By Lauren Fairbanks and J Pete Laney
TAD Governmental Relations
The first-called special legislative session ended Aug. 15 with no bills passed, leading Gov. Greg Abbott to immediately call another 30-day special session to start Aug. 18. As you’ve likely seen in the news over the past few weeks, the 150-member Texas House of Representatives has not had the 100-member quorum needed to pass legislation after most Democrat members left the state to protest proposed redistricting. That kept the House from passing any bills.
Even with the House floor at a standstill, work continued in other parts of the Capitol during the first-called special session. The Texas Senate passed bills and House committees held hearings on referred bills.
With a new special session, those bills will need to be refiled and again go through the process. We anticipate many of these bills will move quickly.
Top of mind for most people is the tragedy that took place in Central Texas, stretching from areas around Kerrville to northern Travis and Williamson counties. Over the past several weeks, special House and Senate committees have met jointly to investigate the flooding and discuss what might can be done in the future to prevent such a tragic event. Several bills advanced several bills during the first special session, and the issue will continue to be a priority during the second one.
Meanwhile, state agencies are working through the process of implementing legislation passed during the recent regular legislative session. For example, the Texas Agriculture Finance Authority (TAFA) is considering the changes made by House Bill 43, which broadens the scope of the program to greatly increase available loans for agriculture producers and businesses, along with institutional grants for research. We will have more details to report as TAFA finalizes its work.
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