agriculture & Livestock HouseHouse Agriculture & Livestock public hearing June 18. Matched: agriculture, livestock.
- Natural Resources HouseHouse Natural Resources public hearing June 23 on 2 bills including SB 7, HJR 7. Matched: Texas Water Fund, water development board, SB 7, HJR 7.
- Intergovernmental Affairs HouseHouse Intergovernmental Affairs public hearing June 24 on interim charges including Mental Health Impacts, Homelessness, and System Recidivism; Preventing Homelessness of Foster Youth. Matched: mental health.
- Business & Commerce SenateSenate Business & Commerce public hearing June 24 on interim charges including Strengthening Regulatory Oversight and Access to Affordable Insurance for Texans; Fostering Financial Technology Innovation. Matched: broadband.
- Land & Resource Management HouseHouse Land & Resource Management public hearing July 20 on interim charges including Housing Affordability; Third-Party Review. Matched: municipalit, local government, transparency.
- Land & Resource Management HouseHouse Land & Resource Management public hearing July 21 on interim charges including Municipal Utility Districts. Matched: municipal utility, university.
- Finance SenateSenate Finance public hearing July 27 on interim charges including Evaluating Transportation Resources; Rural Fire Protection Funding. Matched: rural.
- Finance SenateSenate Finance public hearing July 28 on interim charges including Higher Education Transparency; Preventing Fraud, Waste, and Abuse. Matched: transparency, higher education.
- Business & Commerce SenateSenate Business & Commerce public hearing July 29 on interim charges including Assessing the State of the Texas Electric Grid; Managing the Impacts of 765-kv Transmission Lines on Private Property Rights. Matched: ERCOT, transmission line, electric grid, transmission, Public Utility Commission.
- Higher Education HouseHouse Higher Education public hearing August 17 on interim charges including Aligning Advising Initiatives. Matched: higher education.
- Agriculture & Livestock HouseHouse Agriculture & Livestock public hearing August 18 on interim charges including Resiliency of Texas Agriculture. Matched: boll weevil, seed, agricultural, agriculture, livestock.
- Higher Education HouseHouse Higher Education public hearing August 18 on interim charges including Increasing Credential Completion; Foreign Adversary Protections in Higher Education. Matched: higher education.
- State Affairs HouseHouse State Affairs public hearing August 19 on interim charges including Data Centers. Matched: transmission.
- Natural Resources HouseHouse Natural Resources public hearing August 24 on interim charges including Innovative Water Supply Strategies. Matched: water supply, water development board.
- S/C on County & Regional Government HouseHouse S/C on County & Regional Government public hearing August 25 on interim charges including Strengthening County Law Enforcement; Medical Examiner Expansion.
- Local Government SenateSenate Local Government public hearing September 1 on interim charges including Examining the Effect of Increasing the Homestead Exemption; Ensuring Transparency in Appraisal District Funding. Matched: appraisal, appraisal district, homestead exemption, local government, transparency.
- Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs SenateSenate Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs public hearing September 1 on interim charges including Assessing the Water Demands of Energy-Intensive Technologies. Matched: Charles Perry, agricultural, agriculture, rural, transparency.
- Finance SenateSenate Finance public hearing September 2 (cancelled) on interim charges including Further Property Tax Cuts. Matched: property tax, homestead exemption.
- Local Government SenateSenate Local Government public hearing September 2 on interim charges including Removing Barriers to Housing Affordability; Holding Local Government Fees Accountable. Matched: local government, transparency.
- Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs SenateSenate Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs public hearing September 2 on interim charges including Managing the Pecos River Basin. Matched: Charles Perry, produced water, irrigation, special district, agriculture.
- Human Services HouseHouse Human Services public hearing September 9 on interim charges including HB 1403; Ensuring Transparency in the Adoption Process and Providing Post-Adoptive Supports for Former Foster Youth. Matched: SB 513.
- Energy Resources HouseHouse Energy Resources public hearing September 14 on interim charges including Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage; Produced Water. Matched: produced water, Railroad Commission.
- Energy Resources HouseHouse Energy Resources public hearing September 15 on interim charges including Preventing Orphaned Wells; P-13 Water Wells Overview. Matched: oil and gas, oil & gas, Railroad Commission.
- Environmental Regulation HouseHouse Environmental Regulation public hearing September 15 on interim charges including Improving the Regulatory Process; Texas Department of State Health Services Agency Oversight. Matched: renewable, HB 3866, HB 4413, SB 2037.
- Ways & Means HouseHouse Ways & Means public hearing September 15 on interim charges including Property Tax Relief; Local Government Spending. Matched: certificates of obligation, property tax, appraisal, appraisal district, homestead exemption.
- Natural Resources SenateSenate Natural Resources public hearing September 21 on interim charges including Ensuring Responsible Renewable Energy Decommissioning. Matched: Kevin Sparks, wind turbine, renewable, decommissioning, oil and gas.
- Economic Development SenateSenate Economic Development public hearing September 22 on interim charges including Ensuring Local Hotel Occupancy Tax Accountability; Strengthening Oversight of Project Finance Zones. Matched: hotel occupancy tax.
- Business & Commerce SenateSenate Business & Commerce public hearing September 30 on interim charges including Modernizing Transmission and Enhancing Affordability; Preventing Unfair Online Ticket Sales Practices. Matched: ERCOT, transmission, transparency.
