AUSTIN, Texas — Memorial Day marked the end of the 88th Texas regular legislative session. It's been a wild more than four months as some bills have moved their way to the governor's desk, and some, not so much.
With the end of the regular session, there are some bills that didn't quite make it through to Gov. Greg Abbott's desk as some politicians planned.
Three big topics that never made their way to the governor's desk are school vouchers, bail reform and property taxes. Late Monday night, Abbott called a special session to focus on property tax cuts and border security. School vouchers and bail reform could be next.
As the regular session ended, House Speaker Dade Phelan told representatives to not pack their bags quite yet, as he expected the decision for special sessions to come from the governor late Monday or early Tuesday morning, with items still needing to be decided on. After Abbott's announcement on Monday night, Phelan said the House would convene at 12 p.m. on Tuesday.
One item that failed to make it to Abbott's desk involved what the governor called "revolving door bail." In his State of the State address, he said it allows dangerous criminals back out on the streets.
"Harris County's revolving bail practice is literally killing people," Abbott said at the time.
But SJR 44, a constitutional amendment that would've addressed bail reform, stalled in the House.
Another issue this session was school vouchers. The Senate attached vouchers to House Bill 100, which also dealt with teacher raises and public school funding. Educators fought against tying those issues together.
"They need to hear that Texans want real pay raises for teachers and real investments in our public schools that are not attached to vouchers," said Christy Rome, executive director for the Texas School Coalition.
One of the hottest topics this session was property tax relief for Texans, after the governor promised to deliver one of the largest property tax cuts in the state's history.
"Hardworking Texans produced the largest budget surplus in Texas history. That money belongs to you, the taxpayers," Abbott said.
But even on the final day of the session, the House and Senate were sparring about the specifics and numbers attached to property tax relief.
"We have some unfinished business that we hope to wrap up if our friends in the Senate would want to work with us," Phelan said.
Facing off in the chambers and on social media, the lieutenant governor said he wanted the governor to call a special session to get it done.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick also asked Abbott 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.
The governor sets the topics special sessions, and those sessions are all a maximum of 30 days long.