Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signs SB1, Sept. 7, 2021, a bill supporter say makes elections in Texas more secure.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced Tuesday he's calling a third special session of the legislature.
The first special session failed for a lack of quorum when democrats fled to Washington, D.C. A second session started on Aug. 7. The third special session will start on Monday, Sept. 20.
Following the end of the 87th Legislative Session, the governor called a special session to advance items on his agenda that were not passed during the regular session. But that session collapsed when Texas House Democrats walked out of the Capitol and flew to Washington, D.C., depriving the body of a quorum and stopping the session in its tracks.
The Democrats said they were leaving because the Republicans were pushing an election integrity bill that they said was veiled voter suppression. Republicans say that's not true and the legislation is necessary in order to have secure elections in Texas. Abbott signed that legislation into law on the same day that he called the third special session.
The list of items on Abbott's agenda include:
- Legislation relating to the apportionment of the State of Texas into districtsused to elect members of the Texas House of Representatives, the TexasSenate, the State Board of Education, and the United States House of
Representatives.
- Legislation providing appropriations from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), Pub. L. No. 1 17-2.
- Legislation identical to Senate Bill 29 as passed by the Texas Senate in the 87th Legislature, Regular Session, disallowing a student from competing in University Interscholastic League athletic competitions designated for the sex opposite to the student’s sex at birth.
- Legislation regarding whether any state or local governmental entities in Texas can mandate that an individual receive a COVID-19 vaccine and, if so, what exemptions should apply to such mandate.
- Legislation similar to Senate Bill 474 as passed by 87th Legislature, Regular Session, but that addresses the concerns expressed in the governor’s veto statement.
- Such other subjects as may be submitted by the Governor from time to time after the session convenes.
special sessionGreg Abbott87th Texas Legislaturegov greg abbott
The fourth legislative session of 2021 looks to be the last. Leaders of both the state House and Senate gave no indication they expect to be back for more, and a Tuesday statement from Gov. Greg Abbott had an air of finality.
"The Legislature went above and beyond to solve other critical issues to ensure an even brighter future for the Lone Star State," the statement said.
The major result of the third special session was creating new boundaries for U.S. Congressional and state legislative districts, which will determine who represents Texans in federal and state government for the next 10 years.
Despite Latinos and non-Hispanic whites having about equal numbers in the population overall, Republicans drew a large majority of districts to favor white, conservative voters.
Democrats objected to the passing of the new congressional maps overnight, but because they do not have a majority of the seats in either chamber, they were powerless to stop their colleagues in the GOP.
"It's shameful," said Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas. "And I'd love to be able to say it [is] a stain on the legacy of voting rights but that seems to be the playbook decade after decade after decade in this state."
Abbott is expected to sign the redrawn maps into law. The civil rights group Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund has already sued.
"In all four of these redistricting maps additional Latino majority districts should have been created to reflect the growth of the Latino community over the past decade," said Nina Perales of MALDEF in a Tuesday press conference. "None of them did.”
Over 90% of new residents in Texas since 2010 are people of color.
Here's a roundup of the rest of the major laws passed in the third special legislative session:
Trans youth athletes
Under a bill passed last week, public school athletes must play on sports teams that correspond with the sex assigned to them at birth. Abbott is all but certain to sign it, saying the bill protects "the integrity of Texas high school sports." Opponents are worried it will increase the number of youth who consider suicide, and point to data from the LGBTQ advocacy group The Trevor Project that says this is already happening.
Zoe Nemerever, a political science professor at Texas Tech University, said there are very few trans youth athletes in Texas, so lawmakers are willing to look past their concerns to "[signal] social conservatism on issues of gender and sexuality to socially conservative constituents."
COVID-19 funding
Lawmakers decided how to dole out about $13.3 billion in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. According to a joint statement from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, and House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, $7.2 billion will go to the state's unemployment system, $2 billion to help hospitals hire more nurses during the pandemic, and "hundreds of millions of dollars for new hospitals and mental health services across Texas," among other items.
The leaders said they are leaving $3 billion unspent for "future tax relief." Congress banned using the money for tax cuts, but some states have challenged the ban in court.
