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By the time lawmakers called it quits on the last legislative session the relationship between the state’s top three leaders – Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan – had hit rock bottom.
The state’s three most powerful Republicans were largely in agreement at the top of the session about tightening border security and lowering property taxes. But their animosity and refusal to work together required multiple special sessions, breaking through stalemates, to get that done.
The animosity spilled over into last year’s primaries where Abbott and Patrick got heavily involved in Texas House races against fellow Republicans – a rare move. Patrick even endorsed and gave a $100,000 donation to Phelan’s primary opponent.
Since then, Phelan has given up the speaker’s gavel and a new speaker, Rep. Dustin Burrows of Lubbock, is looking to change the dynamic among the “Big Three” this session. Burrows, a 10-year veteran of the Legislature is known as one of the best dealmakers in the Capitol and has a close working relationship with Abbott, according to people who have worked with both men, and a mutual respect with Patrick, the fiery leader of the upper chamber who has feuded with past House speakers.
A lot is riding on how quickly the three leaders can adapt to each other. Their ability to successfully navigate the relationship could lead to a quick resolution to this year’s legislative session with the passage of a large chunk of GOP priority bills. If the three fail to harmonize, those bills could stall and the Legislature could be thrown into chaos, requiring multiple overtime sessions.
So far, the three men have projected political alignment and a willingness to work with one another. Despite some strong criticism for Burrows during the race to replace Phelan, Patrick has expressed a wait-and-see attitude to working with the new speaker since his election.
“I’m going to give him a chance,” Patrick said at an event for The Texan news outlet. “He says he’s going to be the most conservative speaker ever so, you know, that would be a great thing for all of us… I’m going to do everything I can to help him succeed. And we’ll see what happens.”
Burrows has also tried to keep the doors for cooperation open, emphasizing his past work with Patrick and Abbott and highlighting their common goals, including several of the governor’s emergency items, like water infrastructure, increased vocational training and, importantly, the passage of a school voucher bill.
“I have enjoyed a respectful working relationship with the Lieutenant Governor since I was first elected to the House in 2015 and have a proven record of successfully working across both chambers to deliver major legislative achievements and conservative priorities,” Burrows said in a statement. “As Speaker, my focus will remain on strengthening the institution of the Texas House, equipping my colleagues to best serve their districts, and working with Governor Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Patrick to advance meaningful solutions to Texans’ top legislative priorities — issues on which we are largely aligned.”
The question now is whether the three leaders can turn those words into action.
Long-standing relationships
In June 2019, Abbott sat at a burger joint in West Austin and smiled as he signed a priority bill to limit how much counties could increase property tax rates every year.
Sitting to his right was Patrick, who has pushed to cut property taxes for Texas homeowners since joining the Legislature as a senator in 2007. To his left was former Speaker Dennis Bonnen, and in the seat next to him was a 40-year-old Burrows, who had authored the bill in the House and been one of its main negotiators.
That was the year Burrows became a major player in the Legislature. Bonnen tapped him to lead the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee and shepherd Abbott’s priority property tax legislation through the chamber.
People who have worked for Abbott and Burrows said that’s when the close relationship between the two began. They said that Abbott was impressed by Burrows’ handling of the complicated legislation and that Burrows was seemingly in the middle of every big negotiation that session. Those people were granted anonymity to more openly discuss the relationship between the two men.
Abbott endorsed Burrows in his last election and traveled to Lubbock to be at his campaign kick-off, saying the area could not find a politician “whose value sets are more conservative” than their incumbent.
The two men are so close that when Abbott decided he had to publish a message distancing himself from Burrows during the speaker’s race, he did so without clearly throwing his support behind the other candidate. The setting was a heated time in the race when a political action committee sent a text blast urging people to “support Burrows” with an overlaid photo of Abbott next to Burrows, implying the governor’s support even though Abbott had not made an endorsement. Abbott published a post on social media saying he backed the candidate endorsed by the Republican caucus, but the carefully worded statement did not overtly endorse the other candidate, Rep. David Cook of Mansfield.
