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Attorney General Ken Paxton and GOP Chairman Abraham George are on a Texas tour rallying support for David Cook as Speaker of the House. Meanwhile, Southern Methodist University is preparing to welcome its new president, Jay Hartzell, who is transitioning from UT Austin. Across the state, Texans are bracing for our annual arctic blast, with ERCOT assuring the public that the power supply will remain stable despite the cold. Finally, Governor Greg Abbott has appointed Jimmy Blacklock as Chief Justice and James P. Sullivan as Justice, Place 2, on the Supreme Court of Texas, with their terms set to expire in 2026
Today’s Insights:
- Ken Paxton Hits the Road to Share His Stance on the Speaker Race
- Goodbye Longhorns, Hello Mustangs
- Cold Temperatures, Confident ERCOT
Ken Paxton Hits the Road to Share His Stance on the Speaker Race
On Monday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Texas GOP Chairman Abraham George launched a statewide tour to publicly support Representative David Cook for Speaker of the House. At a rally in Fort Worth, Paxton and George argued that Cook, who secured support from the House GOP Caucus, should be Speaker over Representative Dustin Burrows. Paxton emphasized that grassroots Republicans want conservatives leading the House, rather than moderate Republicans working with Democrats to choose the Speaker. He criticized the practice of a Speaker being chosen with Democratic votes, claiming it hindered Republican priorities for the past 16 years.
"If the Speakership is controlled by a block of Democratic votes, which it has been since Joe Straus, it prevents Republicans who are elected to get certain things done, from getting their priorities done. That's been happening for the past 16 years and I think this is the first time we've really had the chance to expose that."
- Attorney General Ken Paxton
Paxton and George also called for Republicans to hold all committee chair positions, ending the tradition of including both parties in leadership roles. They urged veteran Republican Representatives Charlie Geren, Giovanni Capriglione, and newcomer John McQueeney to support Cook. Paxton and George made it clear that they aim to challenge any Republican supporting Burrows in future primaries. Paxton stated:
“We need to go after every one of those guys that tells us that they're Republican, but they don't stand up and vote for a Republican speaker”
The full Texas House will vote for Speaker on January 14, with 76 votes needed to win.
Goodbye Longhorns, Hello Mustangs
Jay Hartzell, president of the University of Texas at Austin since 2020, will step down to become the next president of Southern Methodist University in Dallas beginning on June 1st. SMU’s Board of Trustees unanimously selected Hartzell for the role, citing his strong leadership and academic achievements. During his tenure at UT-Austin, Hartzell guided the university through significant growth, including increased academic selectivity, higher graduation rates, and a $1 billion fundraising milestone to support students. His leadership also required navigating high-profile political and cultural tensions that brought national attention to the university, shaping its trajectory during a transformative period. During his tenure, UT-Austin also transition to the Southeastern Conference.
At SMU, Hartzell aims to build on the university’s current momentum, including its successes in academics, athletics, and fundraising. SMU’s leadership highlighted his extensive experience and vision as key to advancing the private university’s goals in a thriving city like Dallas. Hartzell’s move marks a major leadership change in Texas higher education and leaves an open position at UT-Austin. The UT System Board of Regents plans to address the transition in February, with discussions on interim leadership and next steps for the flagship institution.
SMU’s stellar – and rising – national reputation, decades of extraordinary internal and external leadership, strong board of trustees, accomplished alumni, and impressively strong and diverse students and faculty made this an opportunity that Kara and I could not pass up. I look forward to building upon the University’s remarkable momentum and leading SMU into its next era.”
- Jay Hartzell
Cold Temperatures, Confident ERCOT
An arctic blast hit Texas on Monday, plunging temperatures into the low 20s in some areas, but the Electric Reliability Council of Texas has assured residents that power disruptions are not expected this week. Meteorologists predict snow and ice later this week, with North Texas potentially seeing 1 to 5 inches of snow, while Central Texas will likely experience icy conditions. Despite the weather watch issued by ERCOT, the state’s energy reserves remain well above the threshold for emergency measures, ensuring a stable grid.
The National Weather Service cautioned Texans about icy roads, especially from Thursday to Friday, and urged preparedness. The Texas Division of Emergency Management recommended stocking up on groceries, checking on neighbors, and protecting pipes and plants. A polar vortex, which caused the imfamous 2021 Winter Storm Uri, is the source of this cold snap, and although conditions are expected to be frigid, ERCOT remains confident in the state's grid capacity.
