Enlarge Marjorie Kamys Cotera

State Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, on the Senate floor on April 23, 2015.

Talk has shifted quickly to next year’s party primaries now that the Legislature has left town.

Initial talk focused on a pair of state Senate seats: the East Texas district currently held by newly installed Senate President Pro Tem Kevin Eltife and the Central Texas district being relinquished by Troy Fraser.

Eltife, who famously said earlier this session that politicians who talk about re-election during session should be shot, has not announced whether he’s running for re-election. He told the Tribune, though, that he won’t dally in making a decision and could reach a decision within a couple of weeks.

A pair of House members, meanwhile, told the Tribune that they are eyeing a run for the Senate seat. Longview Republican David Simpson re-launched his website with a countdown clock ticking to June 22, the first day that members can begin fundraising after session, as a date when he will make an announcement about his “next campaign.”

Mineola Republican Bryan Hughes is also weighing a run, with a spokesman telling the Tribune that Hughes is basing his decision “on whether or not Sen. Eltife steps out.”

Also expressing interest in the Eltife seat if it comes open is Thomas Ratliff, the son of former state Sen. Bill Ratliff. He announced this week that he won’t seek re-election to the State Board of Education and indicated that he would consider a run for the Senate should Eltife not stand for re-election.

Would-be candidates who are taking themselves out of the running are former Tyler Mayor Barbara Bass and Tea Party activist JoAnn Fleming.

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For the Fraser seat, there's already an announced candidate — Dawn Buckingham, an Austin ophthalmologist.

She is a familiar face around the Capitol. Active in the Texas Medical Association, where she chairs the medical society’s council on legislation, she is also currently serving as a public member on the Sunset Advisory Commission.

In 2014, she won a seat on the Lake Travis ISD’s board of trustees.

Fraser’s sprawling SD-24 takes in parts of 10 House districts, which means there is no shortage of potential candidates.

Here are the six representatives who received more than 10,000 votes from within SD-24 in the 2014 elections: Andrew Murr, R-Junction (23,117); Molly White, R-Belton (18,278); Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen (17,190); Susan King, R-Abilene (16,360); J.D. Sheffield, R-Gatesville (14,148); and Paul Workman, R-Austin (12,343).

Of those six, Aycock, who announced this week that he's not seeking re-election to his House seat, has already said that he won’t run for the Fraser seat.

King’s husband, Austin King, is a former president of the Texas Medical Association. That could put the group in a tough spot should she run against Buckingham.

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Talking on Thursday morning with the Tribune’s Evan Smith, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick cited the 30-1 vote to adopt the final version of the budget as evidence of the bipartisan support that he said has been there for a lot of bills this session.

Conservatives want to work with others, he said.

We took a look back at the final votes taken by the Senate on the budget for the past several sessions, and here’s what we found.

In Patrick’s first session as the Senate’s presiding officer, the body was the most unified in voting for the budget since 2005.

Four Republican Senators, including Patrick, voted against the budget in 2013. In the difficult budget year of 2011, 11 Democrats voted against the budget.

Two Democrats — Mario Gallegos and Eliot Shapleigh — voted no on the 2009 budget while five Republicans voted no in 2007. Patrick was again a no vote that year.

In 2005, Shapleigh was that lone no vote.

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On the House side, a single Republican, David Simpson, sided with 32 Democrats against the budget this year.

That stands in stark contrast to 2013, when the House voted unanimously for the budget. But that level of unity is relatively rare when it comes to adopting budgets.

Fifty-three members voted no on the budget in 2011, a half dozen of whom were Republicans.

In recent sessions, Republicans haven’t been too reticent about joining Democrats in voting no against the budget.

In 2005, 11 Republicans joined 29 Democrats in voting against the budget. A half dozen Republicans were among the 35 no votes in 2007.

The outlier is the vote in 2009, when two Republicans — Joe Crabb and Sid Miller — were the only no votes on the budget.

Enlarge Bob Daemmrich

House Speaker Joe Straus gavels out the 84th session of the Texas Legislature on June 1, 2015.

Before we let the 84th legislative session recede into the sunset, here are some final field notes from the final weekend.

