House Committee on Trade, Workforce & Economic Development

Leadership

ChairAngie Chen Button (R)House District 112 · GarlandVice ChairJames Talarico (D)House District 50 · Austin

Composition

Members

89th Legislature (2025), listed by role, then alphabetically

Keith Bell (R)House District 4 · ForneySalman Bhojani (D)House District 92 · EulessCaroline Harris Davila (R)House District 52 · Round RockOscar Longoria (D)House District 35 · MissionJohn Lujan (R)House District 118 · San AntonioShelley Luther (R)House District 62 · Tom BeanTerry Meza (D)House District 105 · IrvingClaudia Ordaz (D)House District 79 · El PasoKeresa Richardson (R)House District 61 · McKinney

Activity

89th Legislature (2025), regular session

Efficiency is the share of bills referred to the committee during the session that it reported out. Source: Texas Legislature Online committee reports.

Interim Charges

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.

Subcommittees

• Subcommittee on International Relations · Chair: John Lujan (R)
• Subcommittee on Workforce · Chair: Oscar Longoria (D)

TPR Coverage