Good morning,

Should lawmakers be called back for a special session? That is the subject of today’s One Click Survey.

First, here is the Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Wednesday, June 2, 2021
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• Baseball legend Babe Ruth once said, “You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.” State Sen. Kelly Hancock (R-North Richland Hills) proved that to be true.
     
• Taxpayers got an unexpected win this legislative session, thanks to Sen. Hancock’s diligence. For several sessions running he has promoted legislation tightening the state’s metric for limiting the growth of government. With passage of Senate Bill 1336 by both chambers, that effort is now just a signature from Gov. Abbott away. Brandon Waltens has more.
     
• By limiting how much government spending can grow, there would theoretically be more dollars available for lawmakers to reduce the state-levied tax burden or the portion of the property tax burden that is driven by state policy: the school tax.
     
• SB 1336 does not apply to all state spending, but it does represent a strong step in the right direction. It won’t take effect until the budget that will be built and adopted in 2022, for the Fiscal Year 2023-24 biennium. And the devil will always be in the details of how lawmakers count money, push off expenses, and use other budget gimmicks.
     
• With the adoption of SB 1336, taxpayers can and should more forcefully demand real, meaningful and substantive tax relief. 

• Amid a slew of threats to our state’s power grid, lawmakers took action to protect against hostile countries. Jacob Asmussen reports a law passed by both chambers and awaiting approval from Gov. Abbott forbids Texas businesses and government officials from making infrastructure agreements with certain foreign countries. The measure also denies them control or access (direct or remote) to any of the state’s core systems.
      
• “Access to critical infrastructure within the State of Texas should not be open to companies owned and controlled by the governments of aggressor nations.” – State Sen. Donna Campbell (R–New Braunfels), author of the Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act

• Gov. Abbott will also have to decide the fate of legislation banning “vaccine passports” in the Lone Star State. Robert Montoya has the details.

• Land Commissioner George P. Bush (R) is having a party in Austin tonight where he will announce which office he’s running for in 2022. Several months ago he seemed likely to run for lieutenant governor, challenging incumbent Dan Patrick (R). In recent months, though, Bush has been a vocal critic of Attorney General Ken Paxton (R).
     
• If all this feels a bit familiar, it is because Commissioner Bush is a big fan of the political guessing game. Prior to running for Land Commissioner in 2014, Mr. Bush embarked on a publicity campaign running only for “a” statewide office. 
       
• Back then he was known only as the son of a Florida governor, and the nephew and grandson of two former presidents. Now, however, he is known as the Land Commissioner who presided over the Alamo debacle. Republican primary voters will decide in 2022 if they want to promote him to whatever office he ends up seeking.
   
• I guess it is possible Mr. Bush will announce for re-election to Land Commissioner? To quote George P.’s dad, Jeb: “Please clap.”

• With so many high-visibility issues either killed or left undone, some lawmakers – and their apologists – are quietly telling people that they just ran of out of time. So, did they? Jeramy Kitchen fact-checks their claim.

ONE CLICK SURVEY

Most of the priorities of the Republican Party of Texas were either outright killed or left undone by the GOP-dominated 87th Legislature in the now-concluded regular session. There are already plans for a special legislative session in October to address congressional redistricting.

Should those GOP-favored items be the subject of an earlier special session, left until October, or just wait until the 2023 regular legislative session?

Once you’ve clicked an answer, reply to this email with any thoughts you’d like to share!