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What’s Ahead for the Texas Legislature
- Just seven days remain for the Texas Legislature to consider items on Gov. Greg Abbott’s special session agenda.
- The Texas House of Representatives finally passed the omnibus election integrity bill. A conference committee has been appointed to consider an amendment that was adopted in the House, something the bill’s author, State Sen. Bryan Hughes (R–Mineola), takes issue with.
- The legislative prospects for one of the bail reform bills is in question, as well. It requires two-thirds support for final passage since it is a proposed constitutional amendment. When initially considered in the House last week, it only had the support of 82 House lawmakers, several short of the needed two-thirds.
- The House Public Education Committee is scheduled to consider two bills relating to mask mandates on Monday. One would prohibit mask mandates in public schools, while the other would allow school boards to mandate masks for public school students 12 years of age or younger.
- Notably, the House Public Education Committee has not passed out bills relating to the improvements to the “ban” on critical race theory passed in the 87th regular session, even though they heard the bills in committee last week. Similarly, they considered bills related to requiring public school students to participate in sports associated with their biological sex at birth, but the committee left those pending.
- Today, the House is scheduled to consider a bill that would prohibit the solicitation of abortion-inducing drugs in the mail, as well as a bill that would give supplemental appropriations to various state agencies.
- Several issues have yet to still be considered by the overall Texas House of Representatives, including things like the restoration of their own funding, a bill seeking to end family and dating violence in public school-aged children, protections for youth sports, improvements to the ban on critical race theory, enhanced protections for the safety of children in the Texas foster-care system, appropriations for improved cybersecurity, preemption of a patchwork of local government regulation on private businesses’ employment practices, and legislative quorum requirement changes.
- Thus far, the House has prioritized things like a “13th check” for beneficiaries of the Teachers’ Retirement System of Texas, bills purporting to provide property tax relief for specific property tax payers, and the election integrity bill.
Conservative Leaders Gala (edited)