Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday set the date for the third special legislative session of the year, which will tackle redistricting, a ban on COVID-19 vaccine mandates, and rules governing the participation of transgender student athletes.
Lawmakers will reconvene September 20. It’s the fourth time this year for the 87th Legislature to meet, in contrast to 2019, when the 86th Legislature met only for its regular legislative session.
Abbott’s legislative wish list was mostly completed over the summer, after the legislature passed an overhaul of the bail system and an election bill. But redistricting could not have taken place earlier this year because census results came out only in August.
The legislature needs that data, which is collected only once every ten years, in order to redraw boundaries for congressional districts and state legislative and judicial districts.
Redistricting in Texas has been highly contentious in the past and even prompted a quorum break by the Democrats in 2003. At this stage it’s unclear whether Democrats might resort to that tactic again so soon after using it try to block election legislation this summer.
According to Abbott’s proclamation, the agenda for the new special session also includes Senate Bill 29, which disallows male students from participating in girls’ sports, as determined by the student’s sex assigned at birth.
SB 29 has passed the Senate but did not get out of committee in the House in the latest special session, though it was set for a floor vote in the House in the spring.
Lawmakers will also decide what to do with $16 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds that have not yet been appropriated for any purpose. And they’ll take up a bill that could prohibit government entities from mandating COVID-10 vaccines.
Finally, Abbott added a bill to the agenda that he had vetoed in the spring. SB 474 regulates the tethering of dogs outside, including the type and length of restraints, and it prohibits leaving a dog outside in subfreezing temperatures.
Abbott told lawmakers in a veto proclamation that he felt the bill was overly specific, calling it “micro-managing and over-criminalization.” In his proclamation today, he asked lawmakers to address his concerns and send back to him a new version of the same bill.
Read the Governor’s Proclamation:
