Wider lens. Same brief.

Welcome to the new Texas Political Spotlight. Starting this week, we cover every level of Texas government in one weekly read: state committees, regulatory boards, county commissions, school boards. Same weekly cadence, sharper picture of what actually happened.

Diagnosis, complete.

The Speaker-formed Select Committee on Health Care Affordability wrapped its two-day diagnostic phase Friday May 1. Day 2 narrowed from yesterday's overview to the insurance market specifically, with neutral testimony from Wendell Potter of the Center for Health and Democracy, Ken Janda of Wild Blue Health Solutions and the University of Houston College of Medicine, and Susan Pantley of the American Academy of Actuaries.

Per Janda’s testimony, Texas has about 4.5 million uninsured residents, what he described as the country’s "highest percentage of uninsured people and the largest number." About 800,000 of those uninsured Texans, Janda said, make more than 400 percent of the federal poverty level. Cigna will leave the Texas ACA marketplace in 2027; Janda noted the move would take the carrier count from 16 to 15 starting that year, though Cigna had "a very small market share." Of Texas’s 3.5 to 4 million Medicare enrollees, about 58 percent are on private Medicare Advantage plans, also per Janda.

A note to our readers: the following section covers the ongoing legislative investigation into the July 2025 Hill Country floods. We know this is a story many readers carry close, and we cover it with care.

Two days of testimony, then a withdrawal.

The Senate and House General Investigating Committees met jointly on April 27 and April 28 in Austin to examine the July 4, 2025 flooding at Camp Mystic, where 28 people died: 25 campers, 2 counselors, and the camp’s executive director Dick Eastland, who died in the floodwaters trying to save campers. Lead investigator Casey Garrett walked the committees through what is now between 140 and 150 witness interviews, identifying communications gaps and what she described as "an obedience encouraged culture" the night of the flood. Edward Eastland addressed the families directly: "we tried our hardest that night, and it wasn't enough to save your daughters."

Sen. Charles Perry (R-Lubbock), vice chair of the Senate General Investigating Committee, told the Eastland family directly that he would oppose them continuing as camp operators in the future, while saying Camp Mystic itself could continue under different ownership. On April 30, two days after the hearing, Camp Mystic withdrew its 2026 license application. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick endorsed the decision, calling it "the correct step to protect campers and allow investigations to proceed." The investigators’ final report is due in May.

Burying wood is not recycling.

In its April 30, 2026 Commissioners’ Agenda, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality unanimously adopted the administrative law judge’s proposal for decision against Carbon Sequestration Incorporated. The order, read into the record by TCEQ counsel, refers to the unauthorized disposal of 4,682 tons of waste wood at the respondent’s facility and directs removal of all municipal solid waste from that facility within 30 days. The administrative penalty was modest at $5,625, but the precedent is the story: this is the first TCEQ ruling testing whether burying organic material to generate carbon-removal credits qualifies as "recycling" under Texas Health and Safety Code 361.421.

The company argued that its waste-wood feedstock substitutes for virgin biomass that could otherwise be used to manufacture identical carbon-removal credits under the carbon-credit methodology entered into evidence. The Office of Public Interest Counsel and the administrative law judge both rejected the substitution defense, and on April 30 the Commission agreed with that rejection, voting unanimously to adopt the ALJ’s proposal for decision.

Flat funding, lifted load.

The Department of State Health Services held its public hearing on the 2028-2029 biennium legislative appropriations request. The agency's current biennium appropriation is $2.4 billion all-funds, with $1.2 billion in general revenue, supporting 3,468.2 full-time equivalents. Twenty-two preregistered commenters and twenty-five written submissions came from county health departments and statewide associations.

Doctor Philip Huang, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services and representing the Texas Association of City and County Health Officials, testified that state funding for core public health functions has, in his words, "remained essentially flat for seven to fifteen years." Over the same period, Dallas County clinic volume rose 83 percent, TB screenings rose 10 percent, and new HIV cases rose 36 percent.