Texas Legislators were back in Austin yesterday for the start of the 2021 special session. Governor Greg Abbott called for a special session to address priority bills that died during the regular legislative session, which ended on May 31.
On Wednesday, the Governor announced his agenda, which includes the following 11 items:
- Bail overhaul
- Elections
- Border security
- Social media censorship
- Legislative branch funding
- Family violence prevention
- Limiting access to school sports teams for transgender students
- Abortion-inducing drugs
- An additional payment for retired Texas teachers
- Critical race theory
- Other budgetary issues
The full agenda can be found
here. Despite tireless efforts by your Chamber, inclusion of Regulatory Consistency (Senate Bill 14) was not added to the Special Session.
A special session can last up to 30 days, but there is no minimum. There is also no limit to the number of special sessions a governor can call in between regular legislative sessions. The Governor is the only person who can call a special session and he can call as many as he likes. Legislators are not allowed to take up any other business than what is included on the Governor’s agenda. There will be an additional Special Session in the fall to focus on redistricting and allocation of the billions in federal COVID-19 relief funds.
For updates on the special session,
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The Advocate.
For more information, contact Stephanie Reyes, VP of Public Policy at
sreyes@sachamber.org or by phone at 210.229.2162.