One of the most unexpected dramas that developed in the last week of session was over a seemingly purely local bill, HB 3405. Written by Dripping Springs Republican Jason Isaac, the bill was intended to regulate groundwater pumping in an area of western Hays County in his district.

His district also bore the brunt of some of the worst destruction from the Memorial Day rains that inundated much of the state.

The bill seemed all but dead after a procedural point of order was raised against it. The House parliamentarian, though, later reversed his own ruling, an extremely rare event.

"While the aspirational goal of an arbiter should be to be completely error free, that goal is unlikely to be achieved," Parliamentarian Chris Griesel wrote by way of explanation in the House journal. "Every day on the house floor, the parliamentarian makes errors that can have serious consequences."

It was not immediately clear what led to the reconsideration of the point of order. Many residents near flood-devastated Wimberley had called lawmakers and even the editor of the hometown paper of Mary González, the El Paso Democrat who had raised the original point or order.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick also hinted that he had a role in the reversal after a trip to Wimberley just before HB 3405 was revived. He told the Tribune, “I am grateful that the House reversed the P.O.O. because it is the number one legislative issue for Hays County. After visiting Wimberley to survey the flood damage, I believe this bill is even more critical. I appreciate the House working on this."

Given its new lease on life, HB 3405 was passed out of both chambers over the weekend and now awaits action by the governor.

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One piece of legislation that is now definitively dead is SB 1735. The bill sought to make changes in the Hazlewood program, which gives college tuition support to veterans and their dependents.

Bill author Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, on Saturday discharged the conference committee that was negotiating the bill. But before he did that, he warned that not coming to an agreement this year guarantees rising costs will force the issue again in two years.

And, he added, the cost crunch facing colleges and universities could be much greater. It could end the entire program, not just benefits for dependents of veterans, he said.

Senators afterward congratulated Birdwell for taking on the politically difficult issue. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, speaking from the chair, added that he was personally offended by some of the attacks by the bill's critics on Birdwell, a veteran who was severely injured in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

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State Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, was successful on Sunday in killing a conference report on a sunset scheduling bill, HB 3123. He objected to the addition by the House and Senate negotiators of new language pushing back a sunset review of the Railroad Commission to 2023.

In addition, several Metroplex-area lawmakers objected to bringing the North Texas Tollway Authority into sunset review. They said doing so broke a promise made with the transit agency.

The conference report was adopted on Saturday in the Senate with little discussion, but with several senior lawmakers weighing in against the report, the tide turned quickly in the House on Sunday.

The motion to take up the conference report died on 90-52 vote.

The House instead voted to concur with Senate amendments on the bill, sending HB 3123 to the governor’s desk without those Railroad Commission and NTTA provisions.

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State Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, who recently had a health scare when an emergency medical scan revealed a ruptured appendix, urged his colleagues in a personal privilege speech Friday to be attentive to their health.

He noted that a House doctor of the day basically demanded that he get the scan that revealed the serious medical situation.

Reynolds told colleagues that had the doctor not been so insistent, “I would have put it off,” he said. “It’s possible I could have passed away in my sleep or on the House floor.”

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For this week’s nonscientific survey of insiders in government and politics, we asked first about the growing crop of retirements at the Legislature.

Four House members and a senator have already confirmed that they will not be returning next session, and that number is expected to grow. A majority of the insiders thought the total number of voluntary legislative departures this cycle would fall somewhere between eight and a dozen. Another 23 percent put the number of retirements at between 12 and 16. And 19 percent didn't think the number would rise above eight.

We then asked the insiders to assess the balance of power in the GOP within the Legislature and within the 2016 primary electorate.

Nearly two-thirds gave the advantage to the establishment in the Legislature. Another one in three thought the establishment and the Tea Party held equal sway over the GOP within the Capitol. Just 3 percent gave the advantage to the Tea Party.

The insiders were more polarized on which GOP faction held sway among the primary electorate but half still gave the edge to the establishment. Nearly one-third of the insiders thought the Tea Party has the upper hand. Many cited next year being a presidential year as a factor. The electorate usually expands in those years, possibly bringing in more voters from the moderate end of the party.

