THECB official: agency shifting from legislation to implementation after special session call

John Wyatt, senior director for government relations at the Higher Education Coordinating Board, told the Learning Technologies Advisory Committee that the board’s work is moving from tracking the recent legislative session to implementing bills the Legislature enacted. "Our focus as an agency has now turned to implementation," Wyatt said, describing agency tasks such as adopting rules and preparing program staff to carry out statutory changes. Wyatt noted the governor has called the Legislature into a special session that began July 21 and can run up to 30 days, with items limited to topics listed in the governor’s call. He said the special session’s items were mostly unrelated to higher education and the primary near-term consequence for higher education was procedural: agencies must prepare to implement laws that become effective on their statutory dates unless the law specifies otherwise. Wyatt reiterated the standard default enactment date for bills without a separate effective date: September 1. He also urged committee members to monitor interim committee hearings, which the lieutenant governor and House speaker will define and which staff expect to begin next year to prepare for the 2027 regular session. The coordinating board will support implementation work internally and by providing program staff to answer detailed questions from institutions. Wyatt said further outcomes of the special session were uncertain because the House lacked a quorum at the time of the discussion, and the governor can call additional special sessions as needed. The committee did not take formal action on the update; Wyatt answered questions and left the panel to continue agency implementation planning.