Texas Legislature: House elects Rep. Dustin Burrows as new speaker
AUSTIN, Texas - Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson opened the regular session of the Texas legislature on Tuesday afternoon. It’s a session that got underway with a slightly different tone and beat.
Texas artist Ted Nugent, also known as a passionate gun rights advocate, kicked things off with a street corner performance.
"I got out of a duck blind to be here this morning, so say thank you uncle Ted," joked Nugent as he began to play his guitar.
Before he left his corner concert, FOX 7 asked Nugent why he decided to send his musical message.
"Well, the 89th legislative session of Texas needs to start acting like Texas," said Nugent.
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Under the capitol dome, Governor Greg Abbott took center stage. He urged lawmakers to cut more taxes and red tape, to improve the foster care system, and pass a school choice plan. He was upbeat, but noted lawmakers were facing $35 billion in budget requests with a $24 billion surplus.
Abbott also made mention of how the previous session did not end well.
"I enjoy joining you in what I hope will be the only session that we have this year," said Gov. Abbott.
The big takeaway on day one, was electing a new Texas House speaker. The GOP majority has been fractured over who should replace Dade Phelan as speaker. A large group came in red shirts to support republican Rep. David Cook, who promised to shut democrats out of leadership positions. During the nomination process, others pushed for a more open statehouse.
"The Partisan campaign was over on Nov. 5, we're here to work with each other, for and with our constituents and our constituents are not just Republicans, not just Democrats, not just independents," said Burrows supporter State Rep. Charlie Geren.
AISD budget deficit and the Texas legislature
The new legislative session starts soon. All this month, 7 On Your Side will be taking a look at some of the big issues at the state capitol. Among them is education after the legislature failed to pass a school funding measures during the last session. As a result, districts across Central Texas are finding themselves "in the red," including Austin ISD
A total of 76 votes were needed to elect a speaker.
On the first ballot, State. Rep Dustin Burrows had 71 votes, David Cook had 56, and democrat Ana Maria Ramos had 23 votes. In the second round of voting, democrats provided the numbers to make Rep. Dustin Burrows the new House Speaker. The vote was Burrows 85 and Cook 55. Nine House members were listed as Not Voting.
Supporters of David Cook promised to campaign against those who didn’t vote for him in the next GOP primary.
In the Senate, things went much smoother. Conroe republican Brandon Creighton was elected President Pro-Tem. In that position, Creighton will be in charge of the state when the governor and Lt. governor are traveling out of Texas.
The sessions last 140 days.
The Source: Information from the 89th session of the Texas Legislature