We also asked how the 84th Legislature will be remembered as time passes. Many summed it up in one word: guns. Others gave responses that fall under the broad rubric of "missed opportunities" while some mentioned the clandestine video recording of legislators.

We collected comments along the way, and a full set of those is attached. Here’s a sampling:

Enlarge Emily Albracht

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Four Lege members announced retirements prior to sine die. What’s the over/under on the final figure of voluntary departures?

• "And it's sad to see the lion's share of those are good, contributing, thinking members who are tired of trying to influence those who are 'D. None of the Above.'"

• "Some see the handwriting on the wall and don't want the trouble of a challenger."

• "Look for more to drop. Sessions with more money are harder than budget cutting sessions."

• "'The key to being a good manager is understanding that 1/3 of the team likes you, 1/3 of the team can't stand you, and the other 1/3 doesn't care. If you can keep the 1/3 that hate you from swaying the 1/3 who don't care then you are a good manager.' — Casey Stengel. If Joe Straus comes back, then take the under."

• "Giddings, Ruth McClendon Jones, Byron Cook, and Wayne Smith are likely hanging up their spurs."

Enlarge Emily Albracht

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What’s the balance of power among Republicans in the Lege now?

• "When a Tea Partier attains a leadership position, like Lite Guv Patrick for example, and is responsible for governing, when does he become part of the 'establishment'?"

• "Establishment is holding in the House, Tea has taken the Senate."

• "The Tea Party won on some of the policy issues, such as guns, but they were not as successful as some thought they might be. They did have a great deal of influence over budget and finance issues as a result of the spending limit/no taxes/no debt rhetoric but the results were mixed. Somehow we decided to borrow $3 plus billion for university construction but could not decide to use the billions in available revenues to buy down current debt because no one was willing to tackle the question that would confuse the primary voters back home that buying down debt (good) is an expense (bad)."

• "Although there are many who are fed up with the lack of serious thought among the Tea Party, the establishment didn't win anybody over this session by capturing the intellectual (or moral) high ground. Instead, in the House, they showed themselves to be condescending and dishonest — winning their victories with devious power plays rather than leadership. Their focus on self-preservation and their refusal to give ground on ethics issues was the final straw. This will prove counterproductive for establishment R's and will likely get more of them defeated in upcoming primaries."

Enlarge Emily Albracht

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What will the balance of power be among GOP primary voters in 2016?

• "Depends if Texas' presidential March primary is in play. Increasing the number of R primary voters will not necessarily help those candidates who are too far away from center-right."

• "It will be interesting to see. Can the Tea Party members go home and explain how things really are to their primary voters in order to actually solve some problems without looking too much like the establishment? Stay tuned. There will obviously be a PR battle between the two in the interim."

• "Unfortunately for the Tea Party, the next primaries will have high Presidential year turnout, so knocking off incumbents is going to be tough."

• "It depends on who the GOP and Dems run in the presidential race. If the Hillary coronation has already happened, some Ds may crossover and vote in the R primary and dilute the Tea."

• "Tea Party votes, 'establishment' doesn't."

What will the 84th Legislature be remembered for as time passes?

• "Spending too much money as economy slows and setting up a crisis on school financing."

• "Just another run of the mill session. It won't be remembered by too many folks that don't regularly read the Austin-based political rags we all read. And by those that do pay attention, as the session that all those weirdo mercenaries were out filming folks."

• "Cutting taxes, open carry and border security"

• "Kumbay-not"

• "Dan Patrick's Senate rules change — no more 2/3"

• "Squandering opportunities to upgrade our state infrastructure. Ignoring the doctrine of local control."

