State of Texas: Republicans face party pressure in race for House Speaker

AUSTIN (Nexstar) - Texas House Republicans remain split on who to support in the Speaker of the House race one week after Speaker Dade Phelan removed himself from contention and was replaced by Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock.

Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, was able to secure enough votes to earn the Republican House Caucus nomination this past weekend, even after Burrows and more than 20 other House members walked out of the vote. That same day, Burrows declared victory in the race saying he had enough bipartisan support to get the 76 votes needed to win the Speaker race.

"Those 26 members that chose to leave, please know that you have my commitment that I want to continue working with you day and night between today and Jan. 14," Cook said to a room of reporters following the Saturday vote.

The Republican House Caucus rules state any member who is able to win the nomination will receive support from all 88 members, but it appears Cook does not have the full support just yet.

Gov. Greg Abbott took to the social media website X this week to voice his opinion about the race, saying, "I worked this entire year to elect conservative candidates who will pass conservative laws, including school choice. To achieve that goal we need a Texas House Speaker chosen by a majority of Republicans in accordance with the Republican Caucus Rules."

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick echoed the governor's remarks in his own statement on X, saying it was time for 76 House Republican members to support the GOP Caucus nominee, David Cook.

The Chairman of the Texas Republican Party, Abraham George, said it is time for Burrows to remove himself from the race and support Cook for Speaker. George said any members who go against the GOP nominee could possibly face a censure from the party.

"If you end up having multiple censures on your record, the Party has the right to tell you, 'you cannot run as a Republican in the next cycle,'" George explained.

If an elected Republican official is censured by a county or district committee of the party, the State Republican Executive Committee has the right to penalize that member, according to Rule 44 of the Texas GOP Rules.

One of the penalties would direct the state chairman to "refuse to accept any application for a place on the ballot of a Republican Primary Election for a period of 24 months."

"It is a major issue for elected officials," George said. "It also gives the grassroots a lot of power to say who do we want to represent us. That's the gist of the rule."

George said now is not the time for handing out censures, but he expects the members to fall in line in supporting Cook.

"Our goal is to get the rest of the Republican House members to come and back David Cook, because that is the right thing to do, and to have Dustin Burrows to withdraw his nomination," George said. "If he goes out there and gets support from Democrats and, you know, get some support from some Republicans we're going to look at it as a violation of our rules, and also the caucus rules. We will go into the censorships and ballot access and all those things at that point."

'We are having an impact:' Democrats work to influence Speaker race

The split in the Republican party has given the minority party in the House the chance for some influence. The House Democratic Caucus is not supporting a candidate currently. But the chair of the HDC said it is not supporting the GOP nominee.

"Democrats passed a resolution saying we will absolutely not vote for David Cook because he is offering Texans nothing," said Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston.

Wu added that after the resolution passed, Cook reached out, potentially opening the door for dialog.

"So far, he has sent a letter saying, oh, okay, 'I'm willing to talk. Tell me what you want. Tell me what Texans want. Maybe I'll consider it,'" Wu said.

"What Democrats are doing right now, even as a minority party, we are having an impact on the convesations. We're making potential leaders of Texas change their tune," Wu added.

Wu said Democratic members are looking for a candidate that will focus on tackling issues that are impacting Texans. "All that stuff that is just there to generate hate, keep that to yourself. Tell us about wages. Tell us about housing. Tell us about medical costs," Wu said.

Student study sets baseline to measure effect of DEI ban on campuses

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board released its inaugural study on the impacts of Senate Bill 17, which outlawed the use of diversity, equity, and inclusion offices (DEI) on public colleges and universities.

Universities across the state closed DEI offices this year and fired staff to comply with the new law that went into effect in 2024. The study released by the THECB does not show the impact SB 17 had this year because it only looked at data from 2022 and 2023. The board will treat the data in this initial study as a baseline moving forward. It plans to release a study on the impact of the bill every two years.

The report looks at six metrics: application rate, acceptance rate, matriculation rate, retention rate, grade point average and graduation rate. Critics of the law point to the data in this study as proof that DEI offices are needed on college campuses, while the author of the bill itself says it's proof DEI is the reason some groups are lagging behind their classmates.

Breaking the graduation rate down by race and ethnicity shows an even more apparent gap between African American students and their fellow students. At four-year institutions, only 29% of African American students graduated in four years. Compare that to Asian students whose graduation rate in the same time span was 64% in 2023, according to the report. White students graduated at a rate of 53% in the same period.

Critics of the law said they are happy the state collected this baseline data, because they believe things will get worse. "It's very sobering to look at this data and know that it will likely change in the coming years when they review it again," said Emily Witt, a media strategist with the Texas Freedom Network.

She believes the data proves critics' point that DEI offices are needed on college campuses. "We have to make an effort to build connection and community and give first-generation students, and students of color, and students from black communities, places where they can access resources that are for them."

