The 89th Texas Legislative Session Was a Good One if You're Greg Abbott

The 89th Texas legislative session ushered in school vouchers, more property tax relief, a THC ban, and changes to the state's outdated bail bonds system, but was it a successful session?

It was if you're Greg Abbott, political experts say.

All of the Republican governor's priority bills passed in some form but hundreds of potential laws were left on the floor when the 140-day session came to a close June 2. Houston lawmakers on both sides of the aisle scored some wins, although the Democratic victories were minor.

Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor, said, as did his colleague UH lecturer Nancy Sims, that the session was all about the GOP.

"It depends on who you ask," Rottinghaus said of whether the session was successful. "[Lt. Gov.] Dan Patrick and Greg Abbott got mostly what they wanted from their list of priorities. Abbott got 100 percent of what he wanted. Dan Patrick got about 90 percent of what he wanted. Basically, for those two, I think it was really good.

Abbott wasn't leaving the Capitol without the passage of Senate Bill 2, which launched a $1 billion education savings account that positions participating families to receive about $10,000 annually for education if they opt out of public school.

"Vouchers was the big brass belt buckle, and [Abbott] got that," Rottinghaus said.

Critics argue that the school voucher program takes away resources and dollars from the public education system and will strain funding for teacher retirement, harming students with disabilities and low-income families in rural areas. Abbott called it "historic conservative legislation that will benefit Texas for generations to come."

Rottinghaus said the session was "less successful" for Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, and the House of Representatives.

"They got rolled on a couple of items that they might have preferred not to be," he said, referring to the failure of a social media ban for minors, an abortion pill crackdown and required proof of citizenship for voter registration. "This was a session that was born out of a speaker's battle, which is always a precarious way to begin a session."

Infighting among Republicans began almost immediately after Burrows was elected by his peers over David Cook, R-Mansfield, in January. Cook supporters championed his allegiance to the governor and conservative policies; Burrows earned support from Democrats and moderate conservatives for his willingness to compromise.

Republican Party of Texas Chair Abraham George threatened Burrows supporters with party censures, which could bar them from appearing on a primary ballot for two years.

At the time, Rep. Cody Harris, R-Palestine, alleged in an ethics complaint that George violated bribery rules by threatening to run negative ads in the districts of lawmakers who supported Burrows. Cook backers vowed to punish those who voted against him during the next primary elections, the Texas Tribune reported in January.

"You had essentially a power vacuum. You had a governor and lieutenant governor who just dominated," Rottinghaus said. "You had a new speaker of the House who didn't have any real priorities and had to placate all these leaders who were telling him what to do."

The rank-and-file state reps were expected to vote for bills because Patrick told them to, Rottinghaus said, but Burrows had an added responsibility as the speaker.

"Democrats and a lot of Republicans specifically voted for [Burrows] because they wanted him to protect the House," he said. "They feared that David Cook was going to basically roll over and give Patrick what he wanted. Well, that's kind of what happened. At the end of the day, Patrick dominated the narrative but Abbott dominated the agenda."

The Democratic victories were small ones, but the Dems expected an uphill battle, Rottinghaus said.

"They're in the minority, so they're already batting with two strikes," he said. "I hate to pile on to the Dems because they're in such a precarious position, but it simply wasn't a good session for them. The one thing you could point to that maybe they managed well was that they were able to pull rein on some of the bail reform measures and they were able to stop some of the more conservative policies from pushing forward."

As the session came to a close, about 1,189 bills were passed out of almost 9,000 filed.

Education

Although the school vouchers bill was controversial, Abbott garnered bipartisan support with his school finance package, House Bill 2, which adds about $8.5 billion to public schools for employee salaries, operational expenses, training, special education, campus safety and early childhood learning.

"House Bill 2 ensures that our schools are funded better than ever, teacher pay and student funding are at all-time highs, reading and math performance will improve, and students will be better prepared for the workforce," Abbott said in a press release. "The foundation is now in place for Texas education to start climbing the ranks."

Both vouchers and public school funding bills failed in the 2023 session, when Abbott held hostage school funding and told lawmakers he'd only support it once vouchers passed. The voucher program starts at the beginning of the 2026-27 school year.

