Legislative Updates

Each week during Texas legislative sessions, TDCAA recaps the most important news and events. Look to this page for current and past issues of TDCAA’s Legislative Updates.

For information concerning legislation filed during the 87th Regular Session, visit the state legislature’s web site or e-mail Shannon Edmonds, Director of Governmental Relations, or call him at (512) 474-2436.

Updates

TDCAA Legislative Update: 88-1 Called Session, Week 4

June 23, 2023

Wednesday was the first day of summer and this heat wave is already beyond ridiculous. Our prayer for all of you lucky enough to take a summer vacation is that you choose a destination a little farther from the sun.

Review, preview

This 30-day first called session ends Wednesday, June 28, and there is really nothing to report. No resolution on the governor’s property tax rebate charge has been reached, so we expect a second special session to be called soon. Laissez les bon douloureux temps rouler.

Vetoes

Governor Abbott vetoed 77 bills from the regular session, which is the second-most vetoes in history behind only Governor Rick Perry’s 83 vetoes in 2001. However, only a handful of vetoes were of bills we were tracking for you, and we assume that if you cared about a bill that was vetoed, you already know about it (or at least that is the impression we get from the puzzled questions we received from some of you in that boat).

The slick floor of Abbott’s abattoir included 52 bills from the Senate, which still has not gotten on board with his version of a property tax rebate. The governor made it clear in his veto proclamations that many vetoes were directly related to that intransigence. This would all make a heck of an update to that old “I’m Just a Bill” episode of Schoolhouse Rock, but the sequel might have to be a Rated R slasher film.

Impeachment news

The Senate finally adopted rules for its impeachment trial, which you can read HERE. That proceeding will commence on Tuesday, September 5, 2023 (a week later than originally suggested, for reasons known only to the senators). The rules include a gag order on all the participants, so those of you hoping for some free political entertainment to replace the lack of decent Hollywood blockbusters in the theaters this summer will have to look elsewhere.

Legislative Update CLEs and books

Did you know that the 88th Legislature passed 1,259 bills and joint resolutions before adjourning sine die last month? Are you ready to start implementing and enforcing the new laws relevant to your work come September 1, 2023? No, of course you aren’t. No one could be! But have no fear, that’s why we are here.

TDCAA will once again offer our popular—dare we say, essential—Legislative Update course online in August of 2023, before (most of) those new laws go into effect. Keep checking our Training webpage for details on when that online course will become available. And for those of you who prefer in-person training, we will offer a live Legislative Update presentation on Tuesday, September 19, in Round Rock in conjunction with our Annual Criminal & Civil Law Conference being held that week at the Kalahari Resort and Convention Center. Again, check our Training webpage for the latest information. Registration for that course will be online.

We are also taking online pre-orders for all of our updated code books which will be shipped out starting in August. For information on how to order your updated books, visit our Publications webpage.

Scattershooting

Here are some recent stories you might’ve missed:

  • “Gov. Greg Abbott vetoes more than 70 bills amid property tax impasse” (Texas Tribune)
  • “‘Tranq’ Complicates Recovery For Drug Users Seeking Help” (Wall Street Journal)
  •  “Hispanics officially make up the biggest share of Texas’ population, new census numbers show” (Texas Tribune)
  • “Ethics rules waived for Texas AG lawyers defending boss, Ken Paxton, in impeachment trial” (Dallas Morning News)
  • “SB 12 Criminalizes Private, Non-Commercial ‘Sexually Oriented Performances’—Even in a Home” (TCJL Blog)

Quotes of the Week

“Meth is eating everybody’s lunch and nobody’s talking about it. Meth is crawling up on everybody. Meth fatalities are way up even if you look at the Texas numbers.”
            —Peter Stout, president and CEO of the Houston Forensic Science Center, as quoted in a Texas Tribune story about the impact of fentanyl deaths upon perceptions of drug use in Texas.

“Right now, we have about six weeks to pass a bill to get it on the November ballot.”
            —Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-Houston), pointing out this week that both the House and Senate’s dueling tax reform plans need to amend the state constitution, which requires voter approval, and that logistical process must be initiated about 90 days before such an election.

“I think it may be a long, hot summer in Austin for legislators, because the two sides are just not budging at all.”
            —Scott Braddock, editor of the Quorum Report, critiquing the governor’s strategy of vetoing unrelated (mostly Senate) bills to force the legislature to pass his preferred solution for property tax reform.

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