The Texas Senate Select Committee on Disaster Preparedness & Flooding is taking up bills relating to flooding, the environment and preparedness on Friday.
The meeting started at 9 a.m. KSAT is livestreaming the meeting in this article.
According to Texas Legislature Online, the select committee is discussing and hearing testimony on the following bills:
- SB 1 – Relating to disaster preparedness, response, and recovery; requiring a license; authorizing fees.
- SB 2 – Relating to outdoor warning sirens in flood-prone areas.
- SB 13 – Relating to the provision by a political subdivision of credits against impact fees to builders and developers for certain water conservation and reuse projects.
- SB 43 – Relating to an exemption from the requirement to obtain a permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for certain dams or reservoirs operated and maintained for the purposes of erosion, floodwater, and sediment control.
Flooding in Central Texas and the Hill Country killed at least 136 people, including 108 in Kerr County alone. Two people in Kerr County remain missing.
For the special session, Gov. Greg Abbott ordered lawmakers to take up bills on natural disaster preparation, response and recovery.
Kerr County officials have stated that they were unaware of the flood’s severity and lacked an updated flood warning system.
The meeting is taking place nearly a week after the Texas House Democrats left the state to avoid voting on new congressional voting maps.
Abbott has threatened to keep calling state lawmakers into special sessions until outnumbered Democrats return to face the redistricting vote, telling them they can’t stay away forever. The current special session ends Aug. 19, and the missing lawmakers already face mounting fines for every day they are gone, and civil arrest warrants issued by the state House.
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