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?

Both the Senate and House have passed sunset bills—one that extends the life of the agencies and one that extends funding. As of press time, the two chambers still need to resolve differences between the bills before sending anything to the governor.

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 (Abbott expanded this issue to include funding for teacher retirement funds.)

4. Commission to study state school finance reform (Abbott expanded this issue to include school finance formula 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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News and notes from the capitol

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The 'bathroom bill'

On July 25, the Texas Senate approved Senate Bill 3, which would regulate bathroom use in schools and buildings overseen by local governments, including cities and counties, based on the sex listed on a person’s birth certificate or other IDs issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Related legislation in the House has been referred to that chamber’s State Affairs Committee.

Education

On July 25, the Texas Senate approved legislation to give teachers bonuses and to improve retired teachers' health benefits—but only after the bill's author removed a controversial provision requiring school districts to cover the cost of teacher pay raises. On July 24, the  Senate tentatively passed legislation to subsidize private school tuition and a bill to study the system for funding public schools.

Property tax reform

On July 25, The House Ways & Means Committee reviewed more than 30 bills that aim to tackle rising property tax bills. On July 28, the committee approved House Bill 4, which includes a provision that requires cities, counties and special purpose districts to get voter approval if they plan to increase property tax revenues on existing land and buildings by more than 6 percent. On July 24, the Senate passed Senate Bill 1, which would allow for property tax rate elections if revenues would exceed 4 percent of what was taken in the year before.

Abortion

On July 28, the House passed House Bill 13, which would require physicians and health care facilities to report more details on abortions complications to the state—and would fine those that do not comply. Texas senators approved similar legislation. On July 26, the Senate approved Senate Bill 4, which would prohibit government agencies from contracting with abortion providers and their affiliates.

Cell phone safety

On July 26, the Senate approved a measure that pre-empts local ordinances on drivers’ mobile phone usage, effectively rolling back safety laws in the 45 Texas cities.