AUSTIN, Texas—The Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin and the Texas Legislature are hosting the 1998 Pre-Session Legislative Conference today through Friday (Dec. 2-4) for the upcoming Texas legislative session.
The biennial conference was instituted in 1970 by the LBJ School as an educational forum for members of the Texas Legislature to discuss problems facing Texas state government. In 1976, the New Member Orientation Program was combined with the conference to assist new members of the House and Senate with “learning the ropes” of the session.
Newly elected members spend the first two-and-a-half days of the conference in sessions covering topics on education, state finance and budgeting, technology issues facing government and the relationship between state government and the legislature.
On Friday, an all-members’ session will focus on critical issues facing the legislature in its upcoming session. The all-day session includes a presentation on “The Budget Outlook” from Sen. Bill Ratliff, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee; Rep. Rob Junell, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee; and Albert Hawkins, director of budget and planningfor the Office of the Governor. Also included is a noon address by Lt. Gov.-elect Rick Perry and afternoon sessions on education and electric and telephone deregulation.
The all-members’ session will be held in the Thompson Conference Center on the UT Austin campus and is open to the public on a space-available basis.
For more information, contact Anneliese Geis at the LBJ School’s Office of Conferences and Training at (512) 471-0820.
