Gavel To Gavel 87th Legislative Session: February 26, 2021
The chaos caused by Texas’ winter storm didn’t die down this week so much as it shifted its focus and expanded its reach. Legislative activity resumed and intensified in the midst of the ongoing fallout of Texas’ winter storm, and committees of both the House and Senate held marathon meetings to determine root causes and assign accountability for the crisis. Legislators pressed for answers regarding what went wrong and who was at fault, but largely confronted the reality of systemwide failures and more than enough blame to go around. Testimony was lengthy and exhaustive, but did reveal common themes for the failures from which the state is trying to recover:
Delegation of Authority. Grid actors from the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to industry leaders throughout the state trusted the design and mechanics of the system and shared in our collective surprise when it failed. Through their testimony, the PUC, ERCOT, and the Texas Railroad Commission all expressed uncertainty regarding the outer limits of their authority in this crisis.
Communication. Testimony consistently revealed inadequate communication not only between state agencies, state leadership, and industry heads, but between those entities and the public. Panelists and legislators repeatedly discussed the possibility of an Amber Alert-style warning system or designation of an outside entity responsible for crisis communications.
Energy Integration. From collection to distribution, the natural gas industry and its infrastructure have not been fully integrated with the wholesale electricity market, and there is no central authority that oversees and understands both fields. Natural gas production and distribution was impacted by a lack of electricity, but electricity production was likewise limited by a dearth of natural gas.
Weatherization. While this was acknowledged as a key contributing factor, witnesses suggested it was not the primary factor. Additionally, it will be a complex and expensive process to winterize systems without undermining their resiliency to Texas’ more consistently hot summer temperatures.
Data. Those testifying were unanimous in their assertion that while they knew a severe weather event was coming, they had no idea that it would be as bad as it was. The forecast remained comparatively optimistic until the final hours and minutes when ERCOT realized that the state was in danger of losing the entire grid.
It remains unclear how the Legislature will mitigate the added financial impacts to consumers. Wholesale electric prices escalated more than 7,400% during the storm, responding by design in an attempt to get generators to push more power to the grid. Consumers with fixed-rate billing arrangements may be shielded from the price hike, but those with variable-rate arrangements that are tied to the wholesale price may be on the hook for higher bills—in some cases for thousands of dollars. We will continue to provide updates on this issue as the investigations evolve.
In other news, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick released his list of 31 priorities for the 87th Legislature, found here. Unsurprisingly, top billing went to the state budget and reforms to the state’s energy system, followed immediately by the “Star Spangled Banner Protection Act.” Other priorities include pandemic response legislation, a bill banning state agencies from selling personal data, and statewide broadband access.
Bill referrals have finally begun in the House of Representatives, and a slate of hearings are scheduled for next week. Additionally, Republican David Spiller swept the runoff election in House District 68 with more than 60 percent of the vote. He will serve the remainder of former State Representative (now-Senator) Drew Springer’s term.
The Department of State Health Services (DSHS) announced that not only will Texas be receiving 676,280 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine for the week of March 1, but that the state has now administered more than 5 million doses. Almost 1.7 million individuals are fully vaccinated and more than 3.3 million have received at least one dose. Additionally, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine for adults over the age of 18.