Democrats Have Less Power in House
Despite Claims to Contrary on the Right
Standing Texas House Committees
Standing Committees by Member
Capitol Inside
February 16, 2025
State Rep. Brian Harrison - a Midlothian Republican who's GOP Speaker Dustin Burrows' most relentless critic - had colleagues making Chicken Little and Pinocchio jokes when he claimed during the weekend that Democrats would be calling the shots in the Texas House during the regular session this year.
"Imagine being a Republican who voted for a rules package that gave DEMOCRATS control of ALL House committees," Harrison contended in a post on X on Saturday. "Sadly, most House Republicans did... because “leadership” told them to."
The Democrats haven't gone anywhere near as far as Harrison in post-mortem assessments of the partisan power balance in the Texas Capitol's west wing as a result of the new speaker's leadership roster. But State Rep. Gene Wu of Houston is portraying the assignments as a win-win as the House Democratic caucus chairman based on a half-dozen chairmanships on permanent subcommittees and a sweep of the vice-chairs on standing committees in the Texas Capitol's west wing. Wu would have dramatically underestimated the sway that Democrats wield now there if Harrison had been telling the truth in a series of social media posts on the minority party members taking over in the House as a consquence of actions by the Republican leadership team.
But a Capitol Inside analysis of the first Burrows committee lineup found that Democrats actually have less clout in the House in 2025 than they'd had at any point up to now under 22 years of Republican rule. After leading eight to 12 standing House committees in regular sessions with Republican speakers at the helm, the Democrats who carried Burrows across the finish line in leadership election last month didn't receive a single chairmanship on a standing committee this time around.
The Democrats for the record scored a grand total of six chairmanships on subcommittees from the Lubbock Republican who rode them to victory in January. Democrats landed 30 standing panel vice-chairs and six more VCs on permanent subcommittees. Burrows put a cherry on the Democrats' haul when he named State Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso as the speaker pro tem.
Vice-chairs always have been token titles that were good for little more than bullet points for campaign advertising at best. Same goes for the position of speaker pro tempore. These posts are ceremonial at best. To compare a standing committee chair to a subcommittee boss in terms of power would be disingenuous. To give vice-chairs the same weight as standing committee and subcommittee chairmanships when gauging power in the House would be deceiving and ludicrous.
The truth is, the Democrats did about as well as they could hope in the Burrows committee sweepsakes considering the current environment and the chamber's substantial shift to the right in the 2024 election. Burrows wouldn't won have the gavel without the Democrats.
But Burrows declined to give the Democrats a majority on any of 42 standing committees and subcommittees in the House. The speaker gave the GOP one seat more than Democrats on 17 standing panels while Republicans had larger majorities on most of the major committees. The Democrats were in no position to complain, however, after voting almost unanimously for the rules package with the new committee system a week after the speaker's election.
But Burrows gave House members who opposed him in January more seats on eight committees and two subcommittees than those who backed his bid for the gavel. Republicans who voted for State Rep. David Cook of Mansfield in the leadership contest are chairing. Cook and four Republicans who supported him for speaker landed subcommittee chairs while four other GOP members who backed him as the party caucus nominee were appointed to chairmanships on standing panels.
You could tell what the least important committees will be in the speaker's mind based on the number of Cook supporters that he selected versus those who supported him for the dais.
* Corrections - The committee that oversees the state prison system has four Democrats who backed Burrows for speaker and five Republicans who voted for Cook instead. A pair of freshmen Republicans who had no experience - State Reps. David Lowe of Fort Worth and Trey Wharton of Richmand - landed seniority appointments to the corrections panel. But Burrows may have seen this committee more as a dumping ground for discontents when he appointed his three most strident detractors in Republican State Reps. J.M. Lozano of Kingsville and Nate Schatzline of Fort Worth to the panel along with Harrison. GOP State Rep. Sam Harless of Houston is the chairman of the committee and its only Republican who supported Burrows for speaker on the regular session's opening day. But Harless wasnt a diehard Burrows loyalist - having voted initially for Cook before switching to the winner in a runoff.
* Criminal Jurisprudence - All six Republicans on this committee supported Cook for speaker. The panel includes four Democrats who voted for Burrows including Wu along with a fifth Democrat who did not support either one of the Republicans who were competing for the chamber's top leadership post. Veteran GOP State Rep. John Smithee of Amarillo is chairing the criminal justice panel after backing Cook for speaker.
* Agriculture & Livestock - This committee has six House members who opposed Burrows in the election on January 14. That includes GOP State Rep. Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City as the chairman. The panel has one Democrat and two Republicans who voted for the winner in the leadership fight. Burrows ensured that Cook backers would have a majority when he appointed rookie Republican State Reps. Andy Hopper of Decatur and Brent Money of Greenville along with a former ally in State Rep. Briscoe Cain of Deer Park to the panel. State Rep. Don McLaughlin - a Uvalde Republican who has no seniority in his freshman session - scored a seniority appointment to the agriculture panel.
* Delivery of Government Efficiency - The standing committee that House leaders modeled after the Elon Musk group contains eight Republicans and six Democrats. The DOGE has one Republican who supported Burrows for speaker in the chairman - State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione of Southlake. The other seven Republicans on the panel voted for Cook. GOP State Rep. Briscoe Cain of Deer Park and Cook landed seats on the DOGE committee through seniority appointments. A handful of other Republicans who supported the caucus candidate - State Reps. Daniel Alders of Tyler, Pat Curry of Waco, Mike Olcott of Aledo, Tony Tinderholt of Angleton and Ellen Troxclair of Lakeway - scored appointments from the speaker to the new standing panel.
* Elections - Four of five Republicans on the elections committee voted for Cook for speaker. One of the four Democrats on the standing panel that handles voting issues voted for Cook as well. The chairman - GOP State Rep. Matt Shaheen of Plano - ended up on the losing side in the speaker's vote as well. So Republicans have a 5-4 advantage over Democrats on the elections committee and Cook supporters in the leadership election control five of the nine seats.
* Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans Affairs - The committee with the longest name has eight Republicans and three Democrats. But seven of the homeland panel's GOP members backed Cook for speaker over Burrows. The committee's only other Republican is the chairman - State Rep. Cole Hefner of Mount Pleasant - a Burrows ally and lieutenant on the debut leadership team. Burrows appointed four Republicans who'd voted for Cook to the panel including a trio of freshmen in State Reps. Janice Holt of Silsbee, AJ Louderback of Victoria and Don McLaughlin of Uvalde. Two Republicans who have no experience as first-term lawmakers won seniority appointments to Hefner's committee.
* Public Health Juvenile Justice Subcommittee - All of the new panel's three Republican members voted for Cook including the caucus nominee himself. Cook is the chairman. The subcommittee has two Democrats with Wu as a speaker appointee. Burrows also tapped a pair of freshmen Republicans for the permanent standing subcommittee that deals with crime among kids in State Rep. Wes Virdell of Brady and Louderback.
more to come ...
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