Most families who enroll their children in public schools won't see a "tremendous difference" immediately but the writing is on the wall for controversies and tighter spending to come, Rottinghaus said.

"The state was able to put in a bunch of money to sweeten the pot when it came to vouchers but that money won't be around forever," he said. "The state is flush now but the future is uncertain economically."

Disagreements between the House and Senate stalled and ultimately killed a plan to eliminate the STAAR test. While both chambers wanted to oust the standardized exams, lawmakers sparred over how to calculate school ratings and how involved the Texas Education Agency should be in regulation. The failure of the bills was a huge disappointment for educators and parents who supported its removal.

Freshman Senator Molly Cook said she was proud to be part of the team of Houston Democrats. Eight bills she worked on made it to the governor's desk, she said.

"I can tell you that it's because of the work of Sen. Borris Miles that we got half a billion dollars of funding into HB 2 for part-time, non-teacher school employees who desperately need that money," she said. "It was an honor to watch Sen. Jose Menendez make basically every bill that went through the Senate a little bit better with some amendments."

But there were some misses, Cook added.

"I'd name an individual bill for you but honestly, it's like every bad idea had three or four bills," she said. "A concerning theme was rolling back or eroding our First Amendment rights, our rights to privacy and freedom."

Legislators banned diversity, equity and inclusion practices in K-12 schools, meaning that districts are prohibited from considering race, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation in hiring and training.

"I see diversity as a good thing," Cook said. "Diversity strengthens our communities. Diversity produces better outcomes. It's a good thing to have diversity as a goal, and taking that away from people could cause some real harm and take away some of the progress we've made in our workforce."

Senate Bill 37 also passed, providing more control over public universities and giving political appointees authority to review and reject courses and the hiring of a provost or the chief academic officer. Senate Bill 2972, also approved, prohibits on-campus encampments, wearing disguises or "protesting noisily in certain situations," a response to last year's pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

The conservative-backed Ten Commandments bill, requiring every public school classroom to display the Christian tenets in a visible place, and prayer time in K-12 schools passed.

Rice University political science professor Mark Jones said the Ten Commandments bill "without question" will be challenged in court.

Criminal Justice

Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, was at the forefront of bail reform legislation, most of which passed.

A constitutional amendment will appear on a November ballot so voters can decide if they want to require judges to deny bail for violent offenses.

The U.S. Constitution dictates that bail cannot be excessive, and pretrial detention should not be considered the default, as criminal defendants are legally presumed innocent. Critics have argued that the stricter bail laws are discriminatory, but Huffman points to more than 162 Harris County murders that have occurred over the past four years while defendants were out on bond.

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Abbott signed the bail reform package in Houston last week at an event attended by former Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, who is rumored to be switching parties and seeking another bid at public office.

"This session, we confronted a crisis, a revolving door bail system that repeatedly released dangerous criminals back onto the streets," Abbott said at the press conference. "To the victims and their families, today your pain is answered. Not only are we signing laws that correct the wrongs, your efforts have led to a rewriting of the Constitution of the State of Texas to ensure criminals like those who harmed your families will never be out on the loose again."

A bail reform measure which would have permitted automatic denial for undocumented persons died in the House.

Rep. Jolanda Jones, D-Houston, who announced Thursday she's running for the U.S. Congressional District 18 seat vacated in March by the late Sylvester Turner, gained bipartisan support for her House Bill 413, which prohibits defendants from being held in jail during pre-trial detention longer than their maximum potential sentence. The bill made it to the finish line and awaits the governor's signature.

Senate Bill 990, authored by Houston Republican Paul Bettencourt, sought to raise the victim age threshold for death penalty cases from 10 years old to 15. The measure failed to reach the governor's desk before the session ended.

"Republicans who thought that Democrats were the problem in sending up conservative legislation, I think the answer was clear from the start that it's not the other party, it's the clock. It's the calendar," Rottinghaus said.

The potential fallout from Patrick's ban on THC remains to be seen. Following widespread criticism from those who use hemp products for pain management and seizures, the lieutenant governor said he supports expanding the compassionate use program, allowing medical cannabis for certain qualifying conditions.

