Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick Announces the Creation of the Senate Special Committee on Hurricane and Tropical Storm Preparedness, Recovery, and Electricity

July 17, 2024

AUSTIN - Today, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced the creation of the Senate Special Committee on Hurricane and Tropical Storm Preparedness, Recovery, and Electricity. Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, will serve as Chairman, and Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, will serve as Vice Chair. Upon forming the committee, Lt. Gov. Patrick issued this statement:

"Texans are rightfully upset with the overwhelming failure of electric utility companies to restore power in a timely fashion following Hurricane Beryl. The electric utility companies' failure cannot be tolerated, especially when it was so obvious a storm was headed toward Texas. I am appointing this committee to review what happened and establish why certain electric utility companies appear to have been woefully unprepared for Hurricane Beryl. The Texas Senate will work to ensure electric utility companies respond more effectively to future storms."

Upon being named chair, Sen. Schwertner issued the following statement:

"As Chairman of the Special Committee, I will focus on why electric utility companies failed to provide timely power restoration to millions of Texans and the decisive actions these companies will take to ensure this type of catastrophic failure never happens again."

The Senate Special Committee on Hurricane and Tropical Storm Preparedness, Recovery, and Electricity includes:

Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, Chairman
Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, Vice Chair
Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston
Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston
Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe
Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen
Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston
Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham
Sen. Morgan LaMantia, D-Palm Valley
Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston
Sen. Borris Miles, D-Houston
Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville
Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo

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