Rss feed

Property Tax Stand-Off Continues Lt. Governor Patrick continues to refuse to agree with the Governor’s property tax relief proposal for which the House has already given approval. The Governor’s proposal compresses the school district maintenance and operations (M&O) property tax rate by an additional 16.2 cents at a cost of $12.3 billion. This change combined with the 10 cent compression ($5.3 billion) already dedicated in the new 2024-2025 state budget, would produce $17.6 billion towa...

Update on the First Called Special Session of the 88th Texas Legislature Yesterday, both the Texas House and Senate convened for the first called special session of the 88th Texas legislature to take up and consider bills related to items on Governor Abbott’s call. The special session #1 agenda items include: • PROPERTY TAXES: Legislation to cut property-tax rates solely by reducing the school district maximum compressed tax rate in order to provide lasting property-tax rel...

Governor Abbott Announces Immediate Special Session Agenda Governor Greg Abbott today announced special session #1 and issued a proclamation identifying agenda items for the Special Session that begins at 9:00 PM on Monday, May 29. Governor Abbott issued the following statement: “I will soon be signing laws that advance our state and the future of all Texans, including laws that: End COVID restrictions and mandates; Provide more than $5.1 billion to secure the bo...

Speaker Phelan Anticipates Governor will Issue Special Session Proclamation Very Soon Speaker Phelan told House members upon sine die of the 88th Regular session, “I would not pack your bags just yet.” He said he expects the Governor will issue a special session proclamation sometime “in the next 12 hours.” Update on Proceedings of the Impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton Today, Speaker Dade Phelan and the House named the following board of managers made up of seven Republic...

The final day of a Texas legislative session is also referred to as "Sine Die," a Latin term meaning "without day." 88th Regular Session Ends as Special Session Imminent The 88th Regular Session of the Texas Legislature just ended with no agreement on a number of leadership priorities including property tax relief. The legislature also failed to find agreement on two of the Governor’s top priorities, school choice and border security. Therefore, it appears near certain that the G...

By a vote of 121 (Ayes), 23 (Nays), 2 (Present Not Voting) and 3 (Absent), the Texas House just voted to impeach Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Now that Paxton has been impeached by the House, he is immediately suspended from his post as attorney general while waiting for the Senate to conduct a trial. It is unclear when the Senate will begin trial proceedings. However, since the impeachment occurred during the session, state law says the Senate “shall set a day and time” for a...

Texas House General Investigating Committee Recommends Impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton The Texas House General Investigating Committee voted today to recommend that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton be impeached and removed from office—a decision that follows months of investigation into Paxton’s alleged criminal activity and misconduct. Special prosecutors hired by the committee to investigate Paxton listed a number of potential criminal violations, including: abuse of ...