- Insurance HouseHouse Insurance public hearing October 5 on interim charges including Cost Drivers Impacting Property and Casualty Insurance Premiums; Consumer Protection. Matched: appraisal, transparency, SB 458.
No hearings match.
No matched bills right now. The Legislature is in interim until January 12, 2027; bill prefiling for the 90th Legislature opens November 9, 2026, and this section fills from then.
Follow a bill by number. Its status comes from an index of every bill in the tracked sessions, searched here in your browser.
Your list stays in this browser. Nothing here is sent anywhere.
How Capitol works
Capitol shows what the Texas Legislature is doing that touches Lubbock and West Texas. It is assembled automatically every morning, around 7 AM, from the public record at capitol.texas.gov — committee hearing notices, filed bills and bill actions. No one at Lubbock Lights ranks or selects the items; a fixed set of rules does, and those rules are listed here in full.
What Is Always Included
Our delegation. Every bill authored or sponsored by, and every hearing chaired by: Charles Perry (SD-28, Chair, Senate Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs); Kevin Sparks (SD-31, Chair, Senate Natural Resources); Dustin Burrows (HD-83, Speaker of the House); Carl Tepper (HD-84). Note that as Speaker of the House, Dustin Burrows (HD-83) does not introduce bills or cast votes for bills. Inclusion is coverage, not endorsement.
Watched committees. Every hearing of these committees, whatever the subject. Senate: Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Local Government, Business & Commerce, Education K-16, Finance. House: Natural Resources, Agriculture & Livestock, Land & Resource Management, Intergovernmental Affairs, S/C on County & Regional Government, Energy Resources, State Affairs, Public Education, Appropriations, Higher Education.
What Is Included When It Matches
Place names. Any notice or bill that mentions: Lubbock, Lubbock County, Wolfforth, Shallowater, Slaton, Idalou, Abernathy, New Deal, Ransom Canyon, Buffalo Springs, Frenship, Lubbock ISD, Lubbock-Cooper, Roosevelt ISD, Texas Tech, TTU, Texas Tech University System, TTUHSC, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, South Plains College, South Plains, High Plains, Llano Estacado, Panhandle, West Texas, Reese Technology Center, Lubbock Power & Light, Lubbock Power and Light, LP&L.
Keywords, by group. Any notice or bill caption that contains one of these terms:
- Water: groundwater conservation district, groundwater district, Ogallala, aquifer, playa lake, playa, produced water, brackish, desalination, Texas Water Fund, water infrastructure fund, SWIFT, water rights, rule of capture, irrigation
- Agriculture: cotton, boll weevil, agricultural exemption, agricultural land, right to farm, eminent domain, cattle feeding, feedlot, dairy, CAFO, seed, pesticide, farm-to-market, hemp, THC, consumable hemp
- Energy & utilities: ERCOT, SPP, Southwest Power Pool, transmission line, Permian Basin, reliability plan, wind energy, wind facilit, wind turbine, renewable, decommissioning, oil and gas, oil & gas, severance tax, municipal utility, municipally owned utility, electric rate, electric grid, power plant, certificate of convenience and necessity
- Municipal & county government: annexation, extraterritorial jurisdiction, ETJ, municipal management district, public improvement district, PID, TIRZ, tax increment, reinvestment zone, economic development corporation, Type A, Type B, Chapter 380, Chapter 381, hotel occupancy tax, interlocal, wholesale water, wastewater, impact fee, preemption, home rule, city charter, special district, municipal utility district, MUD, bond election, certificates of obligation
- Public notice & transparency: public notice, legal notice, legal advertising, newspaper of record, Public Information Act, open meetings, open records
- Property tax & finance: property tax, appraisal, appraisal district, homestead exemption, voter-approval, no-new-revenue, school finance, basic allotment, recapture
- Education: education savings account, ESA, voucher, school choice, school safety, teacher pay, teacher compensation, curriculum, UIL, Permanent University Fund, PUF, Texas University Fund, TUF
- Rural health & infrastructure: rural hospital, EMS, emergency medical, physician loan repayment, broadband, BEAD, rural airport, I-27, Interstate 27, Ports-to-Plains, Ports to Plains, state supported living center, Montford
- Elections & courts: election administrator, county election, judicial district, district court, court of appeals, Seventh Court of Appeals
A few broader words (for example “rural”, “university”, “transparency”) are noted on an item only when it already qualified on one of the terms above; they never add an item by themselves.
What This Is Not
Not everything. A hearing outside the watched committees appears only if its notice mentions a place or keyword; a bill appears only while it has had action in the last 90 days. The Legislature is in interim until January 12, 2027; bill prefiling for the 90th Legislature opens November 9, 2026, and the Bills section fills from then.
The one-line summary on each item is built from the committee’s own notice or the bill’s official caption. The chips show which rules matched. Open any item to read the original notice, bill history or text on capitol.texas.gov.
My Bills
Bills you follow are stored only in this browser and are never sent to Lubbock Lights or anyone else. Their status comes from an index of every bill in the tracked sessions that this page downloads whole and searches in your browser.
Suggest A Keyword
If something Lubbock cares about is missing, tell us — the list above is a living document. Email Incoming@LubbockLights.com with “Capitol keyword” in the subject.