Burrows and Abbott developed a trust over the years of working and fraternizing together. As a state representative, Burrows was often invited to dinners the governor put on for lawmakers. And in 2019, Burrows was among several lawmakers who watched the NCAA Championship basketball game between Texas Tech and the University of Virginia with Abbott. Burrows is a lifelong Tech fan and earned graduate degrees at the university.
Patrick also seems to have a good impression of Burrows. Through the years, Patrick has often called on the leaders of the House to send Burrows to the Senate to work out a deal on specific bills – sometimes completely sidestepping the actual authors of the legislation.
“He might be the smartest guy over there,” Patrick said recently.
That doesn’t mean Patrick has shied away from playing hardball with Burrows. Two days before the speaker’s race was decided last month, Patrick, who was supporting Cook, accused Burrows on social media of only sharing power with other lawmakers who were invested in the same bank as him, calling Burrows and his close allies a “non-criminal version of the Goodfellas.”
Burrows did not respond to the criticism and eventually won the race.
People familiar with Abbott’s thinking said he respects Burrows’ direct approach to assessing the likelihood of a bill’s passage, even when it wasn’t to his favor. That kind of blunt honesty could spare the governor from embarrassing flubs like last session’s declaration of a deal on the school voucher bill that never materialized.
“Burrows was someone that when you asked him a question, he gave you the answer,” said one person who witnessed Abbott and Burrows work through bills together. “He never shied away from telling you what that was … He’s not afraid to tell you you look fat in those jeans. Abbott appreciated that.”
‘Let’s get it done’
The new blood in the dynamic has already started paying dividends. The traditional “Big Three Breakfasts” on Wednesday mornings between the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker – which had stopped last session – are back on. During those meetings, the three leaders discuss how bills are moving through the process and can try to work through any hiccups or disagreements.
But Jason Embry, a communications consultant and senior aide to former speaker Joe Straus, said just having the breakfasts isn’t enough. Actual work needs to get done.
“Just the fact they meet over eggs once a week doesn’t tell us that much,” said Embry, who spoke in his role as a communications consultant. “What happens in the room matters and what happens the rest of the week matters even more.”
Beyond the breakfasts, top staffers in the three offices are also in constant communication, indicating that the three leaders are working well together this year.
To make progress, all sides of the triangle need to be aware of the pressure points the other leaders face. The governor and lieutenant governor are elected statewide, while the House speaker is a state representative chosen by a majority of his 149 fellow lawmakers. That leads to different interests that need to be represented — like protecting incumbent House lawmakers from tough votes – and potential clashes with the other chamber and the executive.
So far, Patrick has been the most open about those differences and how they might impact the session and he’s been wary of the progress Burrows can make on some of the Senate’s priority bills because he was elected by a coalition made up mostly of Democrats.
“If he’s the Houdini of the House and he can pass all the conservative bills that we want then I’ll pat him on the back and say ‘Job well done,’” Patrick said recently. “But, man, he’s put himself in a tough spot.”
Patrick also hasn’t shied away from continuing to put the pressure on his new counterpart.
“My job is to pass conservative legislation out of the Senate and then my job is to help them pass it out of the House. And my job is if they kill bills, to let everybody know that they were killed,” Patrick said. “If it doesn’t work, I’m not going to sit quietly.”
And while all three men are working together behind closed doors, they have each left themselves an out in case trouble arises. Burrows has alluded to maintaining the independence of the House as a chamber and Abbott’s team would not go on record to praise the relationships. Patrick’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
The Senate has already started moving priority bills, including, possibly the most controversial one of the session, which would create a school voucher system that would allow parents to take public taxpayer money and put it toward their child’s private education. The bill was a main sticking point between the three leaders last session and Patrick has made clear that he wants the bill to move quickly through the House.
