Rep. Gene Wu also discusses a possible ban on THC and what’s next for Democrats.
HOUSTON — On the floor of the Texas House recently, a Democratic lawmaker called it a “defensive session” for the party.
The man who leads House Democrats agrees.
We’ve already seen some major Republican priorities become law, from school vouchers to a new Texas DOGE (Department of Governmental Efficiency) office.
So, we asked Representative Gene Wu, D-Houston, if he could point to any Democratic victories this session.
“I think because our minority status, we’re not going to have the big, big bills on the floor,” the Democratic leader told us on Inside Texas Politics. “But we have a lot of other bills on the floor. We have a lot of amendments and things that we got into those bigger bills that we don’t necessarily talk about.”
If this legislative session was seen as a battle over school vouchers, especially after Governor Greg Abbott managed to force out many House Republicans who opposed them, then the battle is over.
The House passed SB 2 with some amendments, the Senate then concurred with the changes, passed the bill and sent it to the Governor for his signature.
The $1 billion statewide voucher program would provide between $10,300 and $10,900 per student per year. Students with disabilities could receive up to $30,000 more. And homeschoolers could receive up to $2,000 a year.
While the fight would appear to be over with five weeks left in the session, Rep. Wu says not so fast.
He says House Democrats have a strategy to continue to fight against vouchers, but he didn’t want to dive too deep into the details of their plan with us. But he did tell us vouchers won’t officially launch for another 16 months, at the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year.
“You could elect new people and come back and say, like you know what, we were just kidding two years ago, we’re going to pull this back,” the lawmaker argued.
That wishful thinking aside, there are other major issues still before lawmakers that could fundamentally change Texas.
One of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick’s top priorities is a total ban on all products containing THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the ingredient in marijuana that makes a user feel high, outside of what’s allowed under the state’s limited medical marijuana program.
The Senate has already passed SB 3. But the lower chamber hasn’t taken any action yet on HB 28, though the House has held committee hearings.
“I think what the public wants is a reasonable regulatory system,” Wu argued. “Neither of these bills in the current form are any sort of reasonable regulation.”
In terms of the legislation, House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, told us he’s concerned about many of the THC products that have made it onto the market, such as vapes. And he thinks there’s bipartisan support for banning many of those products. But the Speaker also acknowledged the fact that there appears to be more support in the House for stricter regulation and licensing requirements versus an outright ban.
To Rep. Wu, both bills are a ban, and he doesn’t know if the legislation will even make it to the House floor.
“The Senate bill is a total and complete ban, which I think for the vast majority of people is just a non-starter. I think for the House bill, essentially, is a ban as well. If you’re saying you can only get it in alcoholic beverages, well not everyone wants alcoholic beverages, that’s kind of the point. And if you can only buy them in certain places, it’s a ban. I mean, a ban is a ban.”
The Lieutenant Governor has threatened to force a special session if lawmakers do not pass the legislation.
Rep. Wu hopes lawmakers will come back over the summer. And he argues a THC ban isn’t an important enough reason to call a special session. But the Democrat thinks President Donald Trump’s tariffs will be, as Texans begin to look to the state government for assistance.
“I think things are going to get really bad,” he said. “The tariffs are burning through the country. We’ve not fully felt the impact of it because we’ve been living off of stored materials.”
This session is Rep. Wu’s first as chairman of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, not an easy job in a state that’s been controlled by Republicans for three decades.
As Texas Democrats try to find their way out of the political wilderness, the chairman offered us a possible preview of the messaging to come, arguing that the Texas Republican Party has become too extreme.
“As people are struggling to survive, as costs are going up, they’re filing stuff about DEI and trans kids and all the stuff, like, what is this? Why are you doing this,” he asked. “You guys have already passed every single bill that you could possibly want on all these things, and you want to keep doing this stuff instead of actually dealing with people’s incomes, dealing with the rising cost of food, insurance companies are pulling out of the state. What are we doing about those?”