Texas Political Update October 25, 2021

Posted October 25, 2021

Last week, the 87th Texas Legislature adjourned from its third called special session after a final flurry of lawmaking on several items, including:
Redistricting — Lawmakers signed off on new Congressional, state Senate, state House, and State Board of Education (SBOE) maps that will shore up Republican dominance for much of the next decade. The final versions of maps were sent to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature, but before they’ve even been signed into law, Texas’ new maps are being challenged in court for allegedly discriminating against Latino voters.

COVID-19 vaccines — State lawmakers did NOT follow 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 across the finish line. Abbott’s executive order banning the vaccine mandates, however, is still in effect, but could also be challenged in court.

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 passed measure increases 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 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.

After the 3rd special session concluded, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick pushed for a fourth special session on two elections-related issues that did not get passed — a) to increase the penalty for illegal voting and b) approve a “forensic audit bill” that was pushed by former President Donald Trump, despite winning Texas in 2020 by more than 700,000 votes. Governor Greg Abbott’s office said another special session is not necessary for now.

Shannon Meroney

Shannon Meroney brings ten years experience as a multi-state lobbyist based primarily at the Texas Capitol and ten years of courtroom legal expertise to her dynamic government affairs consulting practice. Prior to creating Meroney Public Affairs LLC, Shannon spent six years as a Senior Government Relations Manager for Aetna, a Fortune 100 health insurance corporation with multi-state responsibility. Previous to that, she was a Partner at the Texas law firm Thompson, Coe, Cousins & Irons representing multiple corporate clients and large trade associations at the Capitol, in the courtroom and providing legal drafting and analysis expertise.