The Texas Legislature meets once every two years in Austin for 140 days – unless the governor calls a special session, that is.
The 89th legislative session starts in just two weeks, and there are a whole lot of rules governing what can happen when. There are also new faces in the chamber this session.
Lauren McGaughy, an investigative reporter and editor for The Texas Newsroom, said that overall the House is expected to be more conservative than it was last time around.
“[Gov.] Greg Abbott was really involved in the legislative elections. He got a lot of his pro-voucher supporters elected,” she said. “So we did see the Texas House move further to the right than in previous years.”
Some notable names entering the House include Katrina Pierson, the national spokesman for Donald Trump in his 2016 presidential bid; Shelley Luther, who was jailed for opening her Dallas-area hair salon during COVID; and Mitch Little, who was one of Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment attorneys.
McGaughy said she expects no shortage of fiery political rhetoric coming out of the Statehouse this session — but that the new legislators will likely be in line with party leaders on key issues.
“I think that bomb-throwing is kind of the name of the political game these days,” she said. “And I don’t think that these people are going to be breaking ranks hugely, at least with [Lt. Gov.] Dan Patrick. I think that they’re going to be in lockstep with him politically.
“And as I said, all of the ones that were kind of elected on this pro-voucher platform are definitely going to be in lockstep with the governor. So as long as they’re throwing the right bombs, I guess I don’t see that that will be a problem for them.”
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People interested in watching the Legislature shouldn’t expect much action when it comes to passing bills in the early days. During the first 60 days of a regular session, neither the House nor the Senate can pass any bills. However, lawmakers can focus on anything the governor declares a matter of emergency, according to Texas Newsroom political reporter Blaise Gainey.
“My guess is that vouchers will likely be one of those things, just so they can get started,” he said. “It doesn’t mean it’ll pass in those first 60 days.
“And who knows, maybe it will make it to the floor faster than people expect, seeing as a lot of House members are eager to get it done so that the governor can sort of parade around his celebration of getting this passed. I mean, he ran on this in 2022. So it wouldn’t be surprising.”
In the two months when voting is mostly off the table, lawmakers can still discuss bills and figure out how to shape their priorities to have the best chance of passing later, Gainey said.
“A lot of things can still be done. They can figure out ‘my bill is in good shape’ or ‘I need to make an amendment,’” he said. “And we may find out, you know, which bills are likely to get moving as soon as those 60 days are up and which ones have no chance at all.”
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The public will also get insight into the emergency items expected for the session at the end of January, when the governor gives his State of the State speech.
“That’ll kind of set the tone, too, for the rest of the session,” McGaughy said. “And then, you know, there is this big cohort of new people coming in, and they form these relationships. And usually it’s in those first 60 days, you know, people are coming into town, they’re moving into apartments. A lot of them live here full-time during the session.
“So there’s a bit of this dorm-room kind of atmosphere that forms where people are getting to know each other, forming lasting relationships and working on the legislation that they’re going to use.”
And among the first issues legislators are sure to take up is the state budget, McGaughy said.
“We’ve had a bit of a revised down number on the budget from the state comptroller — he’s kind of the state accountant,” she said. “We’re still in good shape. Texas has had a lot of money in recent years, and we have a lot of money in our so-called rainy day fund, which is mostly off-limits, although lawmakers could change those rules and decide they’re going to do something with it.
“So there’s money to play around with. And there may be even more this year if they decide to take some of that border funding out and shift it into other priorities. Maybe they’ll want to tackle mental health. Maybe it’s getting ready for the next big hurricane. Those two things could both cost a lot of money if they decided to prioritize them.”
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