Governor Greg Abbott[/caption]Following the regular session of the 85th Texas Legislature, Gov. Greg Abbott listed 20 priorities for the current special meeting of lawmakers.
But one item stood above the rest: sunset legislation. Here is an overview of the sunset legislation‚ the No. 1 priority for lawmakers this summer.
What is it?
This legislation extends the life of five state agencies until Sept. 1, 2019. Without an extension passed this special session, the Texas Medical Board, the Texas State Board of Social Worker Examiners, the Texas State Board of Examiners of Marriage and Family Therapists, the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists and the Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors would cease to exist.
Even if approved, the five agencies would again go through the sunset review process during the 86th legislative session in the first half of 2019.
Why should I care?
According to a Senate analysis, the five agencies combine to regulate more than 200,000 Texas jobs. Without the Texas Medical Board, for example, no new doctors could be licensed. This could create undue pressure in certain areas of the state that are already experiencing doctor shortages.
How did we get here?
In the final days of the regular session, the Freedom Caucus, a conservative group of House lawmakers, blocked the passage of a “sunset safety net” House bill before an important deadline. This narrowed the path for the bill to advance—depending on compliance by the Senate.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the Senate president, used this bill as a bargaining chip to encourage the House to pass his priorities, including rollback tax rate limits and bathroom usage regulation. When the House failed to meet his demands, Patrick refused to pass the sunset bill, pushing Abbott to call a special session.
What is next?
The Senate hastily passed the sunset bills, and the House passed HB 1, which extends the life of the agencies, during the second week of the special session and is working as of press time to pass HB 2, which allocates funding to those five state agencies.
Number of special session issues
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott unveiled his special session "wish list" prior to convening lawmakers, and two issues have since been expanded. Lawmakers may pass other bills, he said, once the sunset legislation is approved.
1. Sunset legislation to keep five state agencies alive
2. A teacher pay raise of $1,000
3. Giving school administrators flexibility in teacher hiring and retention
4. School finance reform
5. School choice for special-needs students
6. Rollback elections for property tax increases
7. Caps on state and local spending
8. Prevent cities from regulating what property owners do with trees on private land
9. Preventing local governments from changing rules midway through construction projects
10. Speeding up local government permitting processes
11. Municipal annexation reform
12. Preventing local entities from passing their own texting-while-driving bans
13. Restrictions on school bathroom use for transgender students
14. Prohibiting the use of taxpayer dollars to collect union dues
15. Prohibiting the use of taxpayer funding to subsidize health providers that also perform abortion
16. Requiring women to get separate insurance policies to cover non-emergency abortions
17. Increasing existing reporting requirements when complications arise during abortions
18. Strengthening patient protections relating to do-not-resuscitate orders
19. Cracking down on mail-in ballot fraud
20. Extending the state's maternal mortality task force
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