Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to soon announce when he will give the state of the state address, where he will designate emergency items for the ongoing legislative session.
Per the Texas Constitution, the governor’s emergency items are the only topics the Legislature can act on for the first 60 days of the session.
Grassroots conservatives are calling for the governor to designate a myriad of conservative priorities as emergency items, including border security, property taxes, vaccine choice, and ending the sexualization of children.
Texans for Strong Borders is calling on the governor to make securing the border an emergency priority, with President Chris Russo saying, “The Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, and the Speaker of the House have made promises time and time again to secure the border, continuously mentioning it at every turn during the campaign trail. The time for action has come.”
At Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, the focus is on the Texas Prosperity Plan—a three-pronged strategy to eliminate property taxes and taxpayer-funded lobbying and push for the adoption of a “no-growth” budget.
TFR President Tim Hardin told Texas Scorecard that while TFR is asking the governor to designate all three aspects of the Texas Prosperity Plan as emergency items, they are focused on eliminating the Maintenance and Operation portions of citizens’ property tax bills.
Texans for Vaccine Choice is requesting Gov. Abbott prioritize medical liberty this session, after two years of invasive COVID-19 health measures.
“Texans have been beholden to extreme public health measures put into action by their employers and at the behest of overbearing unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. Thousands have lost their jobs and livelihoods because they chose to preserve their liberty and right to informed consent, rather than be coerced into a COVID-19 vaccination,” said the organization.
“Texans for Vaccine Choice and its supporters ask Governor Abbott to compel our elected State Senators and Representatives to address vaccine mandates swiftly once the 88th Legislative Session commences by making this issue one of his legislative priorities for 2023.”
Texas Family Project is focused on ending the sexualization of Texas kids by designating drag shows as sexually oriented events, banning child gender mutilation, and removing sexually explicit books from school libraries.
With these also being priorities of the Republican Party of Texas, Texas Family Project President Chris Hopper told Texas Scorecard they are hopeful the issue will be included in the governor’s emergency items.
“It is important that Governor Greg Abbott is put on notice,” said Hopper. “From the RPT priorities to the dozens of pieces of legislation being lined up, and from the thousands of concerned citizens voicing concern and dozens of signed letters from conservative groups across the state, the demand from patriots is loud and clear. Kids don’t belong in sexually oriented businesses, kids should never be sexually transitioned, and the vulgarity in our public schools must go.”
Concerned citizens can contact the governor’s office to register their thoughts on priority legislation.
