| District | First Name | Last Name | Party | Raw Score | Adjusted Score | Notes/Adjustments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bryan | Hughes | R | 4% | 4% | The score speaks for itself. |
| 2 | Bob | Hall | R | 19% | 19% | Hall continues to be a non-factor in most energy, environment, and water discussions, voting predictably against most good legislation and for bad legislation. |
| 3 | Robert | Nichols | R | 44% | 47% | We give Nichols credit (5%) for standing up up to oil and gas companies who wanted SB 2107 to include liability protection. He did not budge on it, purposefully causing his own legislation to fail. He stood up to them on behalf of landowners. However, he carried SB 505 (-1%), which imposed a high $200 registration fee on EVs, which is consistent with his position, but he was not open to moving a study of a vehicle mileage fee which was disappointing. We also deduct -1% for not moving HB 3418 (Canales) which he sponsored and then kept stuck in his own committee. Overall, we adjusted his score by 3%. |
| 4 | Brandon | Creighton | R | 19% | 14% | Creighton has been at the center of some awful bills across the issue spectrum, but one we actively fought against was SB 2127, the so called "death star" pre-emption bill. |
| 5 | Charles | Schwertner | R | 34% | 27% | Given his positional power as Chair of Senate Business & Commerce, Schwertner had considerable influence on a number of energy issues. We give him credit for supporting (at least initially) SB 258, as well as SB 2453, SB 114, SB 1001, SB 1002 (+5.5%), but he also facilitated the movement of several anti-renewables bills in Patrick's "Repowering Texas" package, he sat on a good energy efficiency council bill (HB 4811), and he opposed adding SB 258 as an amendment to HB 1500 (-12.5%). Net -7% |
| 6 | Carol | Alvarado | D | 93% | 93% | Alvarado voted much more in line with Sierra Club's positions this session, a marked improvement over previous sessions. |
| 7 | Paul | Bettencourt | R | 19% | 19% | The score speaks for itself. |
| 8 | Angela | Paxton | R | 19% | 19% | The score speaks for itself. |
| 9 | Kelly | Hancock | R | 19% | 16% | Hancock played a not insignificant role in the ongoing efforts to centralize power at the state level, attempting to force the city-owned Austin Energy into the regulatory structure of the PUCT (SB 805) (-1%), and tried to move his SB 1114, which would undermine ability of cities and counties to regulate the use or sale of a product for the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions or conserving natural resources (-1%). He also authored and worked SB 2209, a bad police accountability bill, which Sierra Club registered in opposition to (-1%). |
| 10 | Phil | King | R | 19% | 17% | King was the author of several anti-renewables bills as part of Dan Patrick's "Repowering Texas" package, including two in our scorecard. |
| 11 | Mayes | Middleton | R | 19% | 17% | Middleton is the embodiment of oil special interests. The voting record speaks for itself, but we do call attention to his authoring of a bad off-shore wind bill (SB 1303) as well as a bad bill eroding the Open Beaches Act (SB 434). (-2%) |
| 12 | Tan | Parker | R | 24% | 29% | Despite a generally poor energy and environmental voting record, Parker did author and shepherd through a historic bill (SB 1648) that could unlock $1 billion for state parks (pending voter approval in November 2023). (+5%) |
| 13 | Borris | Miles | D | 85% | 85% | While Miles generally had a decent session, he voted the wrong way on SB 624 (additional hurdles for renewables) and HB 5 (revival of Chapter 313). While we recognize that he voted wrong on SB 624 in return for getting an amendment to protect community solar projects in his district, it was still a bad bill even with his amendment. |
| 14 | Sarah | Eckhardt | D | 93% | 99% | Eckhardt was one of the top environmental champions in the Senate again, authoring, fighting for, and spending political capital on SB 258. The only blemish on her voting record was a Yes vote on HB 5 (Chapter 313 revival), though it was in return for some changes made by the author. |
| 15 | John | Whitmire | D | 84% | 84% | Unsure as we are about the near-term future of the Dean of the Senate, Whitmire has never engaged that much on energy or environmental issues, but can, at times, be a reliable vote. |
| 16 | Nathan | Johnson | D | 79% | 83% | This session we noticed Johnson trying to be a player, seeking out points of leverage to advance good legislation and weaken bad legislation. However, tradeoffs and deals all come with costs. He voted the wrong way three times (SB 471, HB 5, and Amendment 9 to HB 1500), but we give him credit for offering an amendment to SB 2012 that improved the bill slightly, carrying a good distributed energy and demand response bill (SB 1699), working to add an amendment that lessened the bad impacts of SB 2627, and authoring a good EDAP bill (SB 1823). (+3%) |
