A 2019 law says a former lawmaker cannot register to lobby until two years after they last used campaign funds to donate to another politician. Paddie, R-Marshall, sought to get around that earlier this year by reimbursing his campaign account with personal money.

Patrick has made no qualms in the past about bending arms or using public pressure to get other state officials — including Gov. Greg Abbott — to go along with his plans.

The law says a former member of the Legislature cannot engage in activities that require them to register as a lobbyist if they have made a political contribution using campaign funds in the past two years.

Murphy, who represented House District 133 from 2007-09 and again since 2011, chairs the House GOP Caucus and the House Higher Education Committee.

The news comes less than a month after Paddie, who has represented House District 9 since 2013, announced he would run for reelection.

For some energy experts, the increase in donations for the officials at the close of the session looks like a reward for not passing more stringent regulations and raises questions about whether lawmakers let the oil, gas and the broader energy industry off easy for its massive failures.

The Texas House could take up its proposal to better prepare for extreme weather as soon as Sunday. The chambers have a little more than a week to wrap up remaining work.

Lawmakers are trying to prevent another power grid failure like the one that occurred during last month's deadly winter storm. Both the Texas Senate and House have written bills that attempt to prevent another massive power failure in extreme temperatures. House Bill 11, sponsored by State Rep. Chris Paddie, R-Marshall, was part of a package of bills that the lower chamber preliminarily approved Tuesday. “It doesn’t go far enough to truly protect Texans from the next winter weather calamity,” Jacoby said during a committee hearing on the bill on March 18. “Under this definition of an extreme weather emergency, these mandates would not apply,” Jacoby said during the committee meeting.

Several bills responding to Texas’ February power outages — including one mandating that power plants prepare facilities for extreme weather and another reforming the Electric Reliability Council of Texas board — were advanced by the Texas House State Affairs Committee on Thursday. The bill to mandate weatherization of power plants, House Bill 11, would give authority to the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which regulates the electric industry, to develop and enforce standards to prepare power plants for extreme weather. AdThe power outages last month began largely due to power plants tripping offline in extreme cold temperatures — most plants in Texas are not built to withstand such conditions. House Bill 12 would direct a study and implementation of a statewide emergency alert system for power outages. The body would maintain records of facilities critical to maintaining fuel service to power plants during emergencies.

State Rep. Trent Ashby, R-Lufkin, and state Rep. Chris Paddie, R-Marshall. Credit: Illustration by Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneTwo Republicans declared their candidacies for speaker of the Texas House on Thursday, becoming the first from their party to enter the race. State Reps. Trent Ashby of Lufkin and Chris Paddie of Marshall join two Democrats in seeking the gavel: Senfronia Thompson of Houston and Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio. Candidates are vying to replace Republican House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, who will retire after serving one term thanks to a political scandal last year. Thompson, the longest-serving woman and Black person in the history of the Texas Legislature, filed Friday to run for the gavel.