Senate Business and Commerce to Tackle Transmission Costs, Cyber Command and Online Ticket Sales

The Texas Senate Committee on Business and Commerce will gavel in at 9 a.m. Sept. 30 in Capitol Extension room E1.012 to take invited and public testimony on the rising cost of building and paying for transmission lines, the rollout of the new Texas Cyber Command and how online platforms sell concert and event tickets. Public testimony is limited to two minutes per witness, and anyone submitting written testimony must bring 15 copies to the clerk, according to the revised hearing notice.

Sen. Charles Schwertner, R–Georgetown, chairs the 11-member panel, which splits seven Republicans to four Democrats, with Sen. Phil King, R–Weatherford, as vice chair, according to the committee’s page. Its interim charges run from grid reliability and 765-kV transmission lines to insurance costs, cryptocurrency and broadband. Its last grid hearing, on July 29, ran more than 15 hours, and afterward Schwertner urged regulators to deny the first 765-kilovolt line applications, The Texas Tribune reported; Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows backed that call, the Dispatch reported.

The Modernizing Transmission and Enhancing Affordability charge asks members to consider changes to transmission planning, construction and ratemaking to protect consumers from rising electricity costs. The stakes are large: the Permian Basin 765-kV plan is estimated at about $33 billion, paid by ratepayers, according to the Tribune. A January report by the Texas Public Policy Foundation found ERCOT transmission costs climbed from $1.5 billion in 2010 to more than $5 billion in 2024 and projected they could top $12 billion a year by 2033. The Public Utility Commission on Aug. 28 approved Oncor’s first 765-kV routes — 424 miles across 30 counties at roughly $3.9 billion — the Dispatch reported. The charge also directs members to look at squeezing more out of existing lines through residential distributed energy resources, battery storage and other grid technologies.

The same charge asks what guardrails should govern ERCOT’s overhaul of its interconnection process. On June 18 the PUC approved ERCOT’s “Batch Zero” framework, which studies large loads of 75 megawatts or more together rather than one at a time. ERCOT said it is tracking more than 438,000 megawatts of large-load requests, nearly 89 percent of them data centers, with a final transmission plan for the first batch expected in fall 2027. The 75-megawatt threshold traces to Senate Bill 6, the 2025 large-load law, and the PUC is still refining its companion rule, the Dispatch reported.

Under its Monitoring charge, the committee will review House Bill 150, which took effect Sept. 1, 2025, and created the Texas Cyber Command by moving cybersecurity duties out of the Department of Information Resources. The San Antonio-based command is led by retired Vice Adm. Timothy “T.J.” White, according to the agency. White told a House committee Aug. 19 that state help for small and rural governments is “pretty close to zero,” the Dispatch reported.

The Preventing Unfair Online Ticket Sales Practices charge asks how to improve price transparency and curb deceptive practices, especially in the resale market. Texas bills requiring ticket-sale disclosures stalled last session: Senate Bill 1820 was referred to this committee and never heard, and its House companion, House Bill 3621, was left pending. Federal rules have moved since: the Federal Trade Commission’s fee rule, requiring all-in pricing for live-event tickets, took effect May 12, 2025, and the FTC and seven states sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster last September. In July, Attorney General Ken Paxton opened an investigation into StubHub over World Cup tickets fans say they never received.

Because this is an interim hearing, the committee will take no votes and no legislation is before it. What members hear will shape the panel’s interim report and bills for the 90th Legislature, which convenes in January 2027.

Meeting at a glance

Committee members

• Sen. Charles Schwertner, R–Georgetown (SD-5) — Chair
• Sen. Phil King, R–Weatherford (SD-10) — Vice Chair
• Sen. César Blanco, D–El Paso (SD-29)
• Sen. Donna Campbell, R–New Braunfels (SD-25)
• Sen. Brent Hagenbuch, R–Denton (SD-30)
• Sen. Adam Hinojosa, R–Corpus Christi (SD-27)
• Sen. Nathan Johnson, D–Dallas (SD-16)
• Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R–Brenham (SD-18)
• Sen. José Menéndez, D–San Antonio (SD-26)
• Sen. Kevin Sparks, R–Midland (SD-31)
• Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D–Laredo (SD-21)