Here is what’s on Governor Greg Abbott’s agenda for Texas special legislative session
.jpg "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has announced his agenda for a special legislative session. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)")
Election legislation, critical race theory, border security and transgender student athletes are among the topics Texas lawmakers are expected to take up when they return to Austin on Thursday for a special legislative session.
Gov. Greg Abbott announced 11 items on the agenda for the special session Wednesday after previously offering some items for legislators to consider but not providing the full list. The items include some of Abbott’s legislative priorities that failed to pass before lawmakers adjourned on May 31.
The special legislative session starts at 10 a.m. Thursday. Unlike a regular session, only Abbott can say what topic lawmakers consider during a special session.
“The 87th Legislative Session was a monumental success for the people of Texas, but we have unfinished business to ensure that Texas remains the most exceptional state in America,” Abbott said in a statement. “Two of my emergency items, along with other important legislation, did not make it to my desk during the regular session, and we have a responsibility to finish the job on behalf of all Texans.
11 items on the agenda
The agenda items for the special session include:
- Bail Reform: Abbott called for “legislation reforming the bail system in Texas to protect the public from accused criminals who may be released on bail.” The agenda item comes after one of Abbott’s priorities, the Damon Allen Act, did not pass during the regular legislative session.
- Election Integrity: Abbott would like to see proposals “strengthening the integrity of elections in Texas.” Senate Bill 7, the primary election bill last legislative session, died after House Democrats walked out on the legislature’s final night and broke quorum. The bill was criticized by opponents as an effort to suppress voters.
- Border Security: Abbott has made border security a top issue in recent months as he’s criticized the Biden administration for not doing enough to secure the border. During the special session, Abbott wants to see “legislation providing funding to support law-enforcement agencies, counties, and other strategies as part of Texas’ comprehensive border security plan.”
- Social Media Censorship: Abbott is calling for legislation “safeguarding the freedom of speech by protecting social-media users from being censored by social-media companies based on the user’s expressed viewpoints, including by providing a legal remedy for those wrongfully excluded from a platform.”
- Article X Funding: On the agenda will be legislation funding Article X of the General Appropriations Act — the legislative branch. Abbott vetoed the funding after House Democrats broke quorum.
- Family Violence Prevention: Abbott said he’d like to see legislation that requires schools to ”provide appropriate education to middle- and high-school students about dating violence, domestic violence, and child abuse, but that recognizes the right of parents to opt their children out of the instruction.” Abbott vetoed a similar bill during the legislative session because parents didn’t have the opt-out option.
- Youth Sports: Abbott is calling for legislation identical to Senate Bill 29 as passed by the Texas Senate, “disallowing a student from competing in University Interscholastic League athletic competitions designated for the sex opposite to the student’s sex at birth.”
- Abortion-inducing drugs: Abbott said lawmakers should pass a bill that “prohibits people from providing abortion-inducing drugs by mail or delivery service, strengthens the laws applicable to the reporting of abortions and abortion complications, and ensures that no abortion-inducing drugs are provided unless there is voluntary and informed consent.”
- Thirteenth Check: Abbott wants to see a bill related to a “one-time supplemental payment of benefits under the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.”
- Critical Race Theory: Abbott is calling for legislation similar to the Senate version of House Bill 3979. Abbott signed the House version into law, saying it was a “strong move to abolish critical race theory in Texas” but more must be done.
- Appropriations: Other items in the appropriations category include property tax relief, “enhanced protection for the safety of children in Texas’ foster-care system” related to attracting private providers for the system and measures “to better safeguard the state from potential cybersecurity threats.”
Responses to Abbott’s special session agenda
Texas House Democrats criticized Abbott’s agenda for not including items related to shoring up the Texas power grid and access to health care. In a statement, House Democratic Caucus Chair Chris Turner, a Grand Prairie Democrat, pointed to the two items as “real crises.”
“The governor’s agenda for the special session shows he is more concerned with pandering to die-hard Trump supporters and right-wing extremists than he is with serving everyday Texans,” Turner said in a statement.
One of Abbott’s primary opponents, Republican Don Huffines, who previously served in the Senate, faulted Abbott for not including legislation banning taxpayer funded lobbying and gender-affirming health care for transgender children. Members of the Texas Freedom Caucus in the House had also asked Abbott to include the items, as well as other priorities.
Rep. Matt Schaefer, a Tyler Republican who is vice chairman of the caucus, suggested on Twitter that legislation related to gender-affirming health care for transgender kids may still be filed, even though there wasn’t an explicit agenda item. One of the bills filed in the regular session would have made such health care child abuse.
“‘Child abuse’ is listed under family violence prevention in the special session call,” Schaefer said in a tweet. “Medically altering children in the name of ‘gender transition’ meets that definition and we should act to prevent such abuse. Let’s protect children in Texas. Time to act!”
The legislation and similar bills — including the bill barring students from playing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity, which is on the agenda for the special session — were condemned by LGBTQ advocates and parents of transgender children during the regular session.
“Anti-trans legislation which blocks transgender youth from normal school activities does nothing but send a message to bullies that it is okay to attack and humiliate transgender kids and normalizes bias and discrimination against transgender people (adults and kids alike),” said Ricardo Martinez, the CEO of Equality Texas.
A closely watched part of the session is expected to be election legislation. Senate Bill 7 would have have prevented 24-hour and drive-through voting, offered protections for poll watchers and created election-related criminal offenses.
“I will gavel in the Texas Senate tomorrow morning at 10 AM,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a tweet. “We are ready to pass all of the legislation on @GovAbbott’s Special Session call starting with #SB1 — Election Security. Hearings will begin Saturday.”
How long will Texas’ special session last?
The legislature meets for 140 days every other year for the regular legislative session, but special sessions last up to 30 days. That said, according to the Legislative Reference Library of Texas, a governor can call special sessions back-to-back and isn’t limited on how many special sessions can be called.
At least two special legislative sessions are expected before lawmakers next convene for their regular legislative session in 2023. Gov. Abbott has already said he’ll call another session later this year to address the appropriation of federal COVID-19 relief dollars and redistricting.
Abbott can also add items to the agenda as the the legislature meets.
This story was originally published July 7, 2021 at 10:50 AM.
