State Rep. James Frank turns into fourth Republican to problem Dade Phelan for Home speaker

Join the We the Texans e-newsletter to obtain twice-monthly updates on our year-long initiative devoted to boosting civic engagement and chronicling how democracy is skilled in Texas.

State Rep. James Frank, a Wichita Falls Republican who is without doubt one of the Texas Home’s main voices on well being and foster care, introduced Tuesday he’s working for speaker, making him the fourth member to problem the decrease chamber’s present chief, Beaumont Republican Dade Phelan.

In an announcement saying his bid for the speakership, Frank stated he would work to carry higher communication, member empowerment and administration of the circulation of laws if he grew to become the chamber’s chief. Just like the three earlier challengers to Phelan, he pledged to nominate solely Republicans to management positions on legislative committees.

“Following the end of last session, and especially after the primary election results of March, it became clear to me that the House itself and our voters want to move in a different direction,” Frank stated in his announcement. “By today’s actions, I am asking you to consider whether I represent that direction.”

Pushing again towards critics who say appointing solely Republicans to management positions would take Democrats out of the legislative course of, Frank stated Texas is one among solely three states that continues to provide the minority social gathering management positions. He stated limiting committee chair positions to the bulk social gathering would “allow significantly more Republicans to participate in leadership roles.”

With out naming Phelan, Frank was crucial of the present speaker’s communication with the members of the chamber and with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott. By the top of final session, relationships between the “Big 3” — Phelan, Patrick and Abbott — had been the worst in recent times with Patrick steadily sniping at Phelan on social media.

“Relationships don’t get better by not talking,” Frank stated. “I have the time, willingness and understand the importance of spending as much energy as necessary to ensure communication flows between the chambers and among the members.”

Frank additionally pledged to decentralize energy away from the speaker and to “empower members” of the chamber to characterize their constituents. He additionally stated he would fast-track the passage of GOP precedence laws originally of the session in order that Republican priorities aren’t killed in end-of-session battles.

“This will allow us to ensure that Republican members can fulfill their promises to their constituents,” he stated. “It will also allow members of both parties to spend the rest of session focused on the 90-95% of other bills that constituents on both sides of the aisle want us to debate and pass.”

Phelan has stated he plans to hunt one other time period as speaker when the Home reconvenes subsequent January. However his management of the chamber is tenuous: In Might, Phelan narrowly fended off a major challenger backed by his social gathering’s rightmost flank, and three GOP members have been already making an attempt to wrest management of the gavel earlier than Frank joined the fray.

A lot of the opposition to Phelan stems from his help for final 12 months’s impeachment of fellow Republican Legal professional Normal Ken Paxton on corruption and bribery expenses, which drove a wedge between Phelan’s allies and the social gathering’s proper flank. Frank was among the many 60 Home Republicans who voted to question Paxton.

Frank has served within the Home since 2012 and chaired the chamber’s Human Companies Committee since 2019. He’s the second committee chair to problem Phelan, becoming a member of state Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress, who was tapped by Phelan to supervise the Home Insurance coverage Committee. Additionally working for speaker is state Rep. Shelby Slawson, R-Stephenville and Rep. David Prepare dinner, R-Mansfield.

Slawson was one among 23 who voted towards Paxton’s impeachment and Oliverson missed the vote. Prepare dinner voted for impeachment however later clarified he would have voted towards three of the articles towards Paxton.

Frank is a staunch supporter of personal college vouchers, the opposite concern that has emerged as a political litmus take a look at for GOP lawmakers amid backing from Abbott. Oliverson and Slawson additionally help college vouchers, or the coverage of utilizing taxpayer funding to assist mother and father pay for his or her kids’s non-public college tuition.

Phelan stored his private emotions about vouchers near the vest as the problem fractured Home Republicans final session. He didn’t solid a vote on a measure that in the end killed the voucher invoice, which is commonly the case for the Home speaker. He later advised The Texas Tribune he would have supported a restricted voucher program.

Throughout the chamber, Frank is finest recognized for his work on well being care coverage and baby welfare laws. He was the Home sponsor of a 2017 regulation overhauling the state’s beleaguered foster care system, adopting a brand new mannequin that relied on third-party contractors to position kids in residential amenities or discover foster mother and father. This so-called community-based care mannequin has progressed slowly because the regulation took impact, the Tribune has reported.

Frank has additionally led efforts on laws limiting the power of Baby Protecting Companies to take away kids from their properties.

Moreover, he has ushered quite a lot of payments by means of the Human Companies Committee geared toward bettering Texas’ Medicaid managed care program, the privatized system used to ship the vast majority of the state’s coated advantages, akin to drug and therapy providers.

Frank, a 57-year-old businessman, owns an iron manufacturing firm in Wichita Falls, the place greater than half his district lives.

He represents a rural and solidly Republican swath of 14 counties, a number of of which run alongside Texas’ northern border with Oklahoma. The district additionally covers a number of the state’s most sparsely populated areas south of the Panhandle.

The Texas Tribune’s signature occasion of the 12 months, The Texas Tribune Competition, brings Texans nearer to politics, coverage and the day’s information from Texas and past. On Sept. 7, we wrapped our 2024 Competition — three unforgettable days filled with 100+ periods and occasions.

Browse on-demand recordings and make amends for the largest headlines from Competition occasions on the Tribune’s Competition information web page.