AUSTIN, Texas — As soon as the 88th Texas regular legislative session ended, Gov. Greg Abbott called for a special session to address property tax cuts and border security.
Abbott said he would be signing several laws that came out of the regular session, including banning gender-affirming health care for minors, banning DEI offices at public universities and requiring armed security at all Texas public schools.
“Despite these major achievements, more must be done for the people of Texas,” Abbott said in a press release. “Many critical items remain that must be passed. Several special sessions will be required. To ensure that each priority receives the time and attention it deserves to pass into law, only a few will be added each session.”
Session No. 1, which began at 9 p.m. on Monday night, will focus only on cutting property taxes and “cracking down on illegal human smuggling,” according to the governor.
“We must cut property taxes,” Abbott said. “During the regular session, we added $17.6 billion to cut property taxes. However, the Legislature could not agree on how to allocate funds to accomplish this goal. Texans want and need a path towards eliminating property taxes. The best way to do that is to direct property tax reduction dollars to cut school property tax rates.”
Ahead of the regular session, the governor had promised to deliver one of the largest property tax cuts in the state's history. But even in the final day of the session, the House and Senate were sparring about the specifics and numbers attached to property tax relief.
Abbott supports a proposal to reduce the school district maximum compressed tax rate to bring down property taxes.
As for addressing border security, the governor said the first special session will focus on legislation “increasing or enhancing the penalties for certain criminal conduct involving the smuggling of persons or the operation of a stash house.”
The governor sets the topics for special sessions, and those sessions are all a maximum of 30 days long.
The lieutenant governor also asked the governor to call a special session to address raising teacher pay, creating a mandatory minimum 10-year prison sentence for crimes involving guns and ending countywide polling places.
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan said the House of Representatives will convene at 12 p.m. on Tuesday for the special session.