Texas House
Standing Committee
House Committee on Trade, Workforce and Economic Development
Oversees commerce, trade, workforce development, economic development, labor relations, consumer protection, and international trade across Texas.
Committee Leadership
Committee Composition
Committee Size
11 Members
Republicans
6
Democrats
5
Committee Partisan Split
6R – 5D
Committee Membership
Most Recent Session Activity
Metrics reflect activity during the most recent legislative session.
Legislation Referred
396
Legislation Voted Out
139
Overall Efficiency
35.10%
Committee Meetings
18
Interim Charges
- Monitoring: Monitor the implementation and associated rulemaking of all 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 State Office of Risk Management;
- The Risk Management Board;
- The Division of Workers’ Compensation of the Texas Department of Insurance;
- The workers’ compensation research and evaluation group in the Texas Department of Insurance;
- The Office of Injured Employee Counsel, including the ombudsman program of that office;
- The Texas Mutual Insurance Company Board of Directors;
- The Texas Economic Development and Tourism Office;
- The Texas Workforce Commission; and
- The Texas Workforce Investment Council.
- Subcommittee on Workforce — Workforce Development: Study workforce development and labor market conditions in Texas, including skills gaps, workforce participation, training and education, and alignment between workforce programs and employer demand. Identify challenges and best practices to maintain the competitiveness of regional labor markets and strengthen workforce readiness.
Committee Jurisdiction
The committee shall have 11 members, with jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to:
- The relations between the State of Texas and other nations related to trade relations and international trade zones.
- Commerce, trade, industry, and manufacturing, including international commerce and trade and the regulation of persons participating in international commerce and trade.
- Industrial safety and adequate and safe working conditions, and the regulation and control of those conditions.
- Unemployment compensation, including coverage, benefits, taxes, and eligibility.
- Labor unions and their organization, control, management, and administration.
- The regulation of business transactions and transactions involving property interests.
- The organization, incorporation, management, and regulation of private corporations and professional associations and the Uniform Commercial Code and the Business Organizations Code.
- The protection of consumers, governmental regulations incident thereto, the agencies of government authorized to regulate such activities, and the role of the government in consumer protection.
- Homeowners’ associations.
- Oversight and regulation of the construction industry.
- Cooperation between the state or a local governmental entity and the scientific and technological community, including private businesses, institutions of higher education, and federal governmental laboratories.
- Weights and measures.
- Workforce training.
- Economic and industrial development.
- Development and support of small businesses.
- Job creation and job-training programs.
- Hours, wages, collective bargaining, and the relationship between employers and employees.
- International and border regions economic development, public health and safety issues affecting the border, tourist development, and goodwill.
- The provision of public services to persons residing in proximity to Texas’ international border or in other areas of the state with significant immigrant population growth.
- The following state agencies: the State Office of Risk Management, the Risk Management Board, the Division of Workers’ Compensation of the Texas Department of Insurance, the Office of Injured Employee Counsel, the Texas Mutual Insurance Company Board of Directors, the Texas Economic Development and Tourism Office, the Texas Workforce Commission, and the Texas Workforce Investment Council.
The committee has two permanent standing subcommittees: a Subcommittee on Workforce and a Subcommittee on International Relations.
Committee Contact Information
Capitol Location
Capitol Extension, E2.118
Phone Number
(512) 463-0069
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