The Texas Legislature will consider 18 agenda items when the special session begins on July 21, including relief funding for the Hill Country flooding.
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Legislature’s special session starts later this month, and items on its agenda include flood relief, hemp regulation and elimination of the STAAR test.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced the session’s agenda on Wednesday. State legislators will consider 18 agenda items when the session begins on July 21.
Here’s a look at everything on the agenda:
- Flood warning systems: Legislation to improve emergency communications and response infrastructure in flood-prone areas of Texas.
- Relief funding for Hill Country flooding: Legislation to provide relief funding for recovery and response to the storms in Central Texas on July 4.
- Natural disaster preparation and recovery: Legislation to improve preparedness and recovery from natural disasters.
- Eliminate the STAAR test: Legislation to replace the STAAR test with other tools for assessing student progress and ensure school district accountability.
- Cut property taxes: Legislation to reduce Texans’ property taxes and impose limits on entities authorized to impose property taxes.
- Restrict THC from children: Legislation to make it a crime to provide hemp-derived products to anyone under 21.
- Regulate hemp-derived products: Legislation to regulate hemp-derived products without banning them entirely.
- Abortion legislation: Legislation addressing unborn children and their mothers.
- Ban taxpayer-funded lobbying: Legislation prohibiting the use of tax dollars to hire lobbyists and payment of tax dollars to associations that lobby Congress.
- Human trafficking victims: Legislation to protect human trafficking victims from criminal liability for non-violent acts tied to their victimization.
- Police personnel records: Legislation preventing the disclosure of unsubstantiated complaints in police officers’ personnel records.
- Women’s spaces: Legislation addressing sex-segregated spaces.
- Attorney General election powers: Legislation allowing the Texas attorney general to prosecute state election crimes.
- Redistricting: Legislation to provide a revised congressional redistricting plan.
- Title theft and deed fraud: Legislation to strengthen protections against title theft and deed fraud.
- Water project incentives: Legislation authorizing political subdivisions to reduce impact fees for builders including water conservation measures.
- State judicial department: Legislation relating to the state’s judicial department.
Hill Country flooding
In the wake of the deadly flooding in Central Texas along the Guadalupe River, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced the state will front the bill for sirens to be installed in the area.
He claims that he and Abbott agreed that the state should erect sirens along the Guadalupe River.
Patrick’s announcement comes amid criticism pointed at officials over National Weather Service alerts and forecasting before and during the flash flooding. Sen. Ted Cruz and the White House have defended the NWS.
The Texas Hill Country is highly susceptible to flooding, earning the nickname “Flash Flood Alley.” Though the rise of the Guadalupe River was historic this time around, Patrick believes the installation of warning sirens will help save lives.
Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed a bill to ban all THC products
Last month, Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed a contentious state ban on THC products and shortly after called a special legislative session, asking lawmakers to instead strictly regulate the substance.
Senate Bill 3 would have banned consumable hemp products that contained any THC, including delta-8 and delta-9.
Abbott urged lawmakers to consider an approach similar to the way alcohol is regulated, recommending potential rules including barring the sale and marketing of THC products to minors, requiring testing throughout the production and manufacturing process, allowing local governments to prohibit stores selling THC products and providing law enforcement with additional funding to enforce the restrictions.
Texas bill scrapping STAAR test
In May, the Texas Senate approved the House bill that would scrap STAAR, the state standardized test widely criticized for taking instructional time away from teachers and putting enormous burdens on students.
House Bill 4 would swap the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test for a shorter test that aims to better support student learning. Students would be tested at the beginning, middle and end of the year to monitor their progress.
The House favors grading Texas students by comparing their performance to their peers around the country, which is known as a “norm-referenced test.”
The Senate, meanwhile, wants to give the Texas Education Agency more flexibility on how to grade students, keep the mandatory social studies test and make the beginning and middle-of-the-year assessments optional.
The Texas Tribune contributed to this report