| 17 | Joan | Huffman | R | 26% | 26% | The score speaks for itself. |
| 18 | Lois | Kolkhorst | R | 34% | 36% | Like Hughes, Kolkhorst has been in the middle of some pretty heinous legislative efforts. That mostly holds true on the energy and environmental front, voting the wrong way most of the time. She also authored an anti-renewables bill (SB 624) that she pushed through the Senate. We do give her some credit, however, for carrying a good oyster bill (SB 1032), a good ERCOT bill (SB 1751), and a good mitigation bill for Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District (SB 1080) that was vetoed. (Net +2%) |
| 19 | Roland | Gutierrez | D | 86% | 86% | Gutierrez had a historic session as he fought alongside Uvalde families for stronger gun safety measures. We applaud his dedication and focus but he was absent for two key votes that affected his overall score. |
| 20 | Juan "Chuy" | Hinojosa | D | 56% | 56% | Hinojosa has not been great on energy and environmental issues for some time. While he voted the right way on the bills Sierra Club supported, he voted the wrong way on many bills we opposed (SB 6, SB 471, SB 624). |
| 21 | Judith | Zaffirini | D | 86% | 89% | Serving on Business & Commerce, Zaffirini was in a position to help move a lot of energy bills, both good and bad. For the most part, she helped move good. On the floor, she voted the wrong way on SB 471 and HB 5, however. We do give her credit for adding an amendment on to SB 7 that would make more energy storage eligible in the PCM, proposing an amendment to SB 2012 that would lessen the bad impacts of the bill, and filing a good bill (SB 2293) on TPWD involvement in TCEQ contested case hearings. (+3%) |
| 22 | Brian | Birdwell | R | 32% | 27% | As Chair of Natural Resources, Birdwell used his positional power to keep out any bills related to well plugging, better fines or enforcement at the Railroad Commission, methane controls, and never brought up SB 2293 (TPWD/TCEQ contested case hearing bill) for a hearing (-5%). He also authored a bad bill (SB 784) on greenhouse gas emissions, although he did agree to keep out the word "indirect" (-1%), as well as a bad bill (SB 1017) on local control on engines and fuels but did work collaboratively to make the bill less bad, and worked with us to lessen the negative impacts of the bill (-1%). On the positive side, he authored two good bills on geothermal (SB 785 and SB 786) (+2%). Net -5%. |
| 23 | Royce | West | D | 77% | 77% | West does not appear to be in many conversations about energy/environment/water, but he usually votes for good bills when they reach the floor. However, he voted the wrong way on SB 624 and HB 5. |
| 24 | Pete | Flores | R | 34% | 34% | Flores appeared to be a reliable vote for Dan Patrick this session, which generally means not good things. |
| 25 | Donna | Campbell | R | 26% | 26% | Even though she was on Business & Commerce, Campbell did not play much of a role in many energy conversations this session. |
| 26 | José | Menéndez | D | 93% | 101% | Though he did vote for HB 5, Menéndez was an amazing and successful champion of pro-clean energy and pro-ratepayer interests this session. He worked extremely hard to pass SB 2453 (+5%), authored and carried a good demand response bill (SB 114) (+1%), proposed an amendment that would lessen the bad impacts of SB 2012 (+1%), and got some important language into SB 7 that will allow ERCOT to do other programs (+1%). |
| 27 | Morgan | LaMantia | D | 71% | 71% | In her first term, LaMantia served on committees that did not get many bills that we work on. She voted the right way on bills we supported, and deserves credit for voting against SB 6 (which some of her Democratic colleagues couldn't do), but she voted in favor of a good deal of bad bills. |
| 28 | Charles | Perry | R | 27% | 20% | As Chair of Water, Ag, and Rural Affairs, Perry had considerable power to move water legislation this session, and he consciously and deliberately chose not to support bills related to EDAP, as well as an important amendment that would have added EDAP-eligible communities to funding made available in SB 28 (-5%). He also blocked several good bills (HB 3522, HB 3523, and SB 1823) (-3%). On the plus side, we credit him for filing and passing a good bill (SB 1289) on reclaimed wastewater (+1%). (Net -7%) |
| 29 | César | Blanco | D | 78% | 78% | While Blanco has been good on many environmental votes in the past, and he voted the right way on good bills we tracked, he voted wrong on a number of bad bills (SB 6, SB 2015, and HB 5). |
| 30 | Drew | Springer | R | 11% | 10% | Not much needs to be said about Springer, but we should acknowledge that he authored SB 471 which, as originally filed, would have created a fee levied against people who make a complaint to the TCEQ if it doesn't end up in a fine after three reports without a resulting enforcement action. (-1%) |
| 31 | Kevin | Sparks | R | 15% | 15% | The score speaks for itself. |
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