Who must call a special session of the Texas legislature?

The third special session of the Texas Legislature came to a close early Tuesday morning with lawmakers delivering on six of the 10 tasks assigned to them by Gov. Greg Abbott, including newly drawn political maps that could cement Republican power for the next decade.

Republicans also passed a law to limit the participation of transgender athletes in public school sports, an effort led by religious conservatives that galvanized opposition from transgender Texans and their loved ones.

But several of Abbott's big-ticket priorities floundered.

Lawmakers did not prohibit COVID-19 vaccine mandates by Texas businesses or governments.

Nor did they grant the governor's request to return several voting offenses to felonies after the crimes were reduced to misdemeanors in the second special session — a change made with a House amendment to a sweeping elections bill. 

Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxon said they didn't notice the change until after senators voted to accept the revised bill and Abbott signed the elections measure into law during a celebration with supporters.

The Senate, led by Patrick, quickly passed the requested bill on a party-line vote. But House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, declared the matter dead on arrival in the House, saying the amendment by a GOP representative was among several thoughtful changes made to the elections bill. 

More:Texas Senate begins work on election audit, voting felony bills

Another Abbott priority that was passed by the Senate but died in the House was a proposed amendment to the Texas Constitution that would have let judges deny bail to defendants facing charges for violent or sexual offenses.

Senate Joint Resolution 1 fell short of the 100 votes needed in the House with a 75-38 vote amid opposition from Democrats who feared its impact on nonwhite defendants.

Late scramble in early morning

It took a late scramble to meet Abbott's call for property tax relief.

Efforts had bogged down in a stalemate between the House and Senate over differing priorities before a late breakthrough emerged, prompting a bill that was filed Monday afternoon and rushed through both chambers with unanimous support.

The result was a proposal to amend the Texas Constitution that would raise the homestead exemption on school property taxes to $40,000, up from $25,000, per home. If the amendment is approved by voters in May 2022, a homeowner would save $176 a year beginning in 2022, said Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston.

School districts would be reimbursed for any lost revenue out of the state treasury at a cost of about $660 million per year, he said.

More:Gov. Greg Abbott orders third special session to address redistricting, vaccine mandates

The third special session ended at 12:50 a.m. Tuesday — an event that was greeted with applause and whoops of joy in the House, coming 10 months after the 140-day regular session convened in January, followed by three 30-day special sessions that began in July, August and September.

"We're all very tired," Phelan said. "I know we miss our families, our communities and our jobs, and we all look forward to getting back to them very, very soon."

Phelan then reminded House members that bill filing for the 2023 legislative session begins in 13 months. "That's not what you want to hear, right?" he said. "God bless you all. God bless the great state of Texas."

Patrick thanked senators and Senate employees for their hard work and sacrifice. "Have a great summer, except it's already gone. So have a great Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up," he said.

Abbott proclaimed himself pleased with the results and thanked lawmakers for their work.

"Because of their efforts, the future of Texas is stronger, safer and freer," he said. 

5 agenda items to start

Abbott had started the third special session with five tasks for lawmakers.

The biggest, most time-consuming effort was redrawing political districts for Congress, the Texas House, the Texas Senate and State Board of Education — a constitutionally required task that was delayed by late numbers from the 2020 census.

Democrats complained that the maps were drawn not only to help increase the number of Republican elected officials, but to limit the voting strength of nonwhite Texans who fueled the vast majority of the state's population growth in the past decade.

Republicans countered that race was not considered at all in drawing the district boundaries, but the first of several expected federal lawsuits was filed Monday to overturn the maps as discriminatory.

Abbott's first five items also included a request to limit or ban vaccine mandates by cities and counties, but he expanded that priority on Oct. 11 by asking for a law that also would prohibit businesses from requiring vaccines — the same day he issued an executive order prohibiting any Texas entity from requiring that employees or customers receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

That executive order would expire when Abbott stops renewing his disaster declaration related to the pandemic.

More:Gov. Abbott issues executive order banning vaccine mandates by private entities

Only the Senate, however, took any action on a vaccine mandate bill by holding a public hearing in a committee, but the measure did not get a floor vote after business leaders expressed deep reservations about the scope of the measure.

Agenda continues to expand

At Patrick's urging, Abbott late in the session called on lawmakers to "improve higher education in Texas."

That led to Senate Bill 52, which sought to authorize more than $3 billion in tuition revenue bonds to build research buildings, health facilities and other projects at public universities and health institutions across the state.

House members and senators took different paths on the bonds before coming to an agreement shortly before the session ended.

Lawmakers also agreed on a massive spending bill to allocate about $13 billion in federal coronavirus relief dollars toward state hospitals, the tourism industry and other government entities that have faced financial difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

An additional $3 billion in federal relief available to the state was earmarked for the property tax relief measure that was overhauled late Monday.

Another compromise that emerged Monday was SB 5, legislation to protect dogs from dangerous restraints and shelter conditions. The final version of the bill removed an amendment added by the House that would have allowed chains to be used under certain conditions.

SB 5 prohibits tethering unattended dogs outdoors without certain protections and bans restrictive restraints.

Abbott vetoed a similar bill in June, saying it would micromanage dog owners. After animal lovers protested, he asked the Legislature to revisit the issue during the session.

Trump weighs in, to no avail

The third special session also grabbed the attention of former President Donald Trump — who continues to push the unfounded claim that widespread voter fraud cost him the 2020 election — because of a GOP bill that would have allowed audits of 2020 ballots.

SB 47 would have let state and county leaders of the two major political parties pursue audits of 2020 election results in individual counties. It also created a process to audit future elections.

Trump quickly endorsed the measure.

"Texas will always be red, but we must stop the cheating," Trump said. "Passing the audit bill will be a Big Win for Texas!"

Led by Patrick, an ardent Trump supporter, the Senate passed the bill, even though election audits had not been added to the special session agenda by Abbott.

Trump, who has endorsed Abbott, expressed confidence that the governor would "follow suit," but Abbott did not add the issue to the session agenda, and SB 47 went nowhere in the House.

More:State lawmakers try to pass bill limiting dog restraints for 2nd time

That didn't sit well with Trump, who threatened to find a primary opponent for Phelan, dismissing him as a Republican in name only.

"Texans are tired of Phelan’s weak RINO leadership in the State House. Texas is a very red state, even more than people know," the former president said.

Phelan, who has received strong support in his Beaumont-based district, stayed mum. He has only faced one GOP primary opponent, winning with 60% of the vote in 2014, when he was elected to his first term in the House.

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