How that the floods of Hurricane Harvey have receded, the Texas Legislature is beginning the work of trying to determine what the state can learn from the storm, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
The State Senate State Affairs Committee is looking into issues ranging from how to deal with state facilities destroyed by the storm, what to do if legal documents were lost, and what the limits of liability should be for storm damage.
One question asked by State Sen Joan Huffman (R-Houston), whose own neighborhood was flooded by Harvey was, can the state's open meetings law be bent to allow elected officials to confer on emergency issues without having to go through the usual posting requirements.
"Common sense would tell us that these individuals, who are making life or death decisions about evacuations, and the County Judge wants to weigh in from some of the other Commissioners, they have to be able to talk," she said.
Much of the debate revolved around evacuations. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner was criticized for not ordering a mandatory evacuation of his city as Harvey rolled in, and many committee members grilled State Emergency Management Director Nim Kidd on who order evacuations, and who can override that individual's decision.
And Huffman also asked a question which is asked before every storm:
"Is there any thing we can do, any action the state or the government can take, against any individual who does not heed a mandatory evacuation order?"
Dozens of Legislative committees will be working over the coming months, debating issues ranging from the impact of Harvey on agriculture and state prison inmates, to whether the state should do more to elevate critical infrastructure to avoid the regular flooding storms which drench Houston.
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