Our thanks to this week's participants: Gene Acuna, Cathie Adams, Clyde Alexander, George Allen, Jay Arnold, Charles Bailey, Andrew Biar, Allen Blakemore, Tom Blanton, Chris Britton, Raif Calvert, Elna Christopher, Harold Cook, Kevin Cooper, Randy Cubriel, Curtis Culwell, Denise Davis, June Deadrick, Glenn Deshields, Tom Duffy, David Dunn, Jack Erskine, Tom Forbes, Neftali Garcia, Bruce Gibson, Stephanie Gibson, Jim Grace, John Greytok, Clint Hackney, Wayne Hamilton, Bill Hammond, Jim Henson, Ken Hodges, Steve Holzheauser, Deborah Ingersoll, Mark Jones, Walt Jordan, Robert Kepple, Richard Khouri, Tom Kleinworth, Sandy Kress, Pete Laney, Dick Lavine, James LeBas, Luke Legate, Matt Mackowiak, Jason McElvaney, Steve Minick, Bee Moorhead, Mike Moses, Todd Olsen, Gardner Pate, Jerod Patterson, Robert Peeler, Jerry Philips, Tom Phillips, Wayne Pierce, Allen Place, Gary Polland, Jay Pritchard, Jay Propes, Tim Reeves, Patrick Reinhart, David Reynolds, A.J. Rodriguez, Grant Ruckel, Tyler Ruud, Andy Sansom, Jim Sartwelle, Barbara Schlief, Stan Schlueter, Robert Scott, Steve Scurlock, Ben Sebree, Ed Small, Martha Smiley, Larry Soward, Dennis Speight, Tom Spilman, Colin Strother, Tom Suehs, Sherry Sylvester, Jay Thompson, Trey Trainor, Corbin Van Arsdale, Ware Wendell, David White, Darren Whitehurst, Seth Winick, Angelo Zottarelli.

Enlarge Todd Wiseman

Tuesday, June 9

• Early voting ends in San Antonio mayoral runoff

And looking ahead...

Sunday, June 21

• Veto period ends, last day for Gov. Greg Abbott to say no to legislation
• Moratorium ends on contributions to statewide officeholders and members of the Legislature, aka, the return of fundraising season

The 84th regular legislative session concluded on Monday with lawmakers passing campus carry legislation on the final weekend but unable to come to a consensus position on far-reaching ethics reform. Gov. Greg Abbott said he did not expect to call lawmakers back before the next regular session in 2017.

Abbott signed into law this week legislation that would allow the prescription of low-THC cannabis oil to treat patients suffering from intractable epilepsy. At the same time, Abbott insisted that marijuana should not and will not be legalized for medical or recreational use in Texas on his watch.

House Speaker Joe Straus filed papers to seek re-election as the chamber's presiding officer. If he wins, it would be his fifth term, tying him with Gib Lewis and Pete Laney for the most ever.

Natural gas drilling resumed in Denton this week after state lawmakers passed legislation that overturned a ban on hydraulic fracturing approved by voters in the city last year.

As an inquiry broadens into whether Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton violated securities law, a special prosecutor involved in the investigation indicated Thursday that he might have more time to pursue the issue than previously expected.

The tenure of Brett Giroir, the prominent leader of the Texas A&M Health Science Center who chaired a state task force on Ebola last year, came to an abrupt end on Monday. Afterward, he said he was told to resign or be terminated “within 30 minutes.”

Saying "It's time," former Gov. Rick Perry formally kicked off his second campaign for president on Thursday in an airplane hangar in Addison. Flanked by a pair of Navy SEALs and speaking in front of a military cargo plane of the type he flew in the Air Force, Perry emphasized his military service that promises to be a calling card of his next campaign for the White House.

Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, and Reps. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston; Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen; Joe Farias, D-San Antonio; and Allen Fletcher, R-Cypress, all announced they are not returning for the next legislative session.

Mayor Ivy Taylor and former state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte held their last candidate forum in the San Antonio mayoral runoff election, which has become more and more dominated by personal attacks in recent days. Early voting in the contest finishes Tuesday with the runoff election scheduled for Saturday, June 13.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called for expansive reforms to election laws, including the expansion of early voting periods and automatic voter registration, during an address at Texas Southern University in Houston on Thursday.

A group of Dallas-area lawmakers have announced the formation of the IH-635 East Legislative Caucus, which will work to help with continued development of the highway, running from U.S. 75 to I-30. The caucus members are Sens. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood; Don Huffines, R-Dallas; Van Taylor, R-Plano; Reps. Cindy Burkett, R-Sunnyvale; Angie Chen Button, R-Garland; Linda Koop, R-Dallas; Kenneth Sheets, R-Dallas; and Jason Villalba, R-Dallas.