Here’s a quick recap of what happened over the last week:
Texas House Active Before Deadline
Under the rules, both the House and Senate had to pass all bills by Wednesday of this week, meaning that from now through the end of session, the only floor activity will be to consider amendments placed on bills by the opposite chamber and consider conference committee reports.
The House worked all through the Memorial Day weekend – including until 2:30AM on Monday night/Tuesday morning — knowing the deadline to pass bills was looming. When the midnight deadline came at midnight Tuesday, the House passed some high-profile legislation just under the wire.
These bills highlighted below are Republican party priorities that passed both Houses with objection from the Democrats and are now either in conference committees or on their way to Gov. Abbott for his approval.
Sheriffs Enter into Agreements with ICE
First, the House passed Senate Bill 8, which requires all Texas sheriffs to cooperate with federal authorities in enforcing immigration laws. Under current federal law, sheriffs may enter into agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to help in the enforcement of federal immigration laws. However, current Texas law does not require sheriffs to make such agreements. SB 8 requires all sheriffs to enter into agreements with ICE and provides state reimbursement for any costs associated with local authorities holding a detainee for ICE agents. The debate was emotional and raucous at some points, with several Democrats questioning the need to give local officials additional powers that are already under the jurisdiction of the federal government. In the end, the bill passed largely along partisan lines, with three border area Democrats voting with Republicans to pass the measure.
DEI in K-12 Schools
The House also approved Senate Bill 12 which will ban Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies in all public kindergarten through 12th grade schools. The bill prohibits school districts from considering race, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation in hiring decisions as well as in any training programs for school district personnel. Further, the bill requires written permission from parents for their child to join any extracurricular school club. Parents are also given the authority to file a complaint with the school board if they feel the DEI ban is being ignored.
The intention of the bill is to give parents more control over school curriculum, and builds on the policy passed in 2021 that bans the teaching of critical race theory, which explores the impact of race and racism on our institutions. Opponents argue that by banning DEI policies, it will disproportionately harm students that are members of minority groups or part of the LGBTQ community.
This bill also passed largely along party lines and will be effective for the 2025-26 school year.
Ten Commandments/Prayer in School
The House also approved Senate Bill 10 requiring every public school classroom to display the Ten Commandments. Texas lawmakers have pushed through with the legislation even though there is a court ruling that a similar law in Louisiana violates the constitutionally required separation of church and state. The bill also requires any school district to be reimbursed for legal expenses if that school district is sued over the requirement. The bill requires the Ten Commandments to be visibly displayed on a poster that is at least 16 by 20 inches.
The House also gave approval to Senate Bill 11 which allows public school districts to adopt a policy to provide students and staff a daily period of prayer or time to read religious text. The bill requires each school district in the state to develop the policy and take a vote on whether to implement the policy for the upcoming school year. If no policy is adopted, the bill requires schools to allow a student to have a prayer or study period each day with a signed consent form from a parent. The bill was inspired by a recent US Supreme Court decision that ruled a football coach could lead the team in prayers on the field after each game.
Restrictions on Books in School Libraries
Senate Bill 13 was passed by the House this week that gives parents and school board members more control over the public school library book selection process. SB 13 requires school districts to pull books with “indecent, profane, or sexually explicit” content. The bill also requires any new library material to be subject to a 30-day review process by the school board, which will have final veto power over the content placed in the school libraries. The bill allows school boards to also appoint parental advisory committees to assist in the review process.
Supporters of the measure – mostly Republicans – say that school libraries have been filled with books promoting political agendas, and having the elected school board members is a more appropriate way to decide which materials are available to the students. Democrats counter that this is a type of unconstitutional censorship and point to books such as Lonesome Dove and Romeo and Juliet that will be subject to removal by some school districts.
More Power to University Regents
In a move to take power away from university professors and administration, the House approved a measure already passed by the Senate that will grant members of university system board of regents – all appointed by the Governor — more authority and oversight over the state’s public universities. Senate Bill 37 directs each board of regents to appoint a committee to oversee each institution’s operations and curriculum and reject any course that is deemed to be ideologically motivated. More specifically, the committee is charged with ensuring courses do not “promote an ideology that any race, sex, ethnicity, or religious belief is superior to any other.”
Supporters of the legislation argue that it is necessary to combat the liberal bias in universities while critics say it undermines the faculty’s ability to freely teach and conduct research to support their findings and teaching methods.
Under the bill, regents will be more involved in the hiring process of university presidents and administrators and be required to establish a new office that ensures universities are complying with the new requirements.
