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Thursday, April 24, 2025

Texas Senate to discuss Paul Bettencourt’s proposal — what does SB 1435 say?

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Paul Bettencourt Texas State Senator, District 7 | Official Website

Paul Bettencourt Texas State Senator, District 7 | Official Website

Sen. Paul Bettencourt introduced SB 1435, a bill on City Government and Utilities, to the Texas Senate on Thursday, March 6 during the 89(R) legislative session, according to the Texas Legislature website.

More specifically, the official text was summarized by the state legislature as ’’Relating to notice provided to certain state and local officials regarding an appeal of a municipal order filed by a transmission and distribution utility in a ratemaking proceeding’’.

The following is our breakdown, based on the actual bill text, and may include interpretation to clarify its provisions.

This bill amends the Utilities Code to require the commission to notify specific state and local officials when a transmission and distribution utility files an appeal in a ratemaking proceeding concerning a municipal order. The notification targets members of the legislature whose districts encompass territories within the affected municipality and the governing bodies of both the municipality involved and the county in which it is situated. These provisions apply only to appeals filed on or after the bill's effective date of Sept. 1, 2025. Appeals filed prior to this date will be governed by the law as it stood before this change.

Paul Bettencourt, chair of the Senate Committee on Local Government and member of the Senate Committee on Transportation, proposed another nine bills during the 89(R) legislative session.

Bettencourt graduated from Texas A&M University with a BS.

Paul Bettencourt is currently serving in the Texas State Senate, representing the state's 7th Senate district. He replaced previous state senator Dan Patrick in 2015.

Bills in Texas go through a multi-step legislative process, including committee review, debates, and votes in both chambers before reaching a final decision. Each session, there are typically thousands of bills introduced, but only a portion successfully navigate the process to become law.

You can read more about the bills and other measures here.

Other Recent Bills Introduced by Sen. Paul Bettencourt in Texas Senate During 89(R) Legislative Session

Bill NumberDate IntroducedShort Description
SB 154203/06/2025Relating to maintaining the accuracy of information contained within the statewide voter registration system; creating a criminal offense
SB 150903/06/2025Relating to the authority of a municipality to regulate within its extraterritorial jurisdiction
SB 150303/06/2025Relating to the expansion of the territory of an emergency services district into the territory of a municipality
SB 150103/06/2025Relating to the allocation of proceeds from the issuance of general obligation bonds by political subdivisions
SB 144103/06/2025Relating to state agency employment openings and aptitude assessments
SB 144003/06/2025Relating to required reporting of certain discretionary prosecutorial decisions of prosecuting attorneys
SB 143903/06/2025Relating to automatic recounts of certain elections
SB 143803/06/2025Relating to the procedure for a periodic rate adjustment by an electric utility
SB 81802/07/2025Relating to the establishment of the Health Impact, Cost, and Coverage Analysis Program; authorizing a fee

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