BG Note | Policy - Gov. Abbott's Special Session and Local Control

Governor Greg Abbott (R-Texas) 

BG Note | Policy

Gov. Abbott's Special Session and Local Control

On Tuesday, June 6th, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott set a special session of the Texas Legislature for July 18th. Under the Texas Constitution the sessions are capped at 30 days (there is no minimum duration). The Constitution also places no limitation on the number of topics a governor can designate in a special-session proclamation.

Among the 20 items are several impacting local control, particularly related to land use (see items #8, #9, and #10). For questions about how those items and more, please contact us!

Special session agenda items:

1. Sunset legislation
2. Teacher pay increase of $1,000       
3. Administrative flexibility in teacher hiring and retention practices
4. School finance reform commission
5. School choice for special needs students
6. Property tax reform
7. Caps on state and local spending
8. Preventing cities from regulating what property owners do with trees on private land
9. Preventing local governments from changing rules midway through construction projects
10. Speeding up local government permitting process
11. Municipal annexation reform
12. Texting while driving preemption
13. Privacy
14. Prohibition of taxpayer dollars to collect union dues
15. Prohibition of taxpayer funding for abortion providers
16. Pro-life insurance reform
17. Strengthening abortion reporting requirements when health complications arise
18. Strengthening patient protections relating to do-not-resuscitate orders
19. Cracking down on mail-in ballot fraud
20. Extending maternal mortality task force

Source: https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-announces-special-session