AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas House committee that investigates alleged wrongdoing by state lawmakers and agencies met for the first time in a year on Wednesday.
The House General Investigating Committee was the group that kickstarted Attorney General Ken Paxton's impeachment proceedings in May 2023.
On Wednesday morning, the committee quickly gaveled in, prayed, then went to executive session.
After spending an hour behind closed doors, they reconvened.
“No decisions were made or voted upon in executive session,” Chairman Andrew Murr, a Republican state representative from Junction, said.
Murr and other lawmakers on the panel declined to answer reporters’ questions about the meeting's focus.
In a post on X a week earlier, Texas Attorney General Paxton accused lawmakers, without evidence, of trying to “resurrect impeachment” at Wednesday’s hearing. Murr quickly denied that claim.
The same day, State Rep. Vikki Goodwin, who represents part of the Austin area, as well as 17 other Democrats, sent a letter urging the committee to investigate a report about Texas sending tax dollars out of state.
“There’s really no way to know [what they’re investigating],” Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston, said. “This is a committee that operates in secret on purpose.”
Rottinghaus has authored several books on Texas politics. He spoke with KVUE about the committee’s power.
“This is a hard-hitting committee,” Rottinghaus said. “Honestly, Andrew Murr has got the gloves off. He’s not running for re-election. He’s been baptized in fire through the Paxton Impeachment. So this is a definitely a committee that is politically willing to put themselves on the line to investigate some kind of wrongdoing.”
Murr’s staff told KVUE that no future meetings have been scheduled as of yet.