Incoming Texas attorney general and comptroller

Welcome back. You're watching Fox 7 Austin News at 5:30. We just lost the teleprompter there, but that's okay. We've got Rudy Kosky downstairs. We've been having a lot of reaction, of course, to this post-election hangover, if you will. Maybe we'll talk about it that way. But, Rudy, what are the latest today? Yeah, you know, we're going from hangover to remodeling, and there's a lot of remodeling projects that are underway here in Austin getting ready for 2027. Two offices being rebuilt right now dealing with law enforcement, another one that is dealing with managing the state's bank accounts. So certainly... Two very big remodeling jobs underway. The incoming Attorney General, Nathan Johnson, speaking to our Stephen Dial. He says he's going to focus on things like consumer protection and public corruption. Comptroller-elect Sarah Eckhardt talking to me today, saying that she's bringing back key staff members fired by incumbent Don Huffines and will be focusing on auditing no-bid contracts and tax breaks. In our Battleground Texas show today, Charles Blaine with Urban Reform and I discussed the Johnson-Eckhardt Pledge to keep politics out of their agencies and how realistic those promises are. I don't know when the Attorney General's office became a private law firm for a faction of a political party, but it isn't what it's supposed to be. We are exempting more in sales taxes than we're actually collecting. And I think that we need to do that analysis showing what the legislative intent was for those exemptions and whether that legislative intent is still being served. Both promise accountability, no politics. I'm pretty sure that's going to be with Eckhart. It's just a numbers game with her. Not too sure with Johnson. What's your gut feeling? I mean, that office is just too political in nature. I mean, it gives it such great opportunity to go after the federal government. It gives us a great opportunity to target cities that they that they dislike or disagree with politics. And so I don't see Nathan Johnson staying away from targeting the Trump White House for the next two years while he can build a name for himself by suing them. So I definitely think we're gonna see some of that. Certainly a lot of work to do. The transition process from Team Red to Team Blue, though, may be a smooth process. But in 2027, a battleground for 2027 may already be shaping up. It looks like the state school board also has flipped, and that is with a slim 8-7 Democrat majority. Hinojosa is going to get to appoint a new school board chairperson. And has already promised to fire the head of TEA on day one. But her appointments will also have to be approved by the state senate, which, Alec, is still controlled by the Republicans. Rudy, there's been a lot of talk about trying to rein in the executive emergency order powers by a governor. We talked about this a little yesterday. A request for outgoing Governor Abbott to call a special session was made, but that's not very realistic, is it? Yeah, it's somewhat of a mixed bag because getting a change to really stick, that's the question. The original idea was filed nearly three years ago by Republican Brian Harrison as HB 911, emergency orders, 9-11. You know, it was in response to the orders issued by Governor Greg Abbott during the pandemic. The bill failed to get out of committee, so passing a quick statutory reboot. You know, maybe a little easier than has been done. It does require only a simple majority in the House to do it, but a permanent constitutional change. That one needs a two-thirds vote in the House, which Democrats can just block by doing a quorum break. So a special session request, you know, is it possible? Yeah, it's possible. But in reality, it sounds more like a I told you so from Harrison. Alec. Rudy Kowski, thank you.