Daily Rundown - March 26, 2026

Howdy folks, today is Thursday, March 26th, and you're listening to the Texans Daily

rundown.

I'm the Texans managing editor Rob Lauchess, and here's the rundown of today's news

in Texas politics.

First up, Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows released his interim committee charges on Thursday,

establishing three new committees and addressing a plethora of issues touching upon government

accountability, Texas infrastructure needs, and hot button social issues.

Interim charges lay the groundwork for what lawmakers in the Texas House and Senate will

focus on leading up to the next legislative session, establishing a means for researching

specific issues in preparation for crafting future legislation.

Officials listed throughout the 53-page catalog include examining health care liability and

gender modification, the water usage of data centers across the state, the operation of

Texas public record systems, the possibility of adding some new Mexico counties to Texas,

various government accountability measures, and several measures aimed at supporting

Texas workforce.

Three new select committees were announced by Burrows, the select committee on governmental

oversight, the select committee on health care affordability, and the select committee on

general aviation.

He stated that these in particular were created, quote, to address issues central to government

accountability, health care access, and rural economic development.

The House select committee on governmental oversight will have over a dozen members with

state representative Cody Vesuit serving as the chair and state representative Armando

Wally as co-chair.

In other news, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick announced the Texas Senate Committee assignments

this week with the exit of five members of the Senate and four chairs.

Patrick also named interim Senate committee members who will serve through the 90th legislative

session.

Patrick announced the creation of the Senate select committee on religious liberty, which

will be made up of chair Phil King, vice chair Angela Paxton, and state senators Cesar

Blanco, Brent Hagenbue, Adam Hinojosa, Brian Hughes, and Charles Perry.

King chaired the committee on economic development in 2025, which will now be chaired by Angela

Paxton.

King will also chaired the committee on homeland and border security per the new assignments.

The 2026 assignments show no category for the committee on jurisprudence.

About the creation of the select committee on religious liberty, Patrick stated that during

his time serving as chairman of President Donald Trump's religious liberty commission

in Washington, D.C., he, quote, learned that many Americans and Texans alike do not fully

understand their God-given religious liberty rights secured under the First Amendment.

Last but not least, a citizen journalist from Laredo who has been fighting a legal case

about her First Amendment rights since 2017 was denied and appealed by the United States

Supreme Court.

This case deals with the increasingly scrutinized issue of qualified immunity as it applies

to public officials when they commit civil rights violations.

Priscilla Villarreal, a self-described, plucky citizen journalist in Laredo, was arrested

in 2017 after she asked a police officer to confirm details of a fatal car accident

and suicide.

The officer voluntarily confirmed the facts Villarreal claimed and then she published them

to her readers.

She claimed that local government officials in Laredo retaliated against her for reporting

that was critical of them.

According to Villarreal's court findings, local officials harassed her and intended to

stifle her reporting.

Villarreal's case was dismissed at the trial court level and the U.S. Court of Appeals

for the Fifth Circuit sided with the police officers that she sued, saying the officials

were entitled to the protection of qualified immunity.

Villarreal appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court first in April 2024.

Thanks for listening.

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