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Howdy folks, today is Thursday, March 26th, and you're listening to the Texans Daily
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I'm the Texans managing editor Rob Lauchess, and here's the rundown of today's news
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First up, Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows released his interim committee charges on Thursday,
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establishing three new committees and addressing a plethora of issues touching upon government
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accountability, Texas infrastructure needs, and hot button social issues.
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Interim charges lay the groundwork for what lawmakers in the Texas House and Senate will
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focus on leading up to the next legislative session, establishing a means for researching
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specific issues in preparation for crafting future legislation.
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Officials listed throughout the 53-page catalog include examining health care liability and
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gender modification, the water usage of data centers across the state, the operation of
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Texas public record systems, the possibility of adding some new Mexico counties to Texas,
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various government accountability measures, and several measures aimed at supporting
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Three new select committees were announced by Burrows, the select committee on governmental
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oversight, the select committee on health care affordability, and the select committee on
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He stated that these in particular were created, quote, to address issues central to government
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accountability, health care access, and rural economic development.
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The House select committee on governmental oversight will have over a dozen members with
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state representative Cody Vesuit serving as the chair and state representative Armando
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In other news, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick announced the Texas Senate Committee assignments
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this week with the exit of five members of the Senate and four chairs.
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Patrick also named interim Senate committee members who will serve through the 90th legislative
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Patrick announced the creation of the Senate select committee on religious liberty, which
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will be made up of chair Phil King, vice chair Angela Paxton, and state senators Cesar
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Blanco, Brent Hagenbue, Adam Hinojosa, Brian Hughes, and Charles Perry.
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King chaired the committee on economic development in 2025, which will now be chaired by Angela
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King will also chaired the committee on homeland and border security per the new assignments.
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The 2026 assignments show no category for the committee on jurisprudence.
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About the creation of the select committee on religious liberty, Patrick stated that during
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his time serving as chairman of President Donald Trump's religious liberty commission
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in Washington, D.C., he, quote, learned that many Americans and Texans alike do not fully
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understand their God-given religious liberty rights secured under the First Amendment.
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Last but not least, a citizen journalist from Laredo who has been fighting a legal case
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about her First Amendment rights since 2017 was denied and appealed by the United States
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This case deals with the increasingly scrutinized issue of qualified immunity as it applies
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to public officials when they commit civil rights violations.
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Priscilla Villarreal, a self-described, plucky citizen journalist in Laredo, was arrested
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in 2017 after she asked a police officer to confirm details of a fatal car accident
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The officer voluntarily confirmed the facts Villarreal claimed and then she published them
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She claimed that local government officials in Laredo retaliated against her for reporting
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that was critical of them.
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According to Villarreal's court findings, local officials harassed her and intended to
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stifle her reporting.
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Villarreal's case was dismissed at the trial court level and the U.S. Court of Appeals
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for the Fifth Circuit sided with the police officers that she sued, saying the officials
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were entitled to the protection of qualified immunity.
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Villarreal appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court first in April 2024.
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Thanks for listening.
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