The lieutenant governor has said his push to ban THC is an effort to get unregulated products off the shelves. Critics say the ban is too heavy-handed and harms the booming hemp industry. Consumers and retailers have pleaded with Abbott to veto the bill.

"An expert in that space explained to me that no one is really clear on the final language right now," said Sims, the UH lecturer. "It still may be a little vague. If I were a smoke shop owner who depended on selling Delta 8, I'd be a little worried."

Cook said she voted against the THC ban.

"I believe that adults can be self-determining when it comes to these substances that we know are not as harmful as alcohol, opioids, et cetera," she said.

Healthcare

The "transgender bill" HB 229, which strictly defines men and women based on reproductive organs, passed and awaits the governor's signature. Critics raised concerns that it means the state won't recognize amended identification documents and it could be used to discriminate against people. A controversial "bathroom bill," requiring people to use bathrooms in government buildings that match the sex they were assigned at birth, did not pass.

Cook said she was concerned about the attacks on the LGBTQ+ community and was disappointed that the Democratic delegation couldn't do more to stop what she believes is harmful legislation.

"There is a lot to be celebrated, good bills that Democrats passed, but to me, there was a lot that was missing from this session, a lot of good ideas that never got hearings," she said. "We want to see things like Medicaid expansion. I would like to see bigger investments in our prison system, in the Department of State Health Services and our foster kids."

Legislators approved a clarification of the state's near-total abortion ban, aiming to empower doctors to perform life-saving abortions, even if death is not imminent, and Texas cities are now banned from paying for out-of-state abortion travel. A crackdown on abortion pills, however, died in a House committee.

"Sometimes the session is about what didn't get done, and one thing that didn't get done was the abortion pill ban," Rottinghaus said. "It's interesting to me that it didn't pass because there were certainly enough Republican votes for it. It's also interesting how the conservative issues change over time. Two sessions ago, it would have been a no-brainer for this to pass, but this session, there were other concerns and priorities."

Cook filed an omnibus abortion bill that contains "what we think ideal abortion and reproductive policy should look like in Texas," she said.

"It includes birth control, Plan B, access to surgical abortions and protections for health care professionals," Cook said. "Obviously that was not going to get a hearing in the Texas Senate, but we had a robust conversation around abortion and we did see clarifications in SB 31 that we think will save lives, that hospitals and physicians asked for."

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Houston Republican Lacey Hull's bill to make it easier for parents to opt out their school-age children from immunization requirements awaits the governor's signature. House Bill 1586 met widespread resistance but the bill's proponents insisted the legislation was just making available a downloadable form so parents could enroll their kids in school on time.

Critics say it will threaten herd immunity and lead to difficulty controlling an already rampant measles outbreak in Texas.

Property Tax Cuts

The 2023 session was a big one for property tax cuts, so some were surprised to see the issue come up again.

Texas voters will be able to cast their ballots on a new round of cuts in November. If passed, the state's homestead exemption will go from $100,000 to $140,000, meaning homeowners will pay a reduced amount in property taxes to school districts. Also on the ballot is an exemption of up to $125,000 for small business inventory.

In all, Texas plans to spend $51 billion on property tax cuts, which some lawmakers worry is unsustainable, according to the Texas Tribune.

As legislators return to their respective cities after a grueling session, Cook said she now plans to meet with her constituents in Senate District 15, which includes portions of Houston, Baytown, Humble and Jacinto City.

"We want to bring the story of what we accomplished and the losses in the Capitol this session directly to our constituents and then help them prepare for the next session and monitor implementation," she said.

While it's difficult to measure successes absent of bills being passed or rejected, lawmakers often say gains are realized through conversations that are initiated and relationships that are built. Texas' current representation is "very young," Rottinghaus pointed out.

"There are a lot of new members," he said. "Since Greg Abbott took over as governor, there have been something like 150 new members of the House and Senate. That's a tremendous turnover. We haven't seen this since the 1910s. There are a lot of new ideas and energy. There are more bills being filed and more bills being passed."

Perhaps only Abbott got everything he wanted in the 89th session but, as evidenced by more than a few celebratory social media photos from lawmakers and their aides, everyone was pleased that the governor didn't call a single special session after convening the Lege four times after it gaveled out in 2023.