Skip to main content

20 things Gov. Greg Abbott wants lawmakers to address in a special session

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday that he's calling lawmakers back for a special legislative session starting July 18. Here's what he's committed to adding to the call.

Gov. Greg Abbott lays out items for a special session at a press conference on June 6, 2017. The session will start on July 18.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday that he's calling lawmakers back for a special legislative session starting July 18. 

But he's not just calling them back to finish up must-pass legislation that keeps agencies afloat. And he added a lot more to the call than two issues that were anticipated: property tax relief and bathroom restrictions for transgender Texans. Abbott announced 20 different items he wants lawmakers to consider during a special session.

Here's that list. 

  1. "Sunset" legislation, which would keep several crucial state agencies alive
  2. A teacher pay raise of $1,000
  3. Giving school administrators flexibility in teacher hiring and retention
  4. School finance reform
  5. School choice for special-needs students
  6. Rollback elections for property tax increases
  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 processes
  11. Municipal annexation reform
  12. Preventing local entities from passing their own texting-while-driving bans
  13. Restrictions on bathroom use for transgender Texans
  14. Prohibiting the use of taxpayer dollars to collect union dues
  15. Prohibiting the use of taxpayer funding to subsidize health providers that also perform abortion
  16. Requiring women to get separate insurance policies to cover non-emergency abortions
  17. Increasing existing reporting requirements when complications arise during abortions
  18. Strengthening patient protections relating to do-not-resuscitate orders
  19. Cracking down on mail-in ballot fraud
  20. Extending the state's maternal mortality task force

Texans need truth. Help us report it.

Yes, I'll donate today

Explore related story topics

Politics 85th Legislative Session