However, Sen. Brandon Creighton, who authored the law, said the data in this report actually proves DEI was ineffective. He said the numbers show African American students were falling behind even when DEI offices were already in place.

"We saw that across the state of Texas the diversity, equity, and inclusion offices were taking us backwards, where even the hiring of minority faculty professors and their recruitment had slid from 3.1% to 1.7. So it doesn't surprise me that student performance had also declined," Creighton explained.

He said he wants to use the money that once hired DEI employees on college campuses and funnel it into resources for students. "That money should have been used for that purpose all along," Creighton said.

"We need to help all students that need support in a lift up, so that they can, in turn, through their own hard work and merit and work ethic continue to climb to a successful opportunity in the workforce," Creighton concluded.

The board concluded the study needed to break down student success rates by both gender and race at the same time. The study said this will provide a more granular analysis. The report also said the metrics do not show all the factors that may influence student success.

‘This will save lives:’ New Austin law will make hospitals safer

The Austin City Council gave final approval Thursday to a new ordinance -- already being praised for its potential to save lives -- requiring security barriers at all new hospital entrances in direct response to a series of KXAN investigations and nearly 10 months to the day after a deadly crash at St. David's North Austin Medical Center.

"Absolutely this will save lives," said Council Member Mackenzie Kelly, who introduced the resolution in July.

That resolution was sparked by "KXAN's ... diligent investigative coverage," Kelly said publicly at the time after watching the Bernard family's story. In an exclusive interview, Nadia and Levi described how they, and their two toddlers, were run over inside the ER lobby. The driver had a blood-alcohol level between three and four times the legal limit to drive, an autopsy showed.

Nadia wanted to share their story with KXAN so "no one else will have to go through what we're going through." On Thursday, Kelly again praised the family for speaking out.

"I want to thank the Bernard family for their courage to speak up and to talk about their experience," she said. "Which is why, in part, I brought this forward to prevent future tragedy."

After months of policymaking, there was a tense moment when Council Member Zo Qadri introduced a motion "to postpone" discussion until the end of January. Qadri cited the Planning Commission's concerns that requiring crash-rated barriers, called bollards, at new hospitals, urgent care clinics and standalone emergency rooms doesn't go far enough. The motion to delay a vote was also supported by Vanessa Fuentes, who sponsored Kelly's resolution.

"I think it would be an absolute travesty for us not to vote today in favor of this item," Kelly said. "And to postpone and kick it down the road further."

At the last council meeting before her term ends, Kelly urged the council to pass the measure and expand it later.

"I would encourage that while I'm watching from home on my couch eating popcorn," she said. "But, right now, we have the ability to affect a very serious change."

That final plea helped pass the measure unanimously.

"I'm going to say it without objection: Item number 74 is adopted," Mayor Kirk Watson said.

The change in city law comes in response to 10 months of KXAN investigations. Our team collected and analyzed data from the Storefront Safety Council -- a nonprofit that tracks vehicle crashes -- along with TxDOT crash data, police and media reports and built our own database.

Since our initial investigation, we have now found more than 400 crashes at, or into, medical centers nationwide in the last decade. When we combined data from the SSC with crash data from TxDOT, we found more than 100 crashes in Texas since 2014.

"That number, 400, does not surprise me," attorney Sean Breen said.

Breen represents the Bernard family in their $1 million lawsuit against St. David's NAMC accusing the hospital of "gross negligence" for not having bollards. After the crash, and following our questions, it installed a dozen.

Now, new facilities -- and existing ones wishing to expand -- are required to take those safety steps.

St. David's did not respond to KXAN's request for comment following Thursday's vote. The hospital group previously told us it does not comment on pending or active litigation.

“St. David’s HealthCare will work with policymakers to ensure compliance with any new legal or regulatory requirement, if they are passed,” the hospital group said in a statement after Kelly's resolution to initiate a bollard ordinance passed unanimously in July.

Breen spoke with the Bernard family after the vote and said they are "absolutely enthused."

"And very grateful that the city council acted appropriately and quickly here," Breen said. "This is a great day for Austin. It doesn't help the Bernard's but it will help other families not have to go through what they've gone through."

Reflecting on her time on the council, Kelly said she felt "an incredible sense of honor and gratitude."

"This is something really special that I can hang my hat on," she said. "It is now an ordinance, which is city law. And that is my legacy. It is a wonderful legacy to have."

This comes following yet even more crashes involving medical centers in recent days and weeks in Fort Worth, Maryland, Ohio, Rhode Island and South Carolina.

Austin became at least the sixth city or county nationwide to require security barriers.

"The investigation by KXAN and the team there really ensured that this was brought to resolution in an expedient manner," she said. "The research was impeccable and data-driven."

"My hope," she added, "is that other communities can use this as a framework to get it passed in their jurisdictions."