(Bethany Blankley, The Center Square) Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed what many in Austin speculated: he will call special session after special session until bills are passed.
Abbott called the current special session, which began July 21, to address 18 legislative items, including relief for Hill Country flood victims and Congressional redistricting.
The Texas Constitution authorizes the governor to call a 30-day special session. There are no limits to how many special sessions a governor may call. The constitution specifically requires all state lawmakers to attend special sessions. The governor may also amend the call, meaning the number of bills, at any time. Several lawmakers have asked Abbott to add bills to the call, including protections for Texas cattle, The Center Square reported.
After a House committee advanced a redistricting bill last Saturday, more than 50 House Democrats absconded on Sunday, midway through the special session. Their stated purpose was to prevent the House from reaching a quorum, shut down the legislative process and block all votes from occurring on any legislation.
“Democrats act like they’re not going to come back as long as this is an issue. That means they’re not going to come back until like 2027 or 2028, because I’m going to call special session after special session,” Abbott told NBC News.
He also said law enforcement officials are “in the process as we speak right now of searching for, preparing to arrest Democrats who may be in Texas, may be elsewhere.”
On Thursday, the Texas House sued 33 Democrats hiding out in Illinois after House Speaker Dustin Burrows and Gov. Greg Abbott said they would take action to have them arrested and even removed from office if they didn’t return, The Center Square reported. The Texas Supreme Court set a deadline for 5 p.m. Friday in a lawsuit Abbott filed to remove Democratic leader Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, from office.
Also on Thursday, the Texas Senate Special Committee on Congressional Redistricting advanced its redistricting bill, SB 4, filed by Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, by a vote of 6-1. It goes to the Senate floor for a vote next week. Prior to the bill passing out of committee, two days of hearings were held. No Senate Democrats absconded throughout this process.
House Republicans say that redistricting is necessary because of population increases and voter patterns changed, The Center Square reported. They’ve also said that Democratic states have an unfair advantage because their congressional districts have far more Democrats than the Democratic voting population, The Center Square reported. Texas’ proposed new maps could flip up to five seats currently held by Democrats to Republicans.
“Both the law and facts have changed since we drew the lines back in 2021,” Abbott said, citing the same Fifth Circuit ruling House Republicans cited in a redistricting hearing. The court ruled that the 1965 Voting Rights Act doesn’t protect a “coalition” of multiple minority groups claiming discrimination.
The Texas population has greatly increased since the last redistricting maps were drawn in 2021, waiting until 2030 to redraw maps would disenfranchise voters, Abbott and other Republicans argue. Additionally, after the 2024 election, a record number of Hispanic and Black Texans voted for Republicans, shifting voter demographics.
“A lot of people who voted Republican, who voted for Donald Trump, were trapped into Democrat districts,” Abbott told NBC News. “And so, when you look at the facts, when you look at the law, there is every reason to go ahead and draw the lines so that we can assure that every voter is going to have the opportunity to vote for their candidate of choice.”
The Texas Senate continues to advance bills despite no quorum reached in the Texas House. With 11 days left in the special session it’s likely the bills will die.
“The outlook on these bills this session isn’t promising, as all bills must be approved by both chambers before heading to the governor’s desk for his signature,” the Texas Senate said in a statement. “With no quorum in the House, no business can be transacted in that chamber. As it has in special sessions in 2021 and 2023, the Senate continued to pass legislation that was unlikely to be considered in the House, and will likely be the case for this and any additional called sessions. [Gov. Greg] Abbott is empowered to call as many special sessions as he wants, and it is fairly likely that these bills will return for a second called session that will begin after this session concludes August 19th.”
Abbott confirmed this.
The Texas Senate has passed several bills on the special session agenda, including property tax reform, protecting women’s spaces, banning taxpayer funded lobbying, enhancing title fraud protections, among others, The Center Square reported.
Legislative committees are also meeting. A Senate committee met to discuss replacing the STAAR test; a House committee met to discuss improving flood and emergency response.
