Since 2015, bills proposing the establishment of a law school in the Rio Grande Valley have never gotten past the Higher Education Committee of the Texas State Senate, but a local lawmaker is hoping this year will be different.
State Rep. Armando “Mando” Martinez (D-Weslaco) proposed House Bill 1077 for the 88th Texas Legislature, relating to the establishment of a public law school in the Valley. In late 2020, Martinez proposed the same bill as House Bill 695.
He said there is no difference between the bills.
“It’s been stalled there in the Senate, but we’re gonna attempt again,” Martinez said in an interview with The Rider last Tuesday. “Obviously, the House understands the purpose and the nature, and why we need one in the Rio Grande Valley, being a law school, and we are definitely refiling again and making sure it comes out of the Senate.”
Asked why he believed House Bill 695 stalled in the Senate, Martinez replied that it was possibly because there was not a “senator that could actually push the bill the way we wanted to.”
“It only makes sense for us to also have a law school like everybody else,” he said. “You know, we’re a large area, and I think our students deserve it. I believe our constituents deserve it. The Rio Grande Valley deserves it. It is our job as representatives and senators to make sure that our people are represented appropriately and bringing those educational opportunities to them.”
The bill has been filed and is waiting to be sent to a committee for hearing. Once in a committee, the bill will be heard and, if passed, it goes to the House floor for debate and sent to the Senate for the same process, according to Martinez.
In other Legislature news, the Senate Committee on Finance held its first public hearing Jan. 30.
State Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston), chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, said if there was one word to describe the state fiscal matter heading into the next budget cycle, it would be “unprecedented.”
“Over the last few years, our state has managed a steep economic downturn due to the pandemic,” Huffman said during the committee’s hearing, which was livestreamed. “Tens of billions of new federal COVID-19 relief funds, massive inflation and we are now looking at unprecedented amounts of revenue to the state. Our committee’s biggest challenge this session will be how to use this unprecedented revenue to craft a responsible budget that is sustainable in future years.”
State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (D-McAllen), vice chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, said the state of Texas hit a $32.7 billion surplus.
“[But] because of the constitutional limit, we can only spend approximately $12.5 billion of that money,” Hinojosa said in an interview with The Rider last Wednesday. “So, we still have the capacity of about $4 billion for general spending.”
He said some of the surplus funds will be used for standard, normal needs of state agencies.
“Some of the extra funding will [also] be focused on not only property tax cuts, but also on identifying long-term projects, [such as] water infrastructure, transportation needs, broadband, so that we can have investments that will have a long-term benefit for the public,” Hinojosa said.
He said that during the committee meeting, they started with Article I, general government, to hear testimonies on the different requests being made by state agencies.
“So we talk to the comptroller of public accounts, comptroller Glenn Hegar, who gives a summary of projections of the estimated revenue that we have and will be able to spend, and any surplus, which we have quite a large surplus of funds,” Hinojosa said.
The senator said the committee is focused on public education.
“On trying to increase funding of public education and make sure that our students receive increased financial support and also increase different types of courses at UTRGV that are needed for our students to succeed,” Hinojosa said.
The Senate Committee on Finance met last Friday and will meet again at 10 a.m. today. To view the livestream, visit senate.texas.gov.
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