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As of this writing, there are only 9 days left in the 82nd Legislative Session. Saturday was the last day for Senate bills to be passed out of a House Committee, and Wednesday, May 25 marks the last day any bill can be passed by the House.
Grain producers sell to various grain buyers, including grain warehouses or elevators. Frequently, the producer stores the grain at a warehouse to be sold at a later date. Over the last few years, several grain warehouses have become financially insolvent. The producers were unable to recoup any of their grain, and the bonds held by the warehouses as required under current law paid only a fraction of the value of the crop. This loss was devastating to many producers in Texas, including several producers in Grayson and Fannin counties.. This week House Bill 1840 was finally passed by both the House and Senate and has now been sent to the governor. This bill, which I filed in response to a catastrophic grain warehouse failure in our district, sets up a mechanism by which grain producers can self-insure against a loss due to a financial failure by a grain buyer. HB 1840 would create a board for the purposes of developing an indemnity fund for grain producers in Texas. The fund would be funded by an assessment on the producers, and would help insure producers in the event of a financial failure by a grain buyer.
The House also debated and passed Senate Bill 31 this week, which is the redistricting plan for the state senate districts. This plan was drawn by the Senate, and passed through the House unchanged. The Senate also passed the House redistricting map, HB 150, and the senate also did not make any changes to the House map. Under these maps, Grayson and Fannin counties remain together in House District 62; Grayson County will still be part of Senate District 30 and Fannin will remain a part of Senate District 2.
This week the House and Senate continued to work on a compromise for the state budget. Although the budget has not passed at this time, the conferees and leadership of both the House and Senate are working hard to bring forth a budget before the session ends. As of this writing, the House and Senate were debating several other state finance bills.
For more information on these bills or any other legislative matter, please contact my office by writing to P.O. Box 2910, Austin, TX 78768-2910 or by emailing me at larry.phillips@house.state.tx.us. My district office phone number is (903) 891-7297.
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