If that bill and other priority items begin to stall in the House, Burrows will face increased public pressure from Patrick, just as his predecessors have.
But this weekend, Burrows, who has expressed support for the bill, tried to signal alignment among the Big Three again when he responded to a social media post by President Donald Trump calling on the House to pass school voucher legislation with two words: “We will.”
Patrick responded positively on social media: “For the first time in my 10 years as Lt. Governor, Texas has a Speaker of the House who’s committed to passing school choice … Let’s get it done.”
Embry said the leaders will face challenges as the session moves on and will have to work out disagreements. But he said those tensions always exist between the House and the Senate and between the Legislature and the governor. Sometimes those disagreements come from the need for the House speaker to protect the other members of the chamber from tough votes that would harm them in reelection campaigns. Other times, they come in retaliation for past wrongs – real or perceived. And still other times, there are actual policy disagreements about how to reach a certain goal.
Last session, the House and Senate both agreed they wanted to give Texas homeowners tax cuts but they disagreed about how to provide them. Patrick was adamant that the state should raise its homestead exemption to $100,000 while the House favored an approach that would plug part of the state’s surplus money into driving down school districts’ tax rates. House tax-cut proponents also wanted to further limit how quickly property values grow and expand the benefit, which previously only applied to homeowners, to commercial property owners.
One of the most famous disagreements between leaders of the legislative chambers came in 2003, when former Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst accused then-speaker Tom Craddick of negotiating like “an Iranian cab driver” over newly drawn political maps for the state.
Embry said the real measure of the relationship between the state’s top leaders will be the results they produce at the end of the session in June. He predicts that the three top leaders will get along more than they will fight.
“I don’t think this relationship is predestined to fail,” he said, with a nod to the June final date for this legislative session. “I would not be at all surprised if we get to the end … and we realize there’s been a lot more cooperation between the House and Senate than we expected in January.”
The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
www.youtube.com – FOX 7 Austin – 2025-04-16 20:32:45
SUMMARY: Aean Libidi, a former UT Austin student, faces 11 charges following a violent spree near the campus, including felony assault and a terroristic threat. His criminal record began in April 2024 with a criminal trespassing charge. Recently, he randomly punched people and groped women along the drag, causing fear among students and local business owners—one boutique owner has closed her shop due to intimidation. UT officials support law enforcement’s efforts but urge prosecutors to take his pattern of violence seriously, as Libidi remains in jail on a $60,000 bond, heightening concerns for community safety.
A man accused of attacking and threatening people on the UT Austin campus is facing more charges
#FOX7Austin brings you the important stuff like breaking news, weather, and local stories out of Central #Texas. But also plenty of fun stuff, like Pet of the Weekend, the best of our archives, and all those ‘only-in-#Austin’ stories.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-16 20:10:00
(The Center Square) – The Texas oil and gas industry is concerned about the uncertainty surrounding energy production and prices despite President Donald Trump’s vow to “drill, baby, drill.”
After Trump advanced his position on tariffs engaging in trade wars with multiple countries, crude oil prices dropped by more than 20% below the $65-$70 per barrel threshold for operators in the Permian Basin to break even.
After the Trump administration announced a tariff exemption on certain items, the U.S. crude benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, slightly increased to $62.96 as of Wednesday. The international benchmark, Brent Crude, was at $65.85.
After the Trump administration pushed OPEC countries to increase output, eight OPEC+ countries agreed to phase out their voluntary output cuts and increase production by 411,000 barrels per day by May, prompting oil prices to again drop.
Goldman Sachs also reduced its December 2025 oil forecasts, putting WTI at $58 a barrel and Brent at $62 a barrel, projecting a “stagnating” economy as a result.
As the market and U.S. oil and natural gas industry reeled, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC on Tuesday that the industry has experienced ups and downs before.
