Just hours after the Texas legislative ended, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced an immediate special session that will focus on property taxes and border security.
As the regular session came to an end Monday, Abbott praised lawmakers for more than a dozen pieces of legislation he'd soon be signing including approving $5.1 billion to fund the border protection efforts of the Texas National Guard and Texas DPS, requiring armed security at every public school building in Texas, banning care for transgender children (SB14) and adding restrictions for transgender athletes (SB15), and restricting DEI initiatives at state colleges (SB17).
The governor said there is still more work to be done for the people of Texas and said many critical items must be passed. Abbott said the special session is only the first to be called and that several special sessions will be required to fulfill his agenda.
"To ensure that each priority receives the time and attention it deserves to pass into law, only a few will be added each session," Abbott said in a statement.
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Only the governor can call for a special session and only the items outlined by the governor can be legislated in that session. The governor is at liberty to call as many special sessions as he likes to see his list of priorities through.
LT. GOV. WRITES A LETTER HIGHLIGHTING SPECIAL SESSION NEEDS
Gov. Abbott's announcement comes after Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick sent the governor a letter earlier in the afternoon urging a number of "conservative bills" to be considered in any upcoming special session.
In the letter, Patrick pointed out the Property Tax Relief Bill – or Senate Bill 3 – which had not been passed, as of Monday.
“The Legislature cannot retire until we achieve the biggest tax cut in the history of Texas," Patrick wrote.
Along with the property tax relief bill, Patrick also pointed to 22 other bills related to teacher pay raises, banning critical race theory in higher education, and bail reform.
The letter was released at about 5:30 p.m. Monday, the final day of the legislative session. The Texas House adjourned around 6 p.m. Monday, while the Texas Senate around 6:40 p.m. with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick telling lawmakers to "stay close."
In February, Gov. Abbott named lowering property taxes as an emergency item for the 2023 legislative session. The governor's emergency stated the proposed plan was to use a large part of the state’s historic surplus to lower property taxes for Texas homeowners and business owners.
The Texas House adjourned just before 11 p.m. Sunday night without passing a compromise bill. A spokesperson for Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan said house lawmakers signed a deal, but they were waiting on the Texas Senate to do the same.
Just after 1 p.m., Patrick tweeted that Phelan's last offer was an 8% appraisal cap for all commercial properties, which "would cost taxpayers billions upon billions of dollars in just a few years." Abbott was present for the deal, Patrick said.
"If Phelan drops the 8% cap for business property, then we have a deal. There is still time," Patrick said Monday afternoon.
From his personal Twitter account, Patrick tweeted at about 7:22 p.m. that Phelan left a meeting with him and the governor upset, indicating how the House and Senate will move forward on property tax relief is still up in the air.
House lawmakers said Monday they were prepared for the possibility of a special session.
"We need to do something. Our taxpayers are paying too high of rates. So, they deserve results. I’ll be waiting to see how that comes down today [Monday]," Rep. Mihaela Plesa, D-Dallas said. "We have left a lot of money on the table in our budget. We still have a lot of work to do so whether we’re here for the next 10 days, or the next 30 days, or we come back in September, I’m ready to get to work."
LAWMAKERS PASS POWER GRID BILL BEFORE DEADLINE
Prior to the Texas House adjourning sine die at about 6 p.m. Monday, House lawmakers passed a number of bills Sunday night before its deadline.
One of the bills, HB 1500, is related to the Texas power grid. Authored by Rep. Justin Holland, R-Rockwall, the bill essentially continues the Texas Public Utility Commission.
"In that bill were a number of items to keep the agency going, make changes to the agency, but also … make changes to the grid," Holland said. "The grid reliability is crucial, especially heading into a hot summer. So, we made some changes to not only the industry and agency itself but to some of the requirements and guardrails around generators and transmission distribution utilities."
