Gov. Abbott told reporters on Friday that he may call state lawmakers back to Austin to work on issues such as THC and property tax relief.
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is not ruling out calling state lawmakers back to Austin for another special session focused on issues that did not get across the finish line in the two previous special sessions this summer.
“Stay tuned on that,” Gov. Abbott told reporters at a bill signing ceremony for youth camp safety legislation on Friday. “Something may be happening soon.”
The answer came in response to a question about whether he would like to wait until the next regular legislative session in 2027, or call lawmakers back to work sooner for a third special session to address THC.
The Texas Legislature gaveled out and adjourned the second called special session this week without taking any action to ban or regulate THC products.
There has been some talk and chatter of a third special session being called because regulating hemp isn’t the only thing lawmakers didn’t get to.
In addition to THC regulations, other items on the governor’s special session agenda that fell short and could be brought up as topics in a third special session include capping property tax increases, sealing police records and delaying an East Texas water project.
In an interview with KVUE on Thursday, State Rep. Matt Shaheen (R-Plano) said he thought a third special session was not likely, adding that he is hopeful the governor is done calling special sessions.
“Ultimately, he has that power, but I think it’s time to move on and let us live our lives,” Shaheen said. “It’ll be campaign season before you know it.”
In a meeting with Abbott’s chief of staff and legislative director, Shaheen said he reminded them that he and other members miss their families and they are volunteer state lawmakers who don’t receive regular pay.
Democrats also spoke out against the idea of a third special session on Friday.
“Calling another session would admit the governor wasted our time on redistricting and other distractions from real business,” State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt (D-Austin) wrote on social media Friday in response to Abbott’s comments. “If we return, my priority stays the same: help Texans succeed despite the odds Republicans stacked against them.”
State lawmakers did not pass Senate Bill 5, which would have banned the sale of consumable hemp products with THC, the chemical in marijuana that gets you high, while keeping non-intoxicating products like CBD and CBG products legal. As a result, consumable hemp-derived products will remain legal in Texas, and there is no formal age limit on who can purchase these goods.
Since 2019, products with 0.3% THC or less have been legal in Texas. Generally speaking, legal THC can be accessed in several forms, from the actual cannabis plant to THC-infused sodas.
On the last day that Abbott could veto bills from the regular session, in the 11th hour, he vetoed a bill to ban the sale of all hemp products containing THC. Abbott cited the potential legal challenges the ban would have faced and expressed concerns that it conflicted with federal law.
Banning all THC products has become a passion project for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who says the products are dangerous and unregulated. Patrick and law enforcement officials advocated for a ban, while representatives from the hemp industry and the public argued that the ban would infringe on their individual rights.
The governor put regulating THC on the special session call, and the Senate quickly passed a bill to ban it during the first and second special sessions. But it stalled in the House amid disagreements over whether to ban or regulate it.
Abbott has said that he preferred regulation over a ban. However, Patrick and supporters of the bill say regulation is not feasible because law enforcement does not have enough resources to regulate the level of THC in products properly.
Members of the hemp industry are pushing state lawmakers to take additional steps to further regulate the industry, like banning those under 21 from buying hemp products, requiring more transparent labeling, banning marketing or packaging that could be attractive to minors and higher testing standards.
“We want to get the bad actors out. We want to maintain the good actors,” Mark Bordas, the executive director of the Texas Hemp Business Council, said. “We want to make sure those who choose to use the product can do so safely and reliably know what’s in that product.”
Part of the calculation is that Gov. Abbott is up for reelection next year, and Joshua Blank, the research director for the Texas Politics Project, said the issue isn’t popular with voters.
Polling from the Texas Politics Project this summer showed 53% of Texans oppose a ban on hemp-derived cannabis products.
“Further regulating the industry or at least in some cases, further criminalizing access to THC and THC adjacent products is really not something that many voters are asking for,” Blank said.
Bills on interoperability, an omnibus disaster bill, banning taxpayer-funded lobbying and capping increases on local property taxes all fell short in this second special session. All those could be potential topics for another special session.
“We will evaluate those options later on,” Abbott said when asked about calling lawmakers back for more flood-related items.
There’s no limit to the number of special sessions the governor can call, and he can call them at any time.
Here is a look at what lawmakers proposed on those topics in the second special session.
Flood-related bills
Senate Bill 2 by State Sen. Charles Perry (R-Lubbock) would have required the credentialing and training of emergency managers at the local level. Currently, there are no minimum qualifications to be an emergency management coordinator in the state of Texas. Under the bill, EMCs for cities and counties would need to obtain a license.
It would also have created a training program for local justices of the peace to receive training on how to manage major disasters involving a high number of deaths.
The bill would have also established a state-run mass fatality operations rapid response team to provide information and coordination.
The bill would have established clear “lines of succession” in the event the EMC is unavailable, beginning with the county sheriff and then proceeding to the county commissioner with the longest continuous service.
In Kerr County, as the floodwaters were rising in the early morning hours of July 4, the emergency management coordinator was unavailable, sick, and asleep in his bed. Local leaders said they were unsure who would cover his role until he arrived at the command center around 6 a.m.
Senate Bill 2 would have developed a volunteer registration system and required some background checks for volunteers. In the aftermath of the flooding in Kerr County, thousands of volunteers showed up to help in the days following the flooding – most of them were well-meaning Texans who just wanted to help in any way.
However, state leaders have raised concerns that people often arrive in hard-hit areas so quickly that the TDEM can sometimes struggle to control them or even keep track of who they are.
SB 2 died in a conference committee, as the House and Senate were unable to hash out their differences in the second called special session.
Interoperability
House Bill 3, authored by State Rep. Ken King (R-Canadian), would have established a Texas Interoperability Council to develop a statewide plan to enhance Texas’s disaster response, including improved alert systems and implementing a grant program for counties to purchase new emergency communication equipment and construct new infrastructure.
King proposed the bill after wildfires burned more than 2 million acres in the Panhandle in 2024, which he said highlighted significant communication issues for first responders.
This could include items such as outdoor warning sirens, radios and radio towers. The council would run a grant program for local governments to purchase and construct emergency communication equipment. The idea is to create cohesiveness between different departments and agencies.
It is similar to King’s House Bill 13, which passed the House but failed in the Senate during the regular session. The bill died in the Senate in the second called special session.
Property taxes
Another key item for state leaders was property taxes. Lawmakers voted to increase the homestead exemption during the regular session, but Abbott has said he wants more.
The solution in the Senate was Senate Bill 10, which would have reduced how much cities and counties with a population over 75,000 people can increase property tax rates year over year from 3.5% to 2.5%.
This would cap how much the tax rate can be raised before getting approval from voters. If a local taxing entity wants to raise property taxes above the rate, they need voter approval.
The bill hit a snag this week when the House voted to reject a conference committee report.
The report from the conference committee, a group of lawmakers from both chambers who got together to hash out their differences and reach an agreement, eliminated nearly all changes the House made to the bill and reverted it to the Senate version.
House lawmakers said the Senate’s version of the bill does not do enough to stop property tax increases.
Bettencourt said he couldn’t accept the House amendments on SB 10 because they “basically uncapped Truth-In-Taxation, allowing an unlimited property tax revenue increase on public safety expenditures.”
Lawmakers ultimately failed to reach a compromise and the bill died in the conference committee.
This week, 22 House Republicans signed onto a letter calling on Gov. Abbott to call lawmakers back for a third special session to deal with property tax relief before the end of the year.
“Texans are crying out for legislation which will make it more difficult for taxing entities to raise property taxes on ALL Texans,” the letter said. “Delivering additional property tax relief which lowers all Texans’ property taxes is also a priority.”