“In 2015 and 2016, oil prices twice hit $28 [per barrel], and what happened? What did the U.S. shale industry do in that time? Innovate, get smarter, drive their costs down, and that’s what’s happening right now,” he said. “The industry continues to innovate, continues to get smarter and wiser. Of course, the U.S. shale industry is gonna survive and thrive, but of course investment decisions are going to be tailored if prices stay this low for a long period of time. But I’m quite bullish on the U.S. industry.”
Operators in Texas don’t agree.
Kirk Edwards, president of Odessa-based Latigo Petroleum, said, “The U.S. oil and gas industry is in shock – caught between two extremes.”
“The domestic oil and gas industry is reeling from the whiplash of back-to-back administrations with starkly different energy policies,” he said in an open letter to Wright and Interior Secretary Dough Burgum published on social media. After the Biden administration declared a war on fossil fuels, cancelling leases and expanding regulatory hurdles, “in true form, the industry adapted,” he said. “Despite the headwinds, U.S. producers survived and in many cases, thrived, through ingenuity and grit.”
After Trump was reelected, “the initial mood in the industry was euphoric” because the industry believed the administration was “pro-energy,” he said. “But within the first few months, a different set of challenges emerged. Tariffs have driven up the cost of drilling, squeezing margins just as operators look to expand.”
The Trump administration pushing OPEC to increase production in an already oversupplied global market caused oil prices to plummet. “This sharp price decline has thrown U.S. producers into limbo,” he said. Trump’s motto, “Drill, baby, drill,” turned into “wait, baby, wait,” he said. As a result, the industry isn’t adding rigs to drill when “price signals are so unclear.”
“To say the industry is concerned would be an understatement, shock is a more accurate term. The stakes are high. If we lose talent, technology, and momentum now, we risk undermining years of progress towards true energy security. Hopefully, clearer heads will prevail within the Trump administration. A strong, stable domestic oil and gas sector isn’t just an economic asset, it’s a strategic necessity,” he said.
Trump’s position on tariffs is concerning the industry on many fronts, Ed Longanecker, president of the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO), said. TIPRO represents nearly 3,000 individuals and companies from the Texas oil and gas industry.
“TIPRO and our members have long been concerned with tariffs on aluminum and steel that could add additional cost and slowdown exploration and production activity Texas,” Longanecker told The Center Square. “Our members procure this material from both domestic and international suppliers and maintaining the supply diversity is important to control costs and availability. Steel is also in the 8-10 percent range of operating costs for E&P companies, which can vary, and change based on numerous factors, including supply chain disruptions and policy decisions.”
He cited examples. “Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) on critical items, production casing, come from top tier mills for some of our members, 50% domestic and 50% import and may fluctuate as much as 20% either way year to year depending on supply chain issues or other factors, such as the best product available for the environment the tubes will go into (who has the best product for the well conditions).
“OCTG on less critical strings, surface and intermediate casings, can be more import, sometimes 30% domestic and 70% import and much of that import being South Korea. U.S. steelmaking capacity for OCTG is being allocated mainly to producing the more critical and profitable items, such as production casing, and is the biggest reason for the necessity of more import for surface and intermediate pipes.”
As Longanecker and others have advocated for greater pipeline infrastructure to increase production and reduce emissions, the cost for line pipe and other products will also increase as well as “further downward pressure on crude oil prices,” he added. “Tariffs could also impact demand if it contributes to an economic downturn.”
The industry remains hopeful that the Trump administration will “work through these negotiations in an expedited manner with key trading partners,” he said.
SUMMARY: Texas lawmakers are considering House Bill 5061, which aims to prevent state contractors and vendors from conducting unauthorized surveillance on lawmakers, state employees, or individuals raising concerns about state operations. The bill also seeks to stop intimidation, coercion, and retaliation, and explicitly prohibits using private information to influence state decisions. The bill follows allegations that Medicaid contractor Superior HealthPlan hired investigators to gather information on lawmakers and others. The company denied wrongdoing, stating the research used publicly available information. The bill is intended to prevent future abuses and reinforce ethical standards for state contractors.
