Texas Political Update October 19, 2021

While you were sleeping, the Texas Legislature adjourned from its third special session of the year just before 1am overnight after a final flurry of lawmaking over the weekend and yesterday. Here’s what did — and did not — pass:

Redistricting — Lawmakers signed off on new congressional districts that shore up the GOP’s dominance. The final version of the congressional map is headed to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature. That map was finalized days after lawmakers passed new districts for the Texas Senate, Texas House and State Board of Education. Before they’ve even been signed into law, Texas’ new maps for Congress and the statehouse are being challenged in court for allegedly discriminating against Latino voters.

COVID-19 vaccines — State lawmakers  did NOT heed Gov. Greg Abbott’s call to prohibit COVID-19 vaccine mandates by any Texas entity, including hospitals and private businesses. It’s one of only a few outstanding priorities Abbott named that did not get to the finish line. Abbott’s executive order banning the vaccine mandates, however, is still in effect.

Property tax relief — Texas voters will decide next year whether homeowners pay lower property tax bills after lawmakers fast-tracked a proposed constitutional amendment to raise the state’s homestead exemption. The measure would increase the exemption from $25,000 to $40,000 for school district property taxes, netting the average homeowner about $176 in annual savings.

Higher education — The Legislature also reached a deal early Tuesday to allocate roughly $3.3 billion for capital projects to higher education institutions across the state. That price tag went up from the Senate’s original proposal of about $3 billion after the House added more than $200 million in projects to its version of Senate Bill 52.