Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick this week released a second round of interim charges for the Texas Senate, which he oversees. It builds upon a list of 57 items released back in April, that included topics for Senate committees to study ahead of the upcoming legislative session.
The latest list includes more hot-button priorities for Patrick’s right-wing base, said James Barragán, politics reporter for the Texas Tribune.
“It’s filled with a lot more conservative priorities, such as trying to ban protesters from wearing masks. We saw that a lot when the conflicts over Gaza happened last October and then through this academic school year,” Barragán said. “He also wants to look at election reform in the way that primaries are handled so that there potentially wouldn’t be a runoff.”
Another priority of note from the list is how impeachments are handled.
“Last year the House impeached Attorney General Ken Paxton. The Senate has to deal with the impeachment. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick oversaw that,” Barragán said. “And after the impeachment, he had some fiery words to say about the process. So he’s renewing that criticism. He wants to look that over again.”
Hear more stories from the week in Texas politics in the audio player above.
