AUSTIN, Texas — In case you missed it, this week, Speaker of the Texas House Dustin Burrows participated in The Texan’s 89th Session Kickoff event, where he highlighted his legislative priorities and commitment to delivering a successful, conservative session for all Texans.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Texan reporter Brad Johnson, Speaker Burrows laid out his priorities for the 89th Legislature, which include increasing efficiency in state government, passing school choice and additional funding for public schools, cutting property taxes, and supporting Texas’s small businesses, among other topics. Speaker Burrows also spoke about his leadership style for the House and strong working relationship with Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick that has produced major conservative achievements in past sessions.
Watch Speaker Burrows’ full interview with The Texan here.
Key Highlights of Speaker Burrows’ Interview:
On House Leadership: “The role of the Speaker is making sure all members are able to be successful. We have fantastic members—some of them have had great successes, and some of them have been overlooked for a period of time. I want to be making sure we’re taking the time to figure out what are the priorities of their districts, what are the big bills they want to work on, and trying to make sure they’re plugged in and we have a member-driven Speaker’s Office.”
Coalition Building: “There is a growing momentum on having a unified House. You can look, vote after vote, more and more Republicans are coming on board, and we are unifying. There is not a single Republican on that floor that I don’t want to be a good Speaker for and help support their agenda and push it forward.”
House Committees: “There is no such thing as a bad committee in the Texas House, every single one has a jurisdiction that’s important to all of the Texans who live here. I would like to highlight that we created the DOGE committee, something I’m particularly proud of. People ask why the Sunset Commission isn’t doing this work. The role of Sunset is to review every agency every ten years. There are a lot of things that happen over a decade that you’re not able to get to Sunset, but having a new committee that can look at individual contracts, look for fraud, waste, and abuse, that is something that’s very exciting.”
Educational Opportunities: “I do believe the votes are there in the House for universal school choice, and I do believe this will be the session that it passes. I’ve never been one who believes you can’t take care of public education, invest in it, make sure teachers are paid a living wage, and also do ESAs. I believe the Texas House will prioritize both. You’ve seen it in the budget that has come out, and I think you’ll continue to see us push on making sure that happens.”
Support for Small Business: “We need to be promoting small businesses, period. So much of our economic engine is dependent upon small business owners. Those are the job creators. There are a lot of things we can do to help promote small businesses in the state of Texas, and that is something you’re going to see the Texas House continue to lead on and talk about all session.”