We take a look this week at how the newly formed Senate committees stack up by party ID and by gender. Compared to their overall representation, Democrats are significantly underrepresented on State Affairs, Transportation, Administration and Nominations.

And with eight currently, the number of women Senators is at an all-time high. But they are significantly underrepresented on the Administration, Nominations and Finance committees. And in the most extreme example, there is not a single woman on the Business and Commerce Committee.

Enlarge Data Source: Texas Legislative Reference Library

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Enlarge Data Source: Texas Legislative Reference Library

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Enlarge Bob Daemmrich

Steve Munisteri campaigning for Texas GOP chairman.

Word came down on Thursday evening that Republican Party of Texas Chairman Steve Munisteri is stepping down to advise U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who is weighing a run for the White House in 2016.

His decision to step aside more than a year before his term runs out sets in motion a quick sprint to select his successor.

The election of a new chairman will take place March 7 — the day of Munisteri's resignation — in Austin at a quarterly meeting of the State Republican Executive Committee.

Munisteri told the SREC in September that he would not stay as chairman for another year. At the time, though, he was noncommittal on when he would resign. Four candidates — RPT Treasurer Tom Mechler, Republican National Committeeman Robin Armstrong, Dallas County GOP Chairman Wade Emmert and former Harris County GOP Chairman Jared Woodfill — have already announced their candidacies to succeed Munisteri.

Over the past few months, candidates have been lining up endorsements ahead of the chairman contest. The RPT said a candidate forum for the candidates would take place the night before the vote.

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Senate Finance Chairwoman Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, rolled out the chamber’s base budget this week, with hearings laying out each budget article scheduled to begin Monday.

First out of the gate will be the judiciary. The plan is to have Senate budget writers meet Monday through Thursday with Friday held in reserve if they don’t finish their work in the allotted time, Nelson said.

In other budget-related news, state Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, said a big priority for House budget writers this session will be to further reduce unspent balances in dedicated fund accounts.

Last session, budget writers reduced that total by $1 billion, an effort paced by the elimination of the System Benefit Fund, a dedicated fee on utility bills that was intended to help low-income Texans pay their bills. The fund’s balance was refunded to utility ratepayers over several years and the fee was discontinued.

Darby said Tuesday at a budget briefing hosted by the Conservative Roundtable of Texas that he wants to trim by another $1 billion the overall balance in dedicated accounts.

It’ll be a little tougher since much of the “low hanging fruit” was taken last session, he said.

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Veteran House budget writer John Otto, R-Dayton, noted at the same Conservative Roundtable of Texas event that state lawmakers have discretion over about 17 percent of the state’s budget with spending levels determined elsewhere for the remaining 83 percent.

That reflects to a large degree that lawmakers have little say on setting spending levels on big cost-drivers in the budget like the Medicaid program.

In this respect, state lawmakers are in the same shoes as their federal counterparts. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the total spent on non-defense discretionary programs was 17 percent of total federal spending in 2013.

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As Senate committees start ramping up, House members are waiting for their committee assignments.

It was explained from the dais on Wednesday that the House would meet Monday through Wednesday of next week. That could suggest committee assignments might not happen until the following week. More often than not, assignments are announced on Thursday afternoons, just before members head home for the weekend.

Traditions aren’t rules, though. Nothing would prevent the speaker from dropping those assignments on a Wednesday afternoon, something that has happened once in recent years. And assignments don't have to be announced on the last day of the work week. In 2007, committee assignments were announced on a Monday.

And the House leadership gave itself some wiggle room by also announcing from the dais that next week’s work schedule is flexible.

Enlarge Bob Daemmrich

Parliamentarian Karina Davis watches as new Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick gavels in the Texas Senate on Jan. 21, 2015.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has followed up on the creation of an advisory board of business leaders with the announcement of another panel aimed at coordinating directly with grassroots conservatives.

The 20-member group is chaired by JoAnn Fleming, head of Grassroots America-We the People and chairwoman of the Legislature’s TEA Party Caucus advisory committee.

Though there may be some overlap in members, Fleming said the TEA Party Caucus advisory committee would be a “totally separate” entity from the new grassroots board, which she said would focus specifically on the issues of education reform, immigration and tax relief.

For the 2015 session, Fleming said state Rep. Allen Fletcher, R-Cypress, will likely chair the Legislature’s TEA Party Caucus, with state Sen. Konni Burton, R-Colleyville, serving as vice chairwoman.

Other members of note on the new lieutenant governor panel include Katrina Pierson, who challenged House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions in the GOP primary last year, and Dallas Tea Party organizer Ken Emanuelson.

Also on the board is Robin Lennon of the Kingwood TEA Party, who is part of an initiative pushing a legislative agenda geared toward transparency and paring back government tax and economic incentive programs.

*****

State Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, said he would likely not be for re-regulating tuition at higher education institutions in Texas this session — a convoluted issue that lawmakers are expected to address this session.

Perry, who was named to the Senate Higher Education Committee for the 84th legislative session, said he would need to study the issue more. But from what he's seen so far, Perry said he thought deregulating tuition has been better for Texas' higher education institutions.

However, Perry cast doubt on his support for the state's top 10 percent automatic admissions law, calling the number "arbitrary."

*****

Keying off the court’s announcement of a lengthy briefing schedule ahead of oral arguments in the latest challenge to the state’s school finance system, we thought it would be interesting to look at how long it took for the court to act in 2005 — the last time the system was declared unconstitutional.

Looking at the case timeline, the court agreed to hear the appeal on Feb. 18. The case was set for oral arguments on April 22, or a little more than two months afterward.

Oral arguments were heard on July 6 with the opinion handed down on Nov. 22.

In contrast, the court this time is allowing up to 80 days for the state to file its brief and up to 80 more days for the school districts to file their briefs. Another 40 days could be taken for responses.

Only afterward would oral arguments be set, possibly more than six months from today. In other words, it’s entirely possible a decision won’t come until well into next year. That could have interesting implications for the Legislature’s ability to find a remedy before the next regular session.

Enlarge

With rallies touting the open carry of handguns and school vouchers bookending the week, we started off this week’s survey of politics and government insiders with questions on those two hot-button issues of the session.

Slightly more than half think that lawmakers will give the OK to requiring permits to open carry, much like what exists now for concealed handguns. And slightly less than half believe that lawmakers will allow handguns to be carried on public university campus grounds.

Meanwhile, only 6 percent believe lawmakers will allow Texans to carry handguns openly without need of a permit.

More than three-fourths think that school vouchers will pass the Senate but die in the House, where rural legislators who have traditionally been against vouchers hold more sway. Almost one in five think vouchers will pass.

Finally, our insiders did not coalesce around a single policy approach on linking lawmakers' per diems to the amount lobbyists can spend on lawmakers without reporting it in detail. Increasing the per diem only, increasing both amounts and requiring detailed accounts of all spending had almost equal backing for our insiders. About a fourth of the insiders backed each of those approaches.

We also asked what were the big surprises coming out of the Senate committee appointments and who were the biggest winners and losers. Many listed the naming of a freshman as committee chair as a surprise.

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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Will lawmakers broaden handgun laws this session (check all that apply)?

• "Lt Gov. Patrick has a choice to make. Who leads the Senate — him or Jonathan Stickland? The bullying tactics aren't just coming from the gun nuts. Their friends at the Capitol are also willing to push past the limits of acceptable behavior."

• "Open carry will still be limited where businesses object."

• "We have open carry — people who get to do it are called cops!"

• "Buy stock in firearms and holster manufacturers. "

Enlarge Emily Albracht

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What is the prognosis for legislative approval of public vouchers for private schools this session?

• "If tax relief gets done then vouchers on anything other than a small scale will not be a top priority. DOA in the House."

• "Based on Lt. Gov. Patrick's passion for the issue, there will be significant gains in the House; time to stop protecting the educational industrial complex."

• "At some point, the issue of the current bill being a ‘camel's nose under the tent’ creating a multi-billion dollar expense and, raising the issue of significant new state taxes, down the road will give people pause. Taxes trump vouchers."

• "And will be part of early childhood and comprehensive education budget that will be historic for first term Governor Greg Abbott."

Enlarge Emily Albracht

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A raise in legislators’ per diems this session would allow lobbyists to spend more on lawmakers without reporting it in detail. What's the best overall policy?

• "The key is timely reporting. Let the people have access to who's accepting what (or who's paying what to whom) — they're smart enough to vote out rotten apples who abuse the system. No, seriously, they are..."

• "Where's the Tea Party on this issue? For all the rants they make on guns and government transparency, they sure are suspiciously silent on this issue."

• "I am always amused to see this question arise; necessitates an answer based on implication, bribery is against the law, is and always has been."

• "Lobby reporting is simply a game of gotcha. The detailed reporting threshold is lower on a real basis than it was 10 years ago. What's the big deal?"

What was the biggest surprise in the Senate's committee appointments? The biggest winner? The biggest loser?

• "Senator Estes proved that just showing up might be 80 percent of life, but it's 0% of getting appointed a chair in the Texas Senate"

• "A freshman chair? WTF? Does the new senator even know about the secret restrooms located next to the copy room and across the hall from the elevator behind the chamber?"

• "Won't know who the winners and losers are until halfway through session because some winners might do what’s right instead of party line and losers may deal leadership a lot of problems"

• "Biggest surprise: Freshman chair (Perry). Biggest winner: Senate beat reporters. Biggest loser: Busted chairs (West, Estes, et al.)"

Enlarge Todd Wiseman

Friday, Jan. 30

• School choice rally, featuring speakers state Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, and Land Commissioner George P. Bush; 1100 Congress Ave., Austin (10 a.m.)
• Dallas County GOP Reagan Day celebration, featuring keynote speaker U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.; 2222 N. Stemmons Freeway, Dallas (6:30-10 p.m.)

Saturday, Jan. 31

• San Antonio mayoral candidate Mike Villarreal fundraiser; 6607 Laurelhill Drive, San Antonio (10 a.m.-12 p.m.)
• U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Houston, fundraiser; 3100 Cleburne Street, Houston (7-10 p.m.)

Tuesday, Feb. 3

• TAC's Counties at the Capitol event; 1210 San Antonio St., Austin (8 a.m.)

Wednesday, Feb. 4

• National Center for Policy Analysis and Dallas Rotary Club joint event, featuring former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; 300 Reunion Blvd., Dallas (12-1:30 p.m.)
  
• Texas Democratic Party Legislative Salute; 701 E. 11th Street, Austin (6 p.m.)

Thursday, Feb. 5

• The Macroeconomic Effects of School Choice Reform in Texas, featuring Arthur Laffer; 6100 Main Street, Houston (8-9:30 a.m.)
  

The judge hearing the criminal case against Rick Perry on charges related to his threat to veto funding for the Travis County DA's public integrity unit refused to dismiss the charges outright. But the judge also suggested that one count was vague, raising the possibility of another challenge by Perry's legal team.

The Senate released is $205.1 billion base budget, which includes $4 billion set aside for tax relief. About $3 billion was identified for "meaningful" property tax cuts.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick seemed to change course during the week on whether open carry legislation would make it to the floor of the Senate. On Tuesday, he said the votes weren't there. But a day later, he said progress on a campus carry bill would let him focus on open carry, "which I have consistently supported."

University of Texas System Chancellor William McRaven weighed in on the campus carry debate on Thursday, saying in a letter to legislative leaders that allowing concealed weapons on campus would create "less safe" environments.

Hadassah Schloss was appointed to the newly created job of director of open government at the Texas General Land Office. This is a promotion for Schloss, who was serving as GLO Open Records Coordinator. She previously was at the Office of the Attorney General, where she handled a wide array of open records duties.

HHSC Deputy Chief Counsel Karen Ray is now interim chief counsel for the agency, replacing Jack Stick, who resigned in December.

The Travis County DA's public integrity unit won't prosecute Attorney General Ken Paxton. The unit had conducted an investigation keying off Paxton's violation of state securities laws but found no "additional criminal activity over which our office has venue." It forwarded a portion of its investigation to prosecutors in Collin and Dallas counties.

Two Republicans — Carolyn Cerny Bilski and Leighton Schubert — will compete Feb. 17 in the special runoff election in HD-13. Early voting runs Feb. 9-13. Gov. Greg Abbott announced the date this week, which coincides with three other runoff elections in SD-26, HD-17 and HD-123.

Disclosure: The Texas Department of Health and Human Services is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune. The Texas General Land Office was a corporate sponsor of the Tribune in 2011. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.