Survey: Legislative support spotty for Abbott agenda,

Survey: Abbott lacks needed support on some agenda items.

Over two and half weeks, the American-Statesman attempted to reach every Texas House member on where they stand on Gov. Greg Abbott’s special session agenda. Forty-seven of 150 legislators responded — a figure too small to reach broad conclusions about whether there is enough support for all 20 items — but the answers show that Republicans are not in lock step with Abbott.

The survey responses show there is not uniform Republican support on 17 of the agenda items.

The responses suggest that the governor has yet to win over at least some Republicans, who hold a big majority of House seats and will determine which measures succeed.

The Republican battle lines drawn during the regular session appear to remain as the special session gets under way Tuesday, based on interviews and public comments since Abbott called last month for passage of a sweeping, conservative agenda.

Of 15 Republicans who responded to whether they support offering public money for special needs students to attend private schools, five said they opposed such a measure. During the regular legislative session that ended in May, the Texas House voted twice against such a system, referred to as school choice by supporters and vouchers by opponents.

“While public schools have room for improvement, they are doing a good job,” said Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston, who said he would vote against a measure diverting public money to private schools.

State Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress, said he would be in favor as long as there was an “equal playing field” between public and private schools.

“If we are giving state dollars out, then private school environment has to have the same accountability,” he said.

Three of 15 Republicans said they opposed a bill regulating public bathroom use by transgender people and another Republican called it a non-issue.

“I am concerned about women’s and children’s privacy and safety, while ensuring that the safety and dignity of students identifying as transgender is also preserved,” said Rep. Jason Isaac, R-Dripping Springs, who added that he was in favor of a bathroom bill but had concerns.

The debate over transgender bathrooms was among the most divisive during the regular session. The House passed a bill that would have restricted transgender bathrooms in schools but Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Texas Senate, said the House bill didn’t go far enough and no bathroom bill passed.

House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, is seen by Patrick as the main hurdle in the House to passing several of the hot-button bills that sailed through the Senate. Straus reiterated his position last month, two weeks after the close of the regular session, that he thought spending state money for private school tuition and restricting bathroom use were misguided.

Last