After the 2022 elections, Republicans hold 86 of the seats in the House and 19 of the seats in the Senate.
Every odd-numbered year, the state Legislature gathers to pass a two-year state budget and other laws from January to May [In 2023 this is from Jan. 10 through May 29.]. This is known as a regular legislative session."
....He earned the support of every Democrat in the House, including Toni Rose of Dallas, who praised Phelan for supporting her bill in 2021 to expand Medicaid coverage for new mothers.
....In his nominating speech for Tinderholt, Slaton said the tradition in the House of selecting some minority party members — in Texas, Democrats — for committee chair positions is an overly generous "consolation prize" for losing an election. He said Phelan’s adherence to that tradition means Republicans can pass only some conservative legislative priorities each session while ignoring others.
....Critics attacked him for appointing Democrats to leadership positions in the chamber, following a long-held chamber tradition to appoint members of the minority party as committee chairs. Phelan has not budged on the issue, indicating he once again plans to allow some Democratic chairs and arguing that the Texas House operates better on a bipartisan basis and eschewing the divisiveness seen in Washington, D.C."
[NOTE: 150 members in the Texas House.]
....Phelan, however, said in September that if he's reelected House speaker, he would appoint the same proportion of Democratic committee chairs for the next session. Phelan appointed 13 Democratic committee chairs at the start of the last session, out of 34 standing committees."
"The Texas House tradition of having committee chairs from both parties goes back decades and has been a constant under both Democratic and Republican speakers," said Rep. Chris Turner of Grand Prairie, leader of the House Democratic Caucus and chairman of the House Business and Industry Committee. "Texas is well-served by this practice."