Abbott expected to promote vouchers and other highlights of his 2025 agenda in Sunday speech

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Gov. Greg Abbott will lay out his legislative priorities Sunday night during his biennial State of the State address giving lawmakers marching orders on what topics he wants them to fast-track this session.

Two years ago, Abbott was able to push through bills to reduce the property taxes of millions of Texans after promising the “largest property tax cuts in state history” during his 2022 reelection campaign. But he was foiled in perhaps his biggest priority: passing a school voucher-like program that would allow the use of public dollars to go toward private education.

Passing that legislation, which the governor’s office refers to as “school choice” or education savings accounts, will likely be among Abbott’s top priorities this session, following his heavy involvement in last year’s Republican primaries in which he campaigned against House GOP lawmakers who opposed his proposal. Eleven of those Republicans were replaced by new lawmakers who said they support Abbott’s plans for passing a school voucher program. The governor said in November that the elections had left him with a net of 79 “hardcore” voucher supporters in the House — more than the simple majority of 76 needed to pass a bill.

While Abbott has telegraphed his desire to pass school voucher legislation, his address will give insight into his other top issues. The three-term governor who is in his sixth legislative session as the state’s chief executive could lay out his most ambitious agenda yet – ahead of a reelection campaign in 2026 and a potential presidential bid in 2028.

With President Donald Trump, a Republican ally back in the White House, Texas’ relationship with the federal government will be a key thing to watch. During Abbott’s 10-year tenure as governor, Texas has spent billions of state dollars on immigration enforcement – spending that could be freed up if a Trump administration crack down on immigration reduces the amount state leaders think that Texas needs to spend.

Abbott has gained a national reputation for his efforts to stop people from crossing the Texas border without documents, including a state-funded border wall, a deployment of Texas National Guard to the border and the shuttling of migrants from Texas to Democrat-led cities in other states. Trump recently praised Abbott’s efforts, calling him the “leader of the pack” in a public speech.

The State of the State is delivered early every legislative session and is traditionally when the governor announces his legislative priorities. By declaring those priorities as “emergency items,” the governor allows lawmakers to circumvent the constitutional ban on passing legislation in the first 60 days of a session. Otherwise, the House and Senate would need at least 80% of the chamber to take up an item before that time.

Two years ago, the governor laid out seven emergency items. The session before that, he set out five.

Abbott’s choices for emergency items could have a major impact on this year’s session.

Speaking at an event for The Texan news outlet this week, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the Senate would pass school vouchers next Wednesday if Abbott designates it an emergency item, which is widely expected. The upper chamber repeatedly passed school voucher legislation last session and a senate committee approved this year’s version of the school voucher bill this week.

That would put pressure on the House, which has been resistant to school voucher legislation in recent sessions, to move its own bill forward quickly. But the lower chamber, which has a new leader who is more open to school vouchers in Lubbock Republican Dustin Burrows, is still in the process of setting up its committees after a prolonged speaker’s race that was finally settled on the first day of the session earlier this month.

The fight over school vouchers also hints at intraparty feuding among Texas Republicans with some in the GOP pushing for infusing more religion and prayer into schools, restricting the rights of LGBTQ Texans and clamping down on programs in schools and businesses focused on diversity, equity and inclusion. In his speech, Abbott could signal whether he wants to throw his weight behind these types of bills.

Patrick, a hardline conservative who leads the Senate, included among his priorities bills to place the Ten Commandments in schools, allow prayer in schools and ban libraries from organizing story time events hosted by people in drag.

In a nod to these culture war proposals, Abbott on Thursday sent a letter urging state agencies to “reject woke gender ideologies.” Aligning with a federal executive order issued by Trump, Abbott said “the state of Texas recognizes only two sexes - male and female.”

Abbott’s speech could also give insight into how the governor wants the Legislature to spend its $24 billion surplus for this year’s budget. Last session, lawmakers used $13.3 billion of a historic $32.7 billion surplus to cut property taxes for Texas homeowners.

Still, the cost of property taxes remains a concern for many Texans. In the Senate, Patrick has set an ambitious goal of increasing the property tax exemption for Texans’ primary residences from $100,000 to $140,000. The House has also proposed spending $6.5 billion on property tax relief, but the two chambers must agree on how exactly to achieve that.

Historically, governors have given this speech to a joint session of the Legislature at the Capitol. But in 2021, as the world was coming out of the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Abbott opted to give the address from a chemical processing firm in Lockhart, a central Texas town south of Austin. Two years later, Abbott held the speech at Noveon Magnetics in San Marcos. The business-friendly governor seems to have settled on his new tradition, holding this year’s address at Arnold Oil Company in East Austin.

In 2023, reporters were not allowed to attend the address in person and had to watch the live broadcasts. Abbott’s office re-opened the doors to reporters this year though no photojournalists will be allowed.

The speech will be broadcast live at 5 p.m. on Nexstar television stations and their websites across Texas. The program is expected to go for about an hour with the governor’s speech followed by a 10-minute pre-recorded response by the Texas Democratic Party. Unlike in previous years, that response will not be given by Democratic lawmakers. Instead, Brigitte Bowen, a spokesperson for the party, said it will be delivered by “working, everyday Texans.”