89th Texas Legislature

89th Texas Legislature
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The Seal of Texas
Overview
Legislative body	Texas State Legislature
Jurisdiction	Texas
Term	January 14, 2025 – June 2, 2025
Election	2024 general election
Senate
Members	31
President of the Senate	Dan Patrick (R)
Party control	Republican
House of Representatives
Members	150
Speaker	Dustin Burrows (R–83)
Party control	Republican
Sessions
1st July 21, 2025 – August 15, 2025 2nd August 15, 2025 – September 4, 2025

The 89th Texas Legislature is the meeting of the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Texas, composed of the Texas Senate and the Texas House of Representatives. The regular session ended on June 2, 2025.[1]

All 150 seats in the Texas House of Representatives and 15 seats in the Texas Senate were up for election in November 2024, with Republicans continuing their majority in both chambers.

• January 14, 2025: Legislature convened at noon (CST).
• June 2, 2025: Legislature adjourned sine die.
• July 21, 2025: 1st Called Session began.
• August 15, 2025: 2nd Called Session began.

House vote for Speaker[2]
For Burrows (85) For Cook (55) Not voting (10)

On September 10, 2024, prior to the 2024 election, 48 house Republicans who opposed Phelan unanimously chose David Cook[3] of the 96th district as the reformer-endorsed candidate in the next speakership election.[4][5] Phelan was expected to seek support from Democrats in order to remain as speaker, but ultimately opted out of seeking a third term as speaker.[6][7] Dustin Burrows of the 83rd district, an ally of Phelan, sought the speakership, relying on the support of Democratic representatives and Republicans who defeated primary challengers.[8] On January 14, 2025, Burrows was elected Texas House Speaker after 49 Democrats joined 36 Republicans to back him in the second round of voting, defeating Cook by a vote of 85 to 55.[9]

On July 21, 2025 the legislature began a special session called by the Governor to address several issues including natural disaster relief, THC regulation, restricting abortion medication, and congressional redistricting.[10] On August 3, Texas House Democrats left the state in order to prevent a quorum from meeting and voting on a new congressional map that heavily favored the Republican party.[11] On August 4th, when the roll call showed that the chamber lacked a quorum, a call of the house was issued and the Speaker signed civil arrest warrants to try and secure the return of the absent members.[12] Since the absent members were not within the state, the warrants were mostly symbolic. Due to rules enacted after the last quorum break in the 87th Legislature, the absent members were subject to $500 a day fines.[13] On August 7, Senator John Cornyn announced that the FBI had agreed to assist in reestablishing quorum.[14]

Republican leadership in the state have initiated lawsuits against the missing Democrats. They argue that by leaving the state, the absent members have vacated their seats.[15][16] The Supreme Court of Texas is currently examining the question, but a ruling is not expected until after the first called session is complete.[17]

Given the national implications of the proposed congressional maps in the 2026 midterm elections, other states have threatened to also redraw their maps in partisan retaliation. Democratic leadership in California and New York have signaled their intent to counteract Republican gains.[18][19] Republican leadership in Missouri and Florida have also discussed their plans to join in the redistricting push.[20][21]

The quorum break ended on August 18. The House Democrats returned to the capitol after the first called session was ended, and California committed to introducing redistricting legislation to offset the partisan gains of the new Texas congressional maps.[22][23] In order to ensure that a quorum would be present in order to allow a vote on the new maps, the members who had participated in the break had to sign a permission slip to leave the building. Once they left the building, they would be escorted by a state trooper who would make sure they return. At least one member, Nicole Collier, refused to agree with the police escort and had to remain in the building overnight. [24] After the House voted out the new maps on August 20, the call of the house expired and members were able to move freely without the escort.

At the end of the second called session, the House changed its rules to further increase the penalties incurred on lawmakers who break quorum. These new penalties include increased fines, prohibitions on political fundraising, and potential loss of seniority and committee positions.[25]

Membership map of 89th Texas Senate from January 2025 to June 2025 Membership map of 89th Texas Senate from June 2025 to October 2025 Membership map of 89th Texas Senate from October 2025 to January 2026 Membership map of 89th Texas Senate from January 2026 to present

Affiliation	Party (shading indicates majority caucus)		Total	Vacant
	Democratic	Republican
End of previous legislature	12	19	31	0
Begin (January 14, 2025)	11	20	31	0
June 18, 2025[a]	11	19	30	0
October 2, 2025[b]	11	18	29	0
Latest voting share	35.48%	64.52%

• President of the Senate: Dan Patrick (R)
• President Pro Tempore:

1. Brandon Creighton (R) (Regular session, January 14 – June 2)
2. Charles Perry (R) (Ad Interim, June 2 – Present)

• Majority Leader: Tan Parker (R)
• Minority Leader: Carol Alvarado (D)

Affiliation	Party (shading indicates majority caucus)		Total	Vacant
	Democratic	Republican
End of previous legislature	64	86	150	0
Begin (January 14, 2025)	62	88	150	0
Latest voting share	41.3%	58.7%

• Speaker of the House: Dustin Burrows (R)
• Speaker Pro Tempore: Joe Moody (D)
• Majority Leader: Tom Oliverson (R)
• Minority Leader: Gene Wu (D)

Listed by chamber and then alphabetically by committee name, including chair and vice-chair.

