Those of us who follow the Texas legislature closely have been waiting for the committee assignments for the House to be announced by the new speaker. That announcement came today.
The committee which oversees the programs of the state housing agency is the House Urban Affairs Committee. For the first time in recent memory this committee has a Democratic chair and a Democratic majority. Also for the first time in recent memory is not completely dominated by representatives of Harris County. This session the balance of the committee has shifted from Houston to the Dallas – Fort Worth area.
The committee is composed of nine Democrats and two Republicans. The majority of the members are relatively new to the legislature including six freshmen (Alvarado, Gutierrez, Kent, Miklos, Turner, Walle) and two sophomores (Caraway & Pierson).
The committee chair is Yvonne Davis, a veteran. experienced representative of inner-city Dallas who has offered strong support for affordable housing issues for many sessions. A Republican Vice Chairman is Charlie Howard.Representative Howard is a native of Sugar Land and describes himself as dedicated to, “smaller government and less intrusiveness of government in the lives of Texas citizens.”
Here is the Committee makeup:
- Chair: Davis, Yvonne (D)-Dallas
- Vice chair: Howard, Charlie (R)-Sugar Land
- Fletcher, Allen (R)-Tomball
- Mallory Caraway, Barbara (D)-Dallas
- Alvarado, Carol (D)-Houston
- Gutierrez, Roland (D)-San Antonio
- Kent, Carol (D)-Dallas
- Miklos, Robert (D)-Mesquite
- Pierson, Paula (D)-Arlington
- Turner, Chris (D)-Arlington
- Walle, Armando (D)-Houston
