Good morning –

Special sessions of the Texas Legislature usually don’t feel special. But with the agenda set yesterday by Gov. Greg Abbott, the special session starting today might actually live up to the hype.

Here is the Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, July 8, 2021
Modify your email preferences.

A Very Special Session?

• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has finally announced the agenda for his first called (special) session of the 87th Legislature. While the governor had previously said he would announce items only one at a time, he instead yesterday set forth a dozen items for lawmakers to take up in the next 30 days.
      
• Brandon Waltens has the story. (Check out the conversation Brandon recorded yesterday with Jeramy Kitchen for a breakdown of the issues and how they died in the regular session.)
      
• Lawmakers and their staff, no doubt, were excited to see “providing appropriations to the Legislature and legislative agencies in Article X of the General Appropriations Act” listed prominently on the call, given his veto of their funding a month ago.
     
• The governor’s list includes expected items – such as election integrity and bail reform – but also a couple surprises, like property tax relief out of available revenues (rather than through tax swaps), and making a “one-time supplemental payment of benefits” to retired teachers.
   
• While some of the agenda points are broad, others are very specific: “Legislation identical to Senate Bill 29 as passed by the Texas Senate … disallowing a student from competing in University Interscholastic League athletic competitions designated for the sex opposite to the student’s sex at birth.”  
       
• Curiously absent from the governor’s agenda: a ban on taxpayer-funded lobbying and banning the medical gender modification of children.

• The items placed on the call by Gov. Abbott can be thought of as the “primary effect” – which is to say, how the coming contested primary is impacting the governor’s actions.
      
• The items on the call read like a laundry list of what the Texas Senate under Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has actually done… and what the Texas House under Speaker Dade Phelan failed to do.

Power Play

• Three weeks after Gov. Abbott was publicly taken to task for claiming Texas’ power grid was in “better” shape than ever—despite evidence to the contrary—he has directed a shift in policy away from green energy. However, as Robert Montoya reports, the governor didn’t put energy on the agenda in the upcoming special session of the Texas Legislature.
   
• Instead, Gov. Abbott is trusting ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) to make improvements to the power grid operations.
   
• Yes, the same ERCOT responsible for the deadly power outages in February.

Win For Faith

• Following a national backlash, Joe Biden’s Internal Revenue Service is reversing course. The IRS originally blocked the tax-exempt status of Christians Engaged on the grounds that “[B]ible teachings are typically affiliated with the [Republican] party and candidates.” 
   
• Jacob Asmussen reports the IRS has backed down from their position and granted the status.

Don’t Come Knocking

• Joe Biden said the government needs to “go community-by-community, neighborhood-by-neighborhood, and oftentimes door-to-door, literally knocking on doors" to get people vaccinated. Robert Montoya has reactions from our fellow Texans.
   
• Suggestion: don’t come knocking on my door wielding a pointy object.

REAL Conservative Leaders

• Politicians do enough back-slapping to power a city, which is why Texas Scorecard is honored to present the annual Texas Conservative Leader Awards. This is where grassroots activists are honored for their work in building a better Texas. 
   
• The dinner will be held on Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021, in Irving, Texas. Get your early-bird discounted tickets now!
   
• More importantly… do you know someone who should be honored as a Texas Conservative Leader? Nominate them today.

Your Federal & State Lawmakers