Property taxes
Lawmakers agreed to send a constitutional amendment to the voters that would bump the state's homestead exemption for school taxes to $40,000. It's currently $25,000. Members of both parties agreed to the change, which if passed by voters in May, would reduce state income by over $600 million a year. Homeowners would save about $175 per year, according to Patrick and Phelan.
The "no-vaccine mandate" mandate
Gov. Abbott has already issued an executive order banning any entity in the state from requiring employees or customers to be vaccinated against COVID-19. But lawmakers did not follow his lead — neither chamber passed a bill to do the same thing.
A wide spectrum of business groups have pushed back publicly against Abbott's order.
Nemerever said lawmakers’ split with the governor on this shows they are worried about the potential harm it might cause.
"I think lawmakers are more attuned and closer to their districts about how the policies they pass will have real effects on the lives of their constituents," she said. "They don't want to go back to their district and have made things worse."
Elections
House lawmakers did not take up a bill that passed in the Senate allowing a county chair of a political party to request an "audit" of the 2020 election. This was something former President Trump had wanted, despite having won Texas decisively last year.
Alina Borrego, an 11-year-old from Uvalde who previously attended Robb Elementary School and lost a friend in last week’s mass shooting, told KSAT 12 that “If we want the (community) to heal we need some new rules... Some people shouldn’t have guns.” President Joe Biden made a similar point on Twitter after visiting victims’ families and attending mass in Uvalde: “We’re committed to turning this pain into action.” But the only way “new rules” or laws can be made in Texas right now is through a special legislative session. The only person with the authority to call a special session is Gov. Greg Abbott. (The next regular meeting of the Texas Legislature isn’t until January, long after students return to campus in the fall.) That’s why the Texas Senate Democratic Caucus — and some Republicans — are urging Abbott to act now and call lawmakers to Austin for a special session. The calls for gun reform were made in the wake of Tuesday’s massacre, when 21 people were gunned down at the Uvalde elementary school. The gunman purchased two assault rifles and more than 1,500 rounds of ammunition legally, shortly after his 18th birthday. In a letter sent to Abbott on Saturday, the Democrats said that “Texas has suffered more mass shootings over the past decade than any other state.”
“After each of these mass killings, you have held press conferences and roundtables promising things would change. After the slaughter of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, those broken promises have never rung more hollow. The time to take real action is now,” the letter read.
What is a special session and how could it change policies?
The Texas Legislature is a part-time Legislature that meets once every two years. This five-month period is the only time state laws can be added, removed or modified. That is, however, unless the governor calls a special session during the interim.
The governor is the only person in state government who can call the 30-day special session, and he can call it as many times as he wants. The governor also has unilateral authority to decide what type of policies are in play for the special session.
Special sessions are not rare - in fact, in 2021 Abbott called lawmakers back to Austin for three special sessions. There was also one special session in 2017 and three specials in 2013.
All 13 Senate Democrats on Saturday called for a special session, including state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, in response to the massacre there.
Additionally, several House Democrats have called for the special session, as well as at least a few Republicans, including state Rep. Jeff Leach, of Arlington, and state Sen. Kel Seliger, of Amarillo.
The Texas Senate Democratic Caucus called for a special session on Saturday, just days after the Uvalde massacre, which is now the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook.
In the wake of the Uvalde shooting, authorities learned that the shooter, Salvador Ramos, legally purchased one AR-style rifle on May 17 and another rifle on May 20. Both purchases happened just days after Ramos turned 18.
Ramos possessed 60 magazines total with 1,657 total rounds of ammunition, according to DPS Director Steven C. McCraw. He fired more than 160 rounds on Tuesday.
In a letter, Senate Democrats laid out the changes they want to discuss in a special session:
To raise the minimum age to purchase a firearm to 21. Currently, 18 is the minimum age under federal law for buying a rifle, including assault rifles. Biden previously said that an 18-year-old’s ability to “walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong.” In Texas, you must be 21 to purchase a pistol but only 18 to buy a long gun, which includes rifles and shotguns.
Require universal background checks for all firearm sales.
