Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced his legislative charges to the Texas Senate on Thursday, setting its policy priorities for the next legislative session.

The charges, laid out in a 15-page document, give state senators a list of objectives to achieve within the 89th Legislative Session, which will begin on Jan. 14, 2025. 

According to a press release, the state Senate’s committees received charges from the Lieutenant Governor. Patrick narrowed down the 57 charges in the document from the “hundreds of ideas” submitted by state senators.

“The Senate’s work to study the list of charges will begin in the coming weeks and months,” Patrick said in the press release. “Come January 2025, the Senate will hit the ground running at the start of the 89th Legislative Session. The priorities of the conservative majority of Texans will be accomplished, including school choice, continued property tax relief, and strengthening the power grid.”

Patrick recommended seven policy areas he wants the Higher Education Committee to focus on during the next legislative session. The Lieutenant Governor asked senators to examine the implementation of Senate Bill 17, which prohibits DEI initiatives at public universities, and Senate Bill 18, which affects academic tenure in the state. Patrick also requested that senators look into the free speech procedures of the state’s public universities, which attempt “to protect the First Amendment free speech rights of faculty, staff and students.”