HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES — NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
COMMITTEE: Trade, Workforce & Economic Development
TIME & DATE: 10:00 AM, Wednesday, August 26, 2026
PLACE: E2.014
CHAIR: Rep. Angie Button
The Committee will meet in a public hearing to hear invited testimony only on the following interim charges:
Monitoring: Monitor the implementation and associated rulemaking of legislation passed by the Committee and enacted by the 89th Legislature to ensure that legislative purposes are properly implemented, including the following:
· HB 2963, relating to diagnosis, maintenance, and repair of certain digital electronic equipment;
· HB 4903, relating to the establishment of the Quad-Agency Child Care Initiative and the Quad-Agency Child Care Initiative Commission; and
· SB 1333, relating to the unauthorized entry, occupancy, sale, rental, lease, advertisement for sale, rental or lease, or conveyance of real property, including the removal of certain unauthorized occupants of a dwelling, creating criminal offenses; increasing a criminal penalty.
Supply Chain Resilience and Economic Security: Identify strategies to strengthen and secure Texas' supply chains across critical industries, including manufacturing, energy, technology, food and agriculture, health care, and logistics. Examine vulnerabilities related to workforce availability, infrastructure capacity, domestic production, supplier concentration, and global disruptions. Identify workforce-aligned, economic development policies that improve supply chain resilience, reduce dependency risks, support Texas-based production, and ensure continuity of goods and services essential to the state's economy.
Program Integrity and Fraud Prevention: Study the effectiveness of fraud prevention, detection, and accountability measures across workforce and economic development programs administered by state agencies under the jurisdiction of the committee. Examine common risk areas, data-sharing limitations, program design vulnerabilities, and administrative challenges that contribute to waste, fraud, or abuse. Identify best practices and recommend policy or statutory changes to strengthen program integrity while ensuring eligible workers, employers, and training providers retain timely access to services.
Child Care Access and Workforce Participation: Study the accessibility, affordability, quality, and coordination of childcare and early childhood systems in Texas. Evaluate how these systems affect workforce participation, labor force attachment, employee retention, and employer productivity across urban, suburban, and rural communities. Examine collaborative strategies through which the state, local governments, employers, and families can work together to increase childcare access and affordability, including public-private partnerships, employer-supported models, local innovation, and cost-sharing approaches.
Agency Oversight: Pursuant to the broad oversight responsibilities granted to the Committee under Section 301.014, Government Code, and the House Rules of
Procedure, monitor the agencies under the Committee’s jurisdiction, including for fraud,waste, and abuse, where applicable. The jurisdiction of the Trade, Workforce, and Economic Development Committee includes the following agencies:
· The Division of Workers’ Compensation of the Texas Department of Insurance;
· The Texas Economic Development and Tourism Office; and
· The Texas Workforce Commission.
Online submission of public comments will be available on the following topics:
Implementation of HB 2963 (89R)
Implementation of HB 4903 (89R)
Implementation of SB 1333 (89R)
Supply Chain Resilience and Economic Security
Program Integrity and Fraud Prevention
Child Care Access and Workforce Participation
Agency Oversight: Division of Workers' Compensation, TDI
Agency Oversight: Texas Economic Development and Tourism Office
Agency Oversight: Texas Workforce Commission
Texas residents who wish to electronically submit comments related to
agenda items on this notice without testifying in person can do so until
the hearing is adjourned by visiting:
https://comments.house.texas.gov/home?c=c473
For those persons who will be testifying, information for in-person witness registration, can be found here: https://mytxlegis.capitol.texas.gov/HWRSPublic/About.aspx
A live video broadcast of this hearing will be available here: https://house.texas.gov/video-audio/
Instructions related to public access to the meeting location are available here: https://house.texas.gov/committees/public-access-house-committee-meetings/
NOTICE OF ASSISTANCE AT PUBLIC MEETINGS
Persons with disabilities who plan to attend this meeting and who may need assistance, such as a sign language interpreter, are requested to contact Stacey Nicchio at (512) 463-0850, 72 hours prior to the meeting so that appropriate arrangements can be made.