Gov. Greg Abbott referred to as a particular session early Monday, ordering state legislators again to the Capitol to sort out six payments that he vetoed shortly earlier than the deadline late Sunday. Amongst them is Senate Invoice 3, which might have banned the sale of hemp merchandise containing THC in Texas.
Abbott, who mentioned the 30-day particular session will start July 21, can nonetheless add gadgets to the decision checklist. In a press launch, he described that checklist as “preliminary.” He has confronted strain from President Donald Trump to ask lawmakers to redraw a few of Texas’ 38 U.S. Home districts forward of the 2026 midterms, however that request was not on the checklist launch Monday.
The state structure solely permits lawmakers to move payments throughout particular classes on points chosen by the governor.
The opposite payments that lawmakers will rethink through the particular session are:
SB 648: Regarding recording necessities for sure devices regarding actual property
SB 1253: Regarding impression and manufacturing charges for sure water initiatives and to the regulation of sure wells; authorizing a payment.
SB 1278: Regarding an affirmative protection to prosecution for victims of trafficking of individuals or compelling prostitution.
SB 1758: Regarding the operation of a cement kiln and the manufacturing of aggregates close to a semiconductor wafer manufacturing facility.
SB 2878: Regarding the operation and administration of and practices and procedures associated to proceedings within the judicial department of state authorities.
Abbott launched statements explaining his rationale for the vetoes. He additionally vetoed 18 different payments late Sunday that he didn’t add to the decision for the particular session.
These measures ranged from modifications to the legal justice system to water rights administration that lawmakers had handed through the just lately accomplished legislative session.
Abbott had already vetoed two payments by the point the session closed on June 2.
Among the many payments Abbott vetoed was Home Invoice 413, which might have ensured that no defendant may very well be held in custody earlier than trial for longer than the punishment they’d obtain if convicted. That invoice, which was co-authored by a bipartisan group of 5 lawmakers from across the state, handed the Home 126-10 and the Senate 30-1.
When selling the invoice on KCEN information earlier than its passage in Might, co-author Rep. Pat Curry, R-Waco, mentioned, “if there’s a penalty that requires two years in jail and also you’ve spent two years ready to go to trial, it’s essential be launched.”
Abbott vetoed the invoice towards the backdrop of sweeping modifications to bail legal guidelines that he championed this previous legislative session that sought to maintain violent repeat offenders behind bars.
Abbott additionally vetoed Senate Invoice 974, which might have allowed public college academics to serve on residential appraisal evaluation boards. Supporters of the invoice, like Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, had argued that the invoice was crucial as a result of “many smaller rural counties have issue filling their appraisal evaluation boards through the summer season months.”
Nonetheless, the invoice turned a goal of conservative activists who argued that the harms of letting academics sit on these boards statewide outweighed the advantages to rural counties. Andrew McVeigh, president of Texans for Fiscal Accountability, wrote in a letter to Abbot that he ought to veto the invoice as a result of appraisal evaluation boards have the power to affect property tax valuations, which assist fund college districts.
“Letting academics sit on these boards undermines the objectivity of the appraisal course of and threatens public belief,” McVeigh wrote.
The opposite payments Abbott that vetoed this session embrace:
HB 305: Regarding the time interval for conducting pretrial hearings after a legal defendant has been restored to competency.
HB 353: Regarding creating the legal offense of trespass on or close to college or day-care middle property
HB 449: Regarding the illegal manufacturing or distribution of sexually express media utilizing deep faux know-how.
HB 705: Regarding the Cosmetology Licensure Compact; authorizing charges.
HB 1690: Regarding an utility for a allow for the switch of groundwater out of a groundwater conservation district.
HB 2243: Regarding the creation of the Texas Fee on Trainer Job Satisfaction and Retention.
HB 2520: Regarding the open conferences regulation.
HB 3120: Regarding sure duties of the proprietor or operator of a residential youngster detention facility.
HB 4530: Regarding water rights positioned within the Texas Water Belief and the Texas Water Financial institution.
HB 4885: Regarding the disclosure of confidential juvenile information to a managed assigned counsel program.
HB 5671: Regarding the election of administrators for and the authority to challenge bonds of the Johnson County Particular Utility District.
SB 268: Regarding the process for sure complaints towards well being care practitioners.
SB 378: Regarding sure prohibited practices by a barber or cosmetologist.
SB 614: Regarding the authority of the Texas Forensic Science Fee to evaluation and refer sure circumstances to the workplace of capital and forensic writs.
SB 1032: Regarding the eligibility of postsecondary academic establishments to take part within the governor’s college analysis initiative.
SB 1838: Regarding the appointment of attorneys advert litem and the compensation of sure attorneys advert litem in fits affecting the parent-child relationship filed by a governmental entity.
SB 1937: Regarding the testing of proof containing organic supplies in capital circumstances
SB 2111: Regarding authorized illustration of indigent individuals on this state and to proceedings earlier than a Justice of the Peace together with the appointment of counsel for an indigent defendant.
SB 2501: Regarding number of an legal professional by an indigent father or mother as legal professional advert litem for the father or mother in sure fits affecting the parent-child relationship.
This text initially appeared in The Texas Tribune, a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and interesting Texans on state politics and coverage.
