A Message from Rep. Celia Israel on Abbott's Priorities for the Special Session of the 87th Texas State Legislature

I just got this message from Rep. Celia Israel on Governor Greg Abbott's plans for the Special Session of the 87th Texas State Legislature. She makes the compelling case that our state is in big trouble for not doing its due diligence in shoring up the electrical grid during the past, regular legislative session. Read on.

-Angela Valenzuela

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Dear friend, 

With the first special session less than 24 hours away, I wanted to provide one final recap to the regular legislative session on one of the most pressing issues for our state today -- stabilizing our electric grid. 

Special Session

Just this morning Governor Abbott released the agenda for tomorrow's special session and, to the disappointment of me and many of my colleagues, energy reform was not added to the call. Instead, hot-button partisan issues that failed to pass during the regular legislative session were prioritized.

As Winter Storm Uri made clear, meaningful reform could be the difference between life and death for our neighbors. It is maddening -- to say the least -- that the state continues to prioritize issues of a radical right over issues of energy security, access to affordable health care, or COVID response this interim.

Recap

While we took some steps to shore up our electric grid this session, we failed to fully rise to the challenge and there is much more to do. But first, let's talk about what was accomplished. Some of the positive changes that I supported include:

* HB 16 - bans the sale of wholesale indexed products to residential customers, which currently leaves customers vulnerable to extreme fluctuations in their electricity bills;

* SB 2 - requires the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) board to reside in Texas and makes other administrative changes;

* SB 3 - requires power companies and some natural gas companies to weatherize and creates an emergency alert system for inclement weather, among other changes. SB 3 became the major vehicle for electric grid reform during the legislative session, and I’m proud of my colleagues’ efforts to improve the bill, including a successful amendment by Rep. Donna Howard to require agencies to refer to weather predictions from the State Climatologist.

Although I supported each of these changes, we didn’t learn our lesson from the power failure of 2011 and passed up the opportunity to prevent the next catastrophe. Even Chairman Chris Paddie, the legislator who was primarily responsible for grid reform in the House, acknowledged that our work is far from over. We clearly had a number of missed opportunities:

* We failed to require all gas-fueled facilities to weatherize or set deadlines for natural gas companies to weatherize their equipment.

* We also failed to consider major overhauls to our electric supply system, like combining the Railroad Commission (RRC) and Public Utility Commission (PUC) to improve communication and coordination between the two agencies.

These proposals deserved thoughtful and serious debate as we face the threat of climate change and respond to historic growth in our state. ERCOT’s most recent conservation warnings revealed how close we will be to another disaster if we don’t fix our grid now. 

For more reading on our energy crisis and expert recommendations:

* Report | Never Again: How To Prevent Another Major Texas Electricity Failure

* Everyday Texans overlooked in state lawmakers' response to power outages during winter storm

Sinceramente,

Celia Israel