Stay up to date with ERCOT metrics here: Grid and Market Conditions
We hope you enjoyed today’s read!
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#44 - Hope Osborn: Building Community for Women in Texas Politics with Pink Granite
Welcome to Episode #44 of Bills & Business. In this episode, Laura Carr, Co-Founder of USLege, sits down with Hope Osborn, Co-Founder of The Pink Granite Foundation.
Hope brings more than a decade of experience across the Texas Capitol, having worked in both chambers, both parties, and in the advocacy world. She shares the story behind The Pink Granite Foundation and how it has grown into a nonpartisan force for uplifting, connecting, and supporting women in Texas politics. From its grassroots beginnings to the impact of the 2025 Pink Granite Party, Hope provides an inside look at how the organization strengthens the political ecosystem.
Laura and Hope explore the nonprofit’s mentorship programs, year-round community-building efforts, and the unique pressures women face working under the dome. Hope offers insight into why women’s leadership in politics matters, how to break down persistent barriers, and what the future looks like for the next generation of female leaders in Texas policymaking.
Don’t forget to subscribe to Bills & Business on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube for more deep dives into Texas policy and business news.
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🎬 Produced by USLege
📞 Want to see USLege in action? Schedule a demo today! https://www.uslege.ai/demo
How to Choose the Right Legislative Bill Tracking Software for Your Organization
Legislative bill tracking software now sits at the center of how modern organizations monitor public policy.
With fast-moving legislation across states and at the federal level, even a single missed update can derail compliance, strategy, and stakeholder communication.
For government affairs, public affairs professionals, and policy professionals, the challenge is no longer finding information.
The real challenge is staying up to date, sorting through massive amounts of data, and acting fast enough to stay ahead of regulatory developments.
Organizations that still rely on manual tracking often miss hearing schedules, committee assignments, and vote movement during an active legislative session.
Those delays lead to rushed analysis, weak talking points, and reduced control over regulatory strategy.
This guide explains how modern legislative and regulatory tracking works, what features matter most, and how to evaluate legislative bill tracking software with confidence.
It also outlines how the right tools help organizations save time, stay informed, and work smarter with fewer resources.
What a Legislative Tracking Platform Actually Does
A legislative tracking platform collects bills, executive orders, and regulatory updates from Congress and state agencies.
It organizes full text, status, hearing schedules, and vote outcomes into a searchable structure.
Instead of searching dozens of sites, users access critical information in a single workspace.
This creates comprehensive coverage across jurisdictions and timeline stages.
Manual Monitoring vs Automated Systems
Manual tracking depends on email newsletters, website checks, spreadsheets, and delayed reports.
Automated tracking legislation systems rely on structured data feeds, continuous search processing, and AI-powered tagging.
This shift allows teams to track bills in real time while reducing reporting lag.
Who Relies on Legislative and Regulatory Tracking Every Day
Government Affairs Teams
Government affairs teams track legislation to advise internal leadership and shape outreach strategy.
They monitor committee hearings, regulatory changes, and voting calendars to anticipate outcomes.
Government Affairs Professionals
Government affairs professionals depend on real-time alerts to prepare briefings, manage stakeholder communication, and coordinate advocacy activity.
Public Affairs Professionals
Public affairs professionals use legislative tracking to stay informed on pending legislation that affects public positioning.
They use alerts, bill summaries, and reports to guide messaging and response timing.
Policy Professionals
Policy professionals analyze regulatory and legislative movement for forecasting and risk modeling.
Core Functions Every System Must Deliver
Real Time Alerts and Notifications
Real-time alerts ensure that no major event is missed.
Users receive status change alerts, hearing alerts, committee movement alerts, and vote alerts.
Many systems also deliver real-time legislative alerts and real-time notifications to multiple team members at once.
Email alerts remain a core communication channel.
Search and Filtering Tools
Strong search features allow users to search by keyword, bill number, sponsor, topic, and date.
Advanced filters allow professionals to track across Congress, agencies, and jurisdictions without manual sorting.
Bill Summaries and Full Text Access
Clear bill summaries help professionals review large volumes of legislation quickly.
Full text access supports detailed analysis when a deeper review is required.
Tracking Across the Full Legislative Process
The legislative process unfolds across many stages.
A strong tracking system follows every phase without delay.
Stages include introduction, committee hearing, committee vote, floor vote, reconciliation, and enactment.
