Burrows Rewards Speaker Bid Backers
and Some Foes with Committee Chairs
Capitol Inside
February 13, 2025
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows unveiled his inaugural leadership lineup on Thursday with 26 Republicans who backed his quest for the gavel in the final vote on the floor a month ago and four GOP colleagues who'd opposed him landing chairmanships on standing committees.
The Lubbock Republican who Democrats lifted to victory appointed a half-dozen minority party members to chairs on newly-created subcommittees while naming Democratic State Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso as the speaker pro tempore. Democrats had been prohibited from chairing standing panels for the first time in history as a concession to Republicans who supported State Rep. David Cook for speaker as the party caucus nominee.
In an apparent attempt to underscore a promise to bring warring GOP representatives together, Burrows named Cook as a subcommittee chairman while tapping four of the speaker election loser's supporters - State Reps. Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City, Matt Shaheen of Plano, John Smithee of Amarillo and Cody Vasut of Angleton - to lead standing committees during the 2025 regular session.
Former Speaker Tom Craddick and State Rep. Sam Harless of Houston - who both backed Cook on the initial ballot before switching allegiances to Burrows for the final tally - were selected by Burrows to chair the Transportation Committee and the Corrections Committee respectively. State Rep. David Spiller - a Jacksboro Republican who backed Cook for speaker - scored a subcommittee chairmanship as a key player on the leadership team before bolting so he could support the caucus-endorsed candidate instead in the leadership vote on opening day.
Beaumont Republican Dade Phelan, who served for two terms as speaker before passing the torch to Burrows in December, was selected to chair the Licensing & Administrative Procedures Committee that will oversee casino gambling and sports betting legislation in the Capitol's west wing this year.
Burrows kept State Rep. Greg Bonnen of Friendswood as the chairman of the budget-writing Appropriations Committee while choosing to have State Reps. Brooks Landgraf of Odessa, Jeff Leach of Allen and Morgan Meyer of Dallas continue as the chairs of the Environmental Regulation Committee, the Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence Committee and the Ways & Means Committee respectively. State Rep. Brad Buckley of Salado was named as the Public Education Committee chairman for the second consecutive regular session.
But Burrows reshuffled the chairmanship rosters for some of the other A-list committees with the appointment of State Rep. Todd Hunter of Corpus Christi as the Calendars Committee chair and State Rep. Ken King of Canadian as the State Affairs Committee leader. Hunter chaired the State Affairs Committee before the switch to the calendars panel which he'd led in the past.
Burrows named State Rep. Charlie Geren of Fort Worth as the House Administration Committee chairman - a post that he'd held in the past. Geren replaced Conroe State Rep. Will Metcalf, who landed the Culture, Recreation & Tourism Committee chair instead. The speaker picked State Reps. Drew Darby of San Angelo and Cody Harris of Palestine as the chairs of the Energy Resources Committee and Natural Resources Committee respectively. Burrows picked State Rep. Terry Wilson of Georgetown to lead the Higher Education Committee.
Burrows appointed State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione of Southlake to serve as the chairman of a brand new Delivery of Government Efficiency Committee that's patterned after wealthy South Africa immigrant Elon Musk's DOGE panel at the federal level. State Rep. Angie Chen Button of Garland was named to chair a new Trade, Workforce & Economic Development Committee.
The list of first-time standing committee chairs features State Reps. Cecil Bell Jr. of Magnolia, Jay Dean of Longview, Gary Gates of Richmond, Lacey Hull of Houston, Cole Hefner of Mount Pleasant and Stan Lambert of Abilene along with Shaheen and Vasut.
more to come ...
Agriculture & Livestock - Ryan Guillen Appropriations - Greg Bonnen
Calendars - Todd Hunter
Corrections - Sam Harless
Criminal Jurisprudence
- John Smithee ... S/C - David Cook
Culture, Recreation & Tourism - Will Metcalf
DOGE - Giovanni Capriglione
Elections
- Matt Shaheen
Energy Resources - Drew Darby Environmental Regulation - Brooks Landgraf
General Investigating - Keith Bell
Higher Education - Terry Wilson
Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans Affairs - Cole Hefner ... S/C - Philip Cortez
House Administration - Charlie Geren Human Services - Lacey Hull
Insurance -
Jay Dean
Intergovernmental Affairs -
Cecil Bell ... S/C - David Spiller and Carl Tepper
Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence - Jeff Leach
... S/C - Harold Dutton
Land & Resource Management - Gary Gates
Licensing & Administrative Procedures - Dade Phelan
Local & Consent Calendars
- Jared Patterson
Natural Resources - Cody Harris
Pensions, Investments & Financial Services - Stan Lambert
Public Education - Brad Buckley
... S/C - Trent Ashby
Public Health - Gary VanDeaver
... S/C - James Frank
Redistricting - Cody Vasut
State Affairs - Ken King ... S/C - Rafael Anchia
Trade, Workforce & Economic Development - Angie Chen Button
... S/C - John Lujan and Oscar Longoria
Transportation -
Tom Craddick ... S/C - Terry Canales
Ways & Means
- Morgan Meyer
... S/C - Chris Turner
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