On July 10, Governor Greg Abbott issued a proclamation calling the 85th Texas Legislature for a special session. Only issues specifically listed by Governor Abbott will be considered "in order" for consideration.

For the first week, Texas lawmakers will consider sunset legislation for the Texas Medical Board, the State Board of Examiners of Psychologists, the State Board of Examiners of Marriage and Family Therapists, the State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors, and the State Board of Social Worker Examiners. Failure to pass sunset legislation which needs the Governor's signature will cause these agencies to close.

Once these agencies have been addressed, Texas lawmakers will focus on the additional 19 topics Governor Abbott placed on the agenda. This includes the bathroom bill, abortion legislation, teacher compensation and retention practices, school finance reform, education options for students with special needs, property tax reform, local government regulations, municipal annexation reform, protection of property rights, privacy, the collection of union dues, and mail-in ballot reforms.

The first special session cannot last more than 30 days. Texas lawmakers have currently filed 150 House bills and 30 Senate bills (and counting).

In order to ensure that Austin continues working, below are the issues we are advocating for this special session:

Speeding up local government permitting processes
The Austin Chamber Board of Directors unanimously supports expediting the local government permitting process. The City of Austin, while improving, still has an unpredictable, lengthy, costly permitting process which drives the cost of housing and commercial real estate. This threatens our affordability. During the regular legislative session, HB 4202 would have addressed the permitting process but did not pass out of the House committee. We are not sure how new legislation might fare in the special session.

School finance
The Texas Legislature uses local property tax increases to reduce the state's share of public education funding. Today, only 38 percent of public education funding comes from the Legislature and that share is dropping dramatically. Eventually, this will create a drag on Texas economic growth. For example, under current law, for the next two years, the state is projected to take $1.1 billion away from Austin ISD taxpayers. But they don’t use this to increase per pupil funding for other school districts. Instead, the money is used to reduce the state’s contribution to public schools. Every session, the Austin Chamber encourages Texas lawmakers to identify solutions that reduce their reliance on school property taxes and provide our youngest citizens with a quality education they deserve.

We will continue to advocate for this issue on behalf of our members and support the creation of a Commission on Public School Finance that focuses on:

1. How money is raised to support local public education;
2. Current state requirements expected to provide education;
3. How local school districts can provide education suitable for the high-performance economy; and
4. How the school finance system reflects the higher costs for housing and living in Texas urban areas.

Administrative flexibility in teacher hiring and retention decisions
The Austin Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors has long supported empowering superintendents with hiring and firing flexibility, the ability to set organizational goals, and flexible and differentiated pay. We will follow legislation to that end.

Bathroom bills
The Texas Governor and Legislature should be commended for refreshing the Texas Enterprise Fund which will strengthen our economy and was instrumental in Merck’s announcement to bring its IT Hub to Austin. However, Texas should not hurt our business climate by passing discriminatory "bathroom" bills.

The Chamber joined Keep Texas Open for Business, tourism and business leaders on the steps of the Texas Capitol to voice our opposition to the three discriminatory "bathroom" bills. Since 2015, the Austin Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors has consistently and unanimously opposed such legislation. This viewpoint has been communicated to our Central Texas delegation, members, and to the public via social media platforms, media coverage, and the Chamber blog. Put simply, we believe that any form of discrimination is wrong and will negatively impact Texas. You can voice your concerns about the bill here.

We will continue to keep our members updated on the progress of the special session. Sign up for the advocacy newsletter and updates here.

If you have questions regarding our state agenda, contact Dana Harris, VP of Federal and State Advocacy at 512-322-5647 or Drew Scheberle, SVP of Policy and Advocacy at 512-322-5628.