On January 17, Dan Patrick, the President of the Texas Senate, announced the standing committee assignments.[29]

Committee	Chair	Vice-chair
Administration	Bob Hall (R-2)	Adam Hinojosa (R-27)
Border Security	Brian Birdwell (R-22)	Pete Flores (R-24)
Business and Commerce	Charles Schwertner (R-5)	Phil King (R-10)
Criminal Justice	Pete Flores (R-24)	Tan Parker (R-12)
Economic Development	Phil King (R-10)	Kevin Sparks (R-31)
Education K-16	Brandon Creighton (R-4)	Donna Campbell (R-25)
Finance	Joan Huffman (R-17)	Juan Hinojosa (D-20)
Health and Human Services	Lois Kolkhorst (R-18)	Charles Perry (R-28)
Jurisprudence	Bryan Hughes (R-1)	Nathan Johnson (D-16)
Local Government	Paul Bettencourt (R-7)	Mayes Middleton (R-11)
Natural Resources	Brian Birdwell (R-22)	Judith Zaffirini (D-21)
Nominations	Donna Campbell (R-25)	Brent Hagenbuch (R-30)
State Affairs	Bryan Hughes (R-1)	Angela Paxton (R-8)
Transportation	Robert Nichols (R-3)	Royce West (D-23)
Veteran Affairs	Kelly Hancock (R-9)	Tan Parker (R-12)
Water, Agriculture & Rural Affairs	Charles Perry (R-28)	Kelly Hancock (R-9)

Prior to the 89th Legislature, the Texas House had a longstanding tradition of granting a number of committee chairmanships to members of the minority party. However, during the campaign for Speaker of the House David Cook and other Republicans campaigned on the issue of requiring committee chairmanships to go to members of the majority party.[30] The compromise solution implemented by the newly elected Speaker Burrows was in addition to the banning of minority party chairmen all vice-chairs were to be members of the minority party. There were also newly created permanent standing subcommittees which did not have the same restriction on leadership membership.[31]

On February 13, Burrows announced the assignments for the following standing committees.[32]

Committee	Chair	Vice Chair
Agriculture & Livestock	Ryan Guillen (R-31)	Robert Guerra (D-41)
Appropriations	Greg Bonnen (R-24)	Mary E. González (D-104)
Calendars	Todd Hunter (R-32)	Toni Rose (D-110)
Corrections	Sam Harless (R-126)	Venton Jones (D-100)
Criminal Jurisprudence	John Smithee (R-86)	Gene Wu (D-137)
Culture, Recreation & Tourism	Will Metcalf (R-16)	Lulu Flores (D-51)
Delivery of Government Efficiency	Giovanni Capriglione (R-98)	Salman Bhojani (D-92)
Elections	Matt Shaheen (R-66)	John Bucy III (D-136)
Energy Resources	Drew Darby (R-72)	Eddie Morales (D-74)
General Investigating	Keith Bell (R-4)	Erin Gámez (D-38)
Higher Education	Terry Wilson (R-20)	Donna Howard (D-48)
Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans' Affairs	Cole Hefner (R-5)	Ray Lopez (D-125)
House Administration	Charlie Geren (R-99)	Sheryl Cole (D-46)
Human Services	Lacey Hull (R-138)	Christian Manuel (D-22)
Insurance	Jay Dean (R-7)	Hubert Vo (D-149)
Intergovernmental Affairs	Cecil Bell (R-3)	Erin Zwiener (D-45)
Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence	Jeff Leach (R-67)	Ann Johnson (D-134)
Land & Resource Management	Gary Gates (R-28)	Suleman Lalani (D-76)
Licensing & Administrative Procedures	Dade Phelan (R-21)	Senfronia Thompson (D-141)
Local & Consent Calendars	Jared Patterson (R-106)	Rhetta Bowers (D-113)
Natural Resources	Cody Harris (R-8)	Armando Martinez (D-39)
Pensions, Investments & Financial Services	Stan Lambert (R-71)	Mihaela Plesa (D-70)
Public Education	Brad Buckley (R-54)	Diego Bernal (D-123)
Public Health	Gary VanDeaver (R-1)	Elizabeth Campos (D-119)
Redistricting	Cody Vasut (R-25)	Jon Rosenthal (D-135)
State Affairs	Ken King (R-88)	Ana Hernandez (D-143)
Trade, Workforce & Economic Development	Angie Button (R-112)	James Talarico (D-50)
Transportation	Tom Craddick (R-82)	Mary Ann Perez (D-144)
Ways & Means	Morgan Meyer (R-108)	Trey Martinez Fischer(D-116)

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