For 140 days during the odd numbered years, state leadership, lawmakers, their staffers, lobbyists, advocates and constituents come together at the Texas Capitol to create, amend and/or repeal state laws with the goal of resolving some of the state’s most important public policy issues. This work is just a piece of the policy making process.
The laws that come out of a legislative session are often the product of work that occurred during the preceding interim—the period between the end of one legislative session and the start of the next.
During the interim, Texas hospitals and other advocates have the opportunity to help educate lawmakers on issues and policy priorities that will inform their upcoming legislative agenda.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Lt. Governor kick off the interim work by distributing “charges” or specific topics for the committees in their respective chambers to study, consider in legislative hearings and sometimes make recommendations on.
This interim, the Texas Hospital Association will help educate lawmakers and track their work on a wide range of topics from property taxes to hospital trauma care to quality initiatives in Medicaid managed care. For the full description of the interim charges THA currently is tracking, please click on a category below.