Gov. Abbott announces special session to begin July 18
Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday that a special session will begin July 18. The first order of business: sunset legislation affecting five state regulatory agencies.
Sunset legislation will be the only item on the call until both chambers fix that first, he said.
Abbott then laid out 19 additional items to be added to the call of the special session after the sunset legislation passes, which the lieutenant governor estimates will take two to three days.
Abbott's 20-item special session agenda:
Sunset legislation
Teacher pay increase of $1,000
Administrative flexibility in teacher hiring and retention practices
School finance reform commission
School choice for special needs students
Property tax reform
Caps on state and local spending
Preventing cities from regulating what property owners do with trees on private land
Preventing local governments from changing rules midway through construction projects
Speeding up local government permitting process
Municipal annexation reform
Texting while driving preemption
Privacy
Prohibition of taxpayer dollars to collect union dues
Prohibition of taxpayer funding for abortion providers
Pro-life insurance reform
Strengthening abortion reporting requirements when health complications arise
Strengthening patient protections relating to do-not-resuscitate orders
Cracking down on mail-in ballot fraud
Extending maternal mortality task force
"As Governor, if I am going to call a special session, I intend to make it count," Abbott said.