Tracking each stage allows organizations to act with speed and precision.
Why Organizations Struggle Without Proper Tracking
Without reliable legislative tracking, organizations often miss key vote windows and fall behind on regulatory changes.
They lose early access to hearing schedules and waste time on manual legislative research.
Manual tracking also weakens stakeholder engagement and limits the ability to anticipate outcomes.
How AI-Powered Tracking Improves Speed and Accuracy
AI-powered systems classify bills by topic, industry, and risk level.
They reduce noise while increasing signal clarity.
Key AI-powered functions include automated tagging, predictive analysis, sentiment scoring, and impact forecasting.
This allows teams to anticipate policy shifts instead of reacting after passage.
Staying Ahead in Fast-Moving Legislative Environments
Fast-moving legislation often changes direction within days.
Organizations that stay ahead rely on continuous data intake and structured alerts.
To stay ahead consistently, teams must track daily activity, review bill movement, monitor committee assignments, and track hearing schedules.
Teams that do not stay ahead often miss early influence windows.
Jurisdictional Scope and Data Integrity
Federal Level Coverage
Federal-level tracking focuses on Congress, agencies, and executive orders.
These updates guide national strategy and compliance planning.
State and Local Monitoring
State and municipal legislation often moves faster than federal legislation.
Multi-jurisdiction tracking legislation tools allow organizations to track overlapping regulatory exposure while staying fully up to date.
The Role of Data in Modern Bill Monitoring
Data drives every element of tracking software.
It supports alerts, reports, dashboards, and compliance workflows.
Reliable data strengthens legislative analysis, regulatory monitoring, stakeholder analysis, and long-term strategy planning.
Reports, Analysis, and Action Planning
Strong report functions turn raw data into usable insights.
Reports guide leadership decisions at every level of the organization.
Common reports include daily legislative summaries, weekly regulatory reports, stakeholder briefings, and executive updates.
Advanced analysis allows teams to compare date ranges, sponsors, committees, and historical vote behavior.
Supporting Advocacy and Government Relations
Advocacy relies on early awareness and quick response.
Government relations teams depend on tracking to coordinate outreach tools, stakeholder engagement, and talking points.
Legislative tracking strengthens government relations by improving access to bill summaries, hearing schedules, and pending legislation updates.
Real Time Workflow Management
Real-time alerts flow into shared team workflows.
Every alert triggers review, analysis, and response.
Real-time notifications help assign internal owners, trigger review cycles, support rapid response, and prevent missed deadlines.
This structure allows the organization to maintain control under pressure.
Managing Regulatory Risk Through Continuous Monitoring
Regulatory risk increases when organizations track sporadically.
Continuous regulatory tracking reduces exposure by keeping leadership informed of regulatory changes.
Regulatory monitoring supports compliance alignment, internal controls, and audit readiness.
Integration With Internal Systems
Modern tracking software integrates with CRM systems, internal dashboards, compliance platforms, and reporting tools.
This improves access to legislative and regulatory data across the organization while reducing manual data entry.
Search, Review, and Control Functions
Search tools help teams locate relevant bills quickly.
Review workflows to ensure accuracy and relevance.
Control layers protect access across departments.
Key Evaluation Criteria for Selecting a Platform
Usability for Professionals
Professionals require intuitive dashboards, fast search, clear alerts, and low learning curves.
Usability directly impacts adoption and performance.
Customization for Each Organization
Every organization tracks different legislation.
Customization allows industry-specific focus, regional tracking, alert priorities, and tailored reports.
Cost, Spend, and Resource Allocation
Pricing affects total spend.
Automation reduces manual effort and helps teams save time while operating with less time investment.
Team Collaboration and Communication
Tracking systems support collaboration across the full team.
Shared alerts, shared reports, and shared review processes improve transparency and alignment.
Stakeholder Management and Client Communication
Stakeholders expect timely updates.
Clients rely on clear reports to guide compliance and planning.
Tracking platforms support stakeholder trust, client communication, and strategic confidence.
Avoiding Missed Opportunities and Compliance Failures
Organizations without structured tracking often miss hearings, deadlines, amendments, and engagement windows.
Every missed update increases both legal and operational risk.
Staying Informed in High-Volume Legislative Cycles
High-volume legislative sessions demand continuous monitoring.
To stay informed, teams rely on automated alerts, daily reports, and real-time legislative alerts.
Strategic Use of Legislative and Regulatory Tracking
Legislative and regulatory tracking supports long-term policy strategy, compliance planning, advocacy positioning, and organizational risk management.
Using Tracking to Anticipate Policy Shifts
Anticipation depends on trend analysis, sponsor behavior review, historical vote patterns, and committee movement tracking.
These insights help organizations remain one step ahead.
Managing High Bill Volume With Limited Resources
Congress and state legislatures introduce thousands of bills each year.
Tracking software allows organizations to manage this volume with fewer resources and stronger control.
Accuracy, Speed, and Critical Information Flow
Accuracy ensures trust in decisions.
Speed ensures timely action.
Critical information must flow without interruption to all stakeholders.
Supporting Long-Term Strategy With Continuous Data
Continuous data monitoring aligns regulatory planning with business strategy.
It prevents reactive behavior and supports proactive positioning.
Future Direction of Legislative and Regulatory Monitoring
The future is driven by deeper AI-powered analytics, faster real-time alerts, broader data interoperability, and stronger predictive analysis.
These advances will further improve organizational readiness.
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#43 - Wes Benedict: Bridging Policy and Community with Texans for Reasonable Solutions
Welcome to Episode #43 of Bills & Business. In this episode, Laura Carr, Co-Founder of USLege, sits down with Wes Benedict, Grassroots Manager at Texans for Reasonable Solutions.
Wes brings years of advocacy experience and a steady, practical approach to community engagement. The conversation explores how Texas communities can navigate political tension, build cross-partisan coalitions, and create space for meaningful dialogue in an increasingly polarized environment.
They dive into the organization’s focus on key statewide issues including housing, infrastructure, water, and the evolving relationship between local and state governments. Wes breaks down why these policies matter for both everyday Texans and the business community, and how reasonable, bipartisan solutions can move conversations forward.
The episode closes with insights on how individuals can get involved, what success looks like in grassroots policy work, and what Texans should be watching as the special session unfolds.
Don’t forget to subscribe to Bills & Business on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube for more deep dives into Texas policy and business news.
📲 Follow Laura Carr
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🛍️ ShopMy: https://shopmy.us/shop/lauraluise?Section_title=latest-finds&tab=collections
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🔗 Links: https://lauraluise.carrd.co/
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💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uslege-ai/
🎧 Subscribe to Bills & Business
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▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BillsandBusiness
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🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/bills-and-business-by-uslege/id1781059329
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📲 Follow Wes Benedict
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💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wes-benedict/
🎬 Produced by USLege
📞 Want to see USLege in action? Schedule a demo today! https://www.uslege.ai/demo
Texas Political Spotlight
Welcome back, friends
Michael and Susan Dell’s unprecedented $6.25 billion pledge to expand federal “Trump Accounts” aims to boost long-term savings for 25 million American children. In Lubbock, Texas Tech’s new classroom restrictions on race, gender identity, and sexuality have ignited an immediate clash over academic freedom and curriculum control. And in Northeast Texas, Rep. Gary VanDeaver’s decision not to seek reelection opens a pivotal Republican primary.
We hope you enjoyed today’s read!
Texas Political Spotlight
Welcome back, friends
Texas voters approved one of the largest property tax relief packages in state history on Tuesday, raising the homestead exemption to $140,000 and granting new tax breaks for seniors, people with disabilities, and small businesses. In Austin, residents rejected Proposition Q, a plan to fund public safety, homelessness programs, and city facility initiatives through a property tax hike, forcing city leaders to rework the budget and brace for service cuts. Meanwhile, Bexar County voters narrowly passed Propositions A and B, greenlighting up to $311 million in tourism-funded support for a new downtown Spurs arena and upgrades to the Freeman Coliseum grounds.
We hope you enjoyed today’s read!
Texas Political Spotlight
Welcome back friends,
Former Vice President Dick Cheney, one of the most influential and controversial figures in modern American politics, has died at 84, remembered by former President George W. Bush as a “patriot” whose intellect and conviction shaped decades of U.S. policy. In Texas, the Education Agency announced a sweeping takeover of Fort Worth ISD, the state’s second-largest intervention, citing years of academic underperformance and plans to install new local managers. And in Washington, a United Airlines flight was evacuated after a bomb threat, prompting an FBI investigation that later found no explosives, allowing operations to resume safely.
We hope you enjoyed today’s read!
