Yesterday, Speaker of the House Dennis Bonnen delivered interim charges to the House Committees, which includes the House Committee on Transportation that Chairman Terry Canales oversees.

After every Texas legislative session, it is the practice of the Speaker of the House to submit to each Chairman of standing committees a list of issues for committees to study between legislative sessions. Typically, committees will study their interim charges by holding numerous public interim committee hearings with invited experts to discuss the data, facts, and possible solutions regarding the topic of the hearing.

As the next legislative session approaches in January 2021, committees will then submit a report back to the Speaker of the House that details their findings and solutions to the pressing issues that they were asked to study.

"Speaker Dennis Bonnen has delivered a strategically significant list of transportation issues for us to study this interim, and I am pleased that he has entrusted my Committee to find the solutions. Our great state of Texas will double in population in 20 to 25 years, and during that same time frame, our transportation infrastructure is projected to gain only 15% more lane miles. If traffic in your area is bad now, 20 years from now, you can count on it getting twice as worse unless our state makes significant progress on viable transportation alternatives and funding mechanisms. Developing solutions for these challenges will require bringing the smartest people in Texas to the table, and that is exactly what I plan to do." stated Chairman Terry Canales. “I am particularly glad to see that Speaker Bonnen shares my concern that our ports of entry along Texas’ border are of the utmost importance and need to be studied. Our ports of entry are major economic engines and must continue to be assessed to ensure that they’re optimized, highly efficient, and safe,” Chairman Canales continued.

The interim charges for the House Committee on Transportation are attached to this e-mail. To see the full list of interim charges for all House Committees, please go to the following web address: Interim Charges for the 86th Legislature

Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, is the Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and represents House District 40 in Hidalgo County, which includes portions or all of Edinburg, Elsa, Faysville, La Blanca, Linn, Lópezville, McAllen, Pharr and Weslaco. He may be reached at his House District Office in Edinburg at (956) 383-0860 or at the Capitol at (512) 463-0426.