History. Not counted: these four powers belong only to an official who leads a chamber. Of the three past times a newly elected lieutenant governor from the other party was to lead a state Senate, almost all power was taken once, in North Carolina in 1989, and none in Mississippi in 2008 or Vermont in 2025.
Hunch. Republicans could keep control of committees by changing one rule and leave the other powers with Goodwin.
The four-powers market resolves on the Texas Senate Journal: YES if by the end of 31 May 2027 the Senate, in one vote or several, has taken away, shared or put under someone else's approval each of four powers, naming committee members or chairs, naming conference committees, sending bills to committees and setting the order of bills on the floor. NO if at least one of the four stays with the lieutenant governor, and CBS News and PBS NewsHour are the backups.
We looked for cases where a US state election gave an important office to one party while the other party kept its majority in the legislature, and that majority then decided whether to take some of the official's powers before its first regular session ended. We found eight such times since 1985, four of them in North Carolina. Texas has none: every lieutenant governor after Bullock was a Republican. (TIME; CBS News)