Implement “red flag” laws to allow the temporary removal of firearms from those who are an imminent danger to themselves or others.
Require a “cooling off” period for the purchase of the firearm.
Regulate civilian ownership of high-capacity magazines.
A portion of the letter states:
“‘Thoughts and prayers’ are not enough. Lamenting the fact that ‘evil’ walks among us is not enough. Laying the blame at the feet of a broken mental health care system – that you and other state leaders continue to underfund severely – is not enough. We need evidence-based, common sense gun safety laws. Without a doubt, if at least some of the measures noted above had been passed since 2018, then many lives could have been saved.”
On Friday, Gutierrez interrupted Abbott’s news conference and urged him to call a special session.
“We have to do something, man,” he said to Abbott. “Just call us back.”
In Friday’s news conference, Abbott said “all options are on the table” when it comes to calling a special session. At the same time, though, he told the NRA in recorded comments that gun laws don’t stop mass shooters.
He did not specify if a special session would be formed, but pledged that “laws will come out of the crime.”
Abbott said past laws will be revisited when it comes to making schools safer, addressing police “shortcomings” and helping people with mental health issues. But he stopped short of addressing gun control laws.
“There was nothing about the laws from this past session that has any relevancy to the crime that occurred here,” he said. “There is an array of healthcare issues that we face as a state in general but there are an array of healthcare issues that relate to those who commit gun crimes in particular.”
“Those need to be addressed,” Abbott said.
Gun laws are unlikely to gain traction in the longtime Republican-controlled Legislature, which typically backs looser restrictions on firearms. Republican primary voters determine the outcome of most state legislative elections in the state, and tighter gun laws do not sit well with GOP primary voters.
On Friday, Abbott said he opposed the idea of universal background checks, saying that did not prevent the mass shootings at Santa Fe High School and Sutherland Springs.
“Anyone who suggests, maybe we should focus on background checks as opposed to mental health, I suggest is mistaken,” he said.
Abbott said he would consider a “red flag” law following the Santa Fe shooting, when a 17-year-old gunman killed 10 in 2018 but ultimately stopped short.
In that shooting, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a 17-year-old student, used a shotgun and a .38-caliber handgun that his father purchased legally.
Then, Abbott said he wanted to improve school safety and said orders restricting gun control could have prevented the Sutherland Springs massacre.
In that shooting, Devin Patrick Kelley killed 25 churchgoers in 2017 although his history of domestic abuse barred him from buying guns. He was able to buy four guns over four years because his criminal history was never entered into a federal database used for background checks.
But since those two tragedies, gun rights activists pushed back on the “red flag” proposal, and it died, the Texas Tribune reported.
More recently, the “constitutional carry” law went into effect after the 2021 State Legislature.
The law allows Texans 21 and over to carry handguns — openly or concealed — without obtaining a state-issued license or any training, so long they are not excluded from possessing a firearm by another federal or state law.
Previously, Texans who wanted to carry a pistol needed a state-issued license that required training, a proficiency exam and a background check.
As president, Biden has tried to address gun violence through executive orders. He faces few new options now, but executive action might be the best the president can do, given Washington’s sharp divisions on gun control legislation.
In Congress, a bipartisan group of senators talked over the weekend to see if they could reach even a modest compromise on gun safety legislation after a decade of mostly failed efforts.
Encouraging state “red flag” laws to keep guns away from those with mental health issues, and addressing school security and mental health resources were on the table, said Sen. Chris Murphy, who is leading the effort.
While there is nowhere near enough support from Republicans in Congress for broader gun safety proposals popular with the public, including a new assault weapons ban or universal background checks on gun purchases, Murphy, D-Conn., told ABC’s “This Week” that these other ideas are “not insignificant.”
The group will meet again this coming week under a 10-day deadline to strike a deal.
“There are more Republicans interested in talking about finding a path forward this time than I have ever seen since Sandy Hook,” said Murphy who represented the Newtown area as a congressman at the time of the Sandy Hook shooting. “And while, in the end, I may end up being heartbroken, I am at the table in a more significant way right now with Republicans and Democrats than ever before.”
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