Governor Greg Abbott, together with Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and Speaker of the House Rep. Dennis Bonnen, held a joint news conference Wednesday on the front lawn of the Governor's Mansion.
"We're here today to send a very strong, profound and unequivocal message that the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Speaker are working in collaboration together on a very bold agenda I think will be transformative to the State of Texas," Gov. Abbott said.
"I don't know, you'll have to do the fact checking, in modern history or in history, if this has ever happened before," Lt. Gov. Patrick said.
At the top of that bold agenda is fixing school finance.
"The issue of school finance is the issue of this session," Speaker Bonnen said.
All three want to pay teachers more and change recapture -- also known as 'Robin Hood' -- which is the law that requires school districts send money they collect in property taxes to the state to be redistributed to poorer districts.
All three also talked about property tax reform -- and that's where the chambers really disagree. Both the House and Senate passed bills during the 2017 legislative session to decrease the rollback rate, which is how much cities and counties can increase your property taxes without an election.
Currently, the rollback rate is eight percent. The House approved changing it to six percent; the Senate to four percent. By the end of the session and special session, the two chambers couldn't agree on a number, so nothing changed.
And while on the campaign trail and after being reelected, the Governor has said he supports two-and-a-half percent.
"We don't know what the finals bills are going to look like, the specifics aren't written, that's what the members do, that's what the Legislature's for, that's what public testimony is for, to come in and work through these issues," Lt. Gov. Patrick said. "But everyone in Texas knows that we must reduce property taxes, teachers deserve more money and we have to address school finance."
Patrick also addressed the fact that he missed the opening day of the session to attend a meeting in Washington D.C. on border security.
"It was a very late ask and it was a tough judgment call, but when the White House calls, you respond," Lt. Gov. Patrick said.
And as for the rumors that he could leave Texas to join President Donald Trump, who he campaigned for, Lt. Gov. Patrick said that won't happen.
"I'm not going anywhere. I'm the Lieutenant Governor of Texas as long as I can be," he told reporters.