Good morning, 

This is the Texas Minute for Wednesday, July 16, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Special Session Agenda Revives Democrats' Quorum-Busting Talk

• With Gov. Greg Abbott calling lawmakers into a special session next week with an agenda stacked with GOP priorities and focused on congressional redistricting, Democrats are publicly plotting another quorum break. Brandon Waltens has the details.
       
• President Donald Trump has told members of Congress and the media that he wants to see five new Republican seats emerge from the special session. Of Texas' 38 congressional districts, 25 are currently drawn to produce Republican winners. Nationally, Democrats are calling on their Texas lawmakers to bust the state's constitutionally defined quorum. 
      
• Special sessions on congressional redistricting sparked an infamous Democrat quorum-bust in 2003. More recently, in 2021, Democrats fled the state over election integrity legislation. Nearly 60 of them chartered private planes to Washington, D.C., bringing legislative business to a halt for 38 days. There were virtually no consequences; the quorum-busters continued collecting their pay and retained their committee positions.
        
• Questions are building over whether Gov. Abbott and House Speaker Dustin Burrows will implement stricter deterrents, such as declaring the seats of absent lawmakers vacant. As of publication, Abbott’s office has not responded to a request for comment.

Counties Have Exploited a ‘Disaster Loophole’ to Hike Taxes

• As Texans grapple with the devastating flood that struck the Hill Country on July 4th, killing more than 130 people, local officials have already taken steps to potentially bust taxpayer protection caps—without voter approval.
      
• Earlier this week, even as teams were searching for the dozens of people still missing, Kerr County commissioners unanimously authorized the tax assessor to calculate property tax rates using a special provision in state law that allows for a higher cap on increases in the wake of a disaster. The move doesn’t immediately raise tax bills, but it lays the groundwork for doing so.
       
• Kerr County isn’t alone. Last year, Harris County used the same disaster loophole to impose an 8 percent tax hike—more than double the typical 3.5 percent cap—citing a prior disaster declaration. The strategy has become a growing trend among local governments seeking to boost revenues without triggering a voter approval election.
      
• Legislation passed earlier this year tightens the conditions under which local governments can invoke the disaster loophole, but it does not take effect until Jan. 1, 2026.

Texas Attorney General Launches Investigation Into Potential Noncitizen Voters

• Sydnie Henry reports that an investigation has been launched into more than 100 potential noncitizens accused of casting over 200 ballots during the 2020 and 2022 election cycles. 
     
• The majority of the suspected illegal votes are concentrated in Harris County, Texas’s most populous county. Additional instances are reportedly under investigation in Guadalupe, Cameron, and Eastland counties.
   
• "Illegal aliens and foreign nationals must not be allowed to influence Texas elections by casting illegal ballots with impunity. I will not allow it to continue." – Attorney General Ken Paxton

Texas Supreme Court Overturns $90 Million Lawsuit in Favor of Trucking Company

• Texas’ Supreme Court has overturned a jury verdict that awarded $90 million to a family that was injured after their F-150 truck crossed a median and hit an 18-wheeler. Travis Morgan explains the case and the ruling.
      
• In December 2014, Trey Salinas drove his pickup truck on I-20 near Odessa with Jennifer Blake and her three children in the vehicle. Icy conditions caused the vehicle to lose control, cross the median, and collide with a semi-truck from Werner Enterprises. One of Blake’s children died and others were severely injured. The family sued the company and the driver of the 18-wheeler.
       
• A jury awarded the family nearly $90 million. But late last month, the Texas Supreme Court overturned the award. Justices found that it was not the company's fault, nor that of the commercial driver, that the vehicle the Blake family was in crossed the median and hit the 18-wheeler.
          
• Before the Supreme Court's action, the case had been the prime exhibit in a legislative effort to fundamentally alter liability cases involving commercial trucking accidents. To the chagrin of lobbyists, the legislation failed to advance. One of the opponents was State Rep. Mitch Little (R-Lewisville), who said the Supreme Court ruling proves the "system works without rigging it."

City of Austin Unveils Another Record-Setting Budget

• A politically created affordability crisis in Texas’ capital city is poised to worsen, even as the Texas Legislature is set to address local government spending statewide. Adam Cahn reports that Austin’s city manager released a $6.3 billion budget proposal.
     
• This represents a nearly seven percent increase from last year’s budget, and a nearly 15 percent spending increase from 2023.
      
• As proposed, Austin would spend $51 million for vagrancy services, a 42 percent increase from the last budget. The proposal also includes significant increases in various race-based programs, including a nearly 40 percent increase for the “Office of Equity and Inclusion.”
      
• Meanwhile, the proposal includes a cut to the Austin Police Department’s overtime budget.

County Official Disputes $1 Billion Flood Bond Discrepancies

• Joseph Trimmer reports that a Harris County official is pushing back against reports of a $1 billion discrepancy in flood bond funds. Emily Woodell, Chief External Affairs Officer for the Harris County Flood Control District, emphasized that a thorough review reported no errors in the underlying data, attributing initial concerns to a simple data export glitch.

Democrat Senator Launches Bid for A.G.

• State Sen. Nathan Johnson of Dallas announced that he is running for Texas attorney general, making him the first Democrat to officially enter the race for the open statewide seat. Democrats have not won a statewide election in Texas since 1994.
     
• Johnson was first elected to the Texas Senate in 2018, defeating Republican State Sen. Don Huffines. As you know, Huffines is also a candidate for statewide office in 2026—seeking to be the next comptroller.
      
• Three Republicans are already in the race for their party's A.G. nomination: State Sens. Mayes Middleton and Joan Huffman, along with former Department of Justice official Aaron Reitz.

Support Texas Scorecard!

Will you make a special, tax-deductible contribution to support the mission and work of Texas Scorecard? We don’t take government grants or corporate sponsorships, and we don’t put our content behind a paywall. Your support makes Texas Scorecard possible!

Quote-Unquote

"If there is one thing that is bipartisan in Washington, it is brazen hypocrisy."

– Thomas Sowell​

Directory of Your Current U.S. & Texas Lawmakers

This information is automatically inserted based on the mailing address you provide to us. If you'd like to update your contact information, please visit our subscriber portal.