Below are some other major initiatives passed with more bipartisan support:
New Funding for Water Needs
A package of bills passed this week will invest $1 billion annually to fund projects and measures to allow the state to address water supply and infrastructure needs for the next 20 years. However, this is a fraction of the estimated $154 billion needed – according to a recently released study by Texas 2036 – simply to address infrastructure failures and maintenance. After early disagreements on how the money would be spent, lawmakers finally agreed to allot 80% of the money on new water supplies such as desalination and 20% on repairing infrastructure.
Colleges Can Pay Athletes
Lawmakers have approved a measure that will allow the state’s universities to directly pay athletes. Under the bill passed, the institutions may now enter into name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals as compensation for their participation in team sports representing the schools. Students will be barred from receiving additional compensation from any company related to alcohol, tobacco, gaming, firearms, or sexually oriented activities. The NCAA has indicated they will cap all university NIL payrolls at $20 million to try and insert some sense of parity. But, on Tuesday of this week, the Southeastern Conference said it will be leaving the NCAA effective for the 2028-29 school year.
Lottery Commission Abolished
Lawmakers have voted to abolish the Texas Lottery Commission and transfer its duties and functions to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR). The lottery received significant scrutiny and criticism this session when it was discovered that two jackpots were won under suspicious circumstances. First, in April of 2023, a single group printed 99.8% of the winning combinations – 26 million tickets — of a $95 million jackpot. This bulk purchase was facilitated by only four lottery retailers that used machines to print the tickets provided to them by the lottery commission. The other was when it was discovered that a recent winner of an $83 million jackpot purchased the winning ticket through and online app – which is prohibited by state law.
Many lawmakers called for not only the abolishment of the Lottery Commission, but the lottery game itself, citing the continuing argument that any type of gaming facilitates unethical and unlawful behavior.
The lottery brings in an estimated $2 billion to state coffers every year, so lawmakers came to a compromise which they passed earlier this week. The compromise retains both the lottery and charitable bingo in the state, moving their oversight and regulation to the TDLR. And the lottery game will be under a strict sunset type of review over the next four years to determine its ultimate fate. Therefore, lawmakers must reauthorize the lottery before the 2029 session, or the game itself is abolished in Texas.
Film Incentives Approved
Texas wants to see more television and motion pictures filmed on location in our state. Lawmakers have approved $300 million in tax incentives for the film and television industries. The bill appropriates the money to be deposited into the state’s Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Fund, giving Gov. Abbott total discretion over which projects to fund. Eligible expenses incurred during production that could be used from the fund include wages for production staff, meal and living expenses, and travel on Texas based airlines. The funding is intended to allow Texas to compete with states like New Mexico and Georgia that have similar incentive programs.
According to the Texas Film Commission, television and movie productions produce a 469% return on investment. During the legislative process, locally based actors Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson came to the Capitol to testify in favor of the legislation. Yellowstone and Landman creator Taylor Sheridan – who owns the famed 6666 Ranch in north Texas — also weighed in with his support.
Senate Concurs on Hemp Legislation
One of Lt. Governor Dan Patrick’s top priorities of the session was to ban all products being sold that contain THC. In 2019, the legislature authorized the production of hemp-based products to boost the agriculture industry in the state. The law did not establish a threshold for derivatives or by products that were produced, which led to the emergence of a massive industry that has been legally selling these products in the form of drinks, gummies, vapes, and smokes. There are an estimated 9,000 retailers in Texas selling the hemp derivatives laced with THC that will now be banned on September 1st.
Early in the session, the Senate passed Senate Bill 3, a full ban of all hemp-based products containing THC. The House filed and considered their own version that allowed the sale of drinks and gummies, but under a newly created strict regulatory environment. But once that version moved to the House floor, the House voted for the full ban instead of the regulatory model. After passage in the House, the Senate quickly concurred and sent the bill to the Governor for his approval.
Lawmakers also announced this week that they have reached an agreement to slightly expand the categories eligible for medical marijuana prescriptions available under the state’s Compassionate Use Program. Those suffering from chronic pain will now be eligible to use marijuana for medicinal purposes, a cause championed by Veterans’ groups in the state. Currently, some of the conditions included under the state’s Compassionate Use program include autism, cancer, epilepsy, seizure disorders, multiple sclerosis, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The agreement will also increase the number of licensed medical marijuana dispensers and let those providers operate satellite facilities designed to provide better access to patients in rural areas.
Here’s What Failed
One of the components of the package of bail reform bills that failed is SJR 87, which is a proposed constitutional amendment to deny bail to repeat felony offenders. The legislature did adopt other bail reform measures including adding the denial of bail to violent crimes such as aggravated sexual assault. However, the proposal to deny bail to repeat offenders failed by 3 votes in the House. Why this is important is because there is talk among leadership that the legislature will be called back into special session to address this issue. If so, another part of the bail reform package that failed – denial of bail to undocumented persons – could also be added to the items under consideration in a special session.
A major priority of Republican leadership was legislation to require documented proof of citizenship for anyone registering to vote. Senate Bill 16 passed the Senate in April but languished in the House before finally failing to be set on the House calendar for floor debate prior to this week’s deadline. Most Democrats were opposed, and several House Republicans grew concerned with the onerous requirements in the bill to provide proof of citizenship on the disabled and elderly. Similar legislation has been passed in other states, and this is another issue that could be considered during a special session.
A bill to curb the sale of abortion pills in Texas has also died. The bill would have allowed anyone who manufactured, sold, distributed, or prescribed the bill to be sued under the state’s wrongful death statute. The bill also contained a provision that stated the law could not be challenged in state court, which caused concern among the legal community. Again, this is an issue that could be part of a special session.
A proposal to build on the legislature’s efforts to stop cities from adopting progressive policies – begun last session – died on the House calendar Tuesday night. Senate Bill 2858 would have given the Attorney General the authority to sue cities and counties if they adopt ordinances that conflict with state law. In 2023, lawmakers passed similar legislation that applied mainly to cities regulatory rules and regulations such as building codes, zoning, and labor protections. This session, SB 2858 sought to extend the application of the law to the areas of election law, criminal penalties, and health related ordinances.
Political Notes
Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced in April he would resign from office in June to take a job as Chancellor of the Texas A&M University System. This leaves a vacancy in the office of Comptroller that must be filled through an appointment by Gov. Abbott. One rumor circulating is that Abbott is considering appointing state Senator Kelly Hancock of the Fort Worth area. Hancock would certainly accept the appointment, leaving a vacancy in his Senate district. That would then require a special election to fill the unexpired term. Pencil in Rep. Nate Schatzline of Fort Worth as the early front runner in the race to succeed Hancock in the solidly red district based in Tarrant County.
Incumbent US Senator John Cornyn received a much needed – although small – boost in his campaign this week when Trump adviser Chris LaCivita announced he is joining the pro-Cornyn PAC Texans for a Conservative Majority. Cornyn continues to trail Attorney General Ken Paxton in all polls related to their Republican primary race for the US Senate next year. Having a Trump-connected operative could possibly give Cornyn a much-needed fundraising boost as he looks to close the large gap between him and Paxton in the polls. Another poll released this week by Texas Southern University showed Paxton leading Cornyn by a 43% to 34% margin among likely Republican primary voters.
What’s Next??
Monday is the final day of this year’s regular legislative session. Commonly referred to around the Capitol as Sine Die – which loosely translated from Latin means “not another day”. Lawmakers will have met for 140 days, and the next 3 days of the session will determine whether a special session is called.
With Sine Die on Monday, lawmakers will meet through the weekend to put the final touches on conference committee reports and concur in amendments to their bills that have passed both chambers. By rule, there can be no activity on Sine Die, it is reserved for ceremonial purposes and both chambers will adjourn for the session early afternoon on Monday.
Now, the movement will begin for the 2026 primary elections. The filing deadline to file for the races in 2026 starts in November, with all statewide offices up for reelection this year. Meaning the offices of Governor, Lt. Governor and all others will have contested elections.
And there are many House members that have already received challengers for the primary. There are also several members of the Senate that have either announced for higher office or are rumored to be considering a run for one of the statewide offices.
And of course, the race that will receive the most attention is the Republican primary for US Senate, where incumbent John Cornyn faces a challenge from current Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Aside from politics, the legislature will begin its planning for a full and busy interim to review the larger items passed this session and to begin plans to prepare for unfinished business this session.
Some of the larger issues to be tackled over the interim include review of the state lottery and determining its fate, implementation of the new fund created for water projects, implementation of the ban on the sale of hemp related products, and implementation of the new policies placed on public and higher education institutions in the state.
Barring the legislature being called back for an immediate special session, I will go back to my interim schedule of regular updates every two weeks. Look for the next update on June 13th. And please say a little prayer that we won’t go back into special session anytime soon!! We all need the rest!!