Lake Houston-area lawmakers have filed dozens of bills they hope to pass into law as the 89th Texas legislative session continues, including efforts aimed at addressing flooding, rules regarding the sale of e-cigarettes and education initiatives.

The details

Lawmakers across the state have been filing bills for the 89th session since Nov. 12 with a filing deadline of March 14. The session is scheduled to end June 2, barring no special sessions are called.

In the Lake Houston area, elected officials from the Texas House of Representatives include:

• Rep. Charles Cunningham, R-Humble
• Rep. Charles Dutton, D-Houston
• Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston

Elected officials from the Texas Senate include:

• Sen. Molly Cook, D-Houston
• Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe

Here’s a breakdown of some of the bills filed by each elected official. This list in not comprehensive.

Bills to watch

In the Texas House, Thompson has filed 44 bills as of press time Feb. 11, including:

• House Bill 185: This would create the Mental Health and Brain Research Institute of Texas, which would be charged with creating and expediting innovation in mental health and brain research.
• House Bill 728: This would allow for the placement and use of video cameras in certain classrooms in public schools, including classrooms that provide special education services.
• House Bill 881: This would create a progressive disciplinary matrix for police officers in municipalities that have not implemented similar measures outlined in Chapter 143 of the Texas Local Government Code.

Dutton has filed 24 bills to date, including:

• House Bill 2395: This would establish a grant program to support school districts and open-enrollment charter schools in increasing partnerships with community-based child care providers to provide prekindergarten classes.
• House Bill 2236: This would create a provision to include students who are absent for more than 10% of a school’s total instructional time as students at risk of dropping out of school.

Cunningham has filed 15 bills to date, including:

• House Bill 1532: This would create the Lake Houston Dredging and Maintenance District, which would be charged with continuing dredging efforts to remove sand and silt built up in Lake Houston and its tributaries within Harris County.
• House Bill 1183: This would allow county and city governments to ban stores selling e-cigarettes from operating within 300 feet of a public or private school campus.
• House Bill 2297: This would suspend the collection of tolls from toll project entities if the project is located in an area that is currently under an evacuation order.

In the Texas Senate, Cook has filed 46 bills, including:

• Senate Bill 566: This would prohibit the sale of over-the-counter weight loss drugs and dietary supplements to individuals younger than 18 years of age.
• Senate Bill 270: This would provide funding to conduct to a study to determine the cost and benefits of burying power lines in the Austin metropolitan area, the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, the Houston metropolitan area and the San Antonio metropolitan area.
• Senate Bill 759: This would require landlords to include any recurring fees outside of rent to be disclosed in the tenant’s lease agreement.

Creighton has filed 22 bills to date, including:

• Senate Bill 317: This would require a two-thirds vote of the members of each house of the Legislature to remove, relocate or alter monuments or memorials that have been located on public property for at least 25 years.
• Senate Bill 318: This would establish an Election Integrity Division within the state government to investigate reports of election fraud.
• Senate Bill 320: This would reduce the amount allowed for local appraisal districts to raise property values from the previous year.

What’s next

The filing deadline for the state’s 89th legislative session is March 14. The session is scheduled to end June 2.

Emily Lincke contributed to this report.