Last week, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced the creation of six Senate working groups to address the challenges the state will face as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each group will be responsible for focusing on a different area of Texas state government that has been affected by the pandemic and will craft a plan to successfully restore these areas to pre-pandemic conditions while also preparing them for future pandemics. The different groups include: Economic Impact & Budgeting, Senate Pandemic Preparedness, Public Schools & Higher Ed, Health, Hospitals & COVID-19 Issues, Jobs & Re-Opening the Economy, and Food Supply Chain, Food Banks & Agriculture.
The Public Schools & Higher Ed working group includes Senators Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood), Royce West (D-Dallas), Eddie Lucio, Jr. (D-Brownsville), Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe), Angela Paxton (R-McKinney), and Beverly Powell (D-Burleson). The committee includes the chairs of the Senate Committees on Education and Higher Education (Taylor and Creighton, respectively) as well as the vice-chairs for the Education and Higher Education Committees (Lucio and West, respectively.) The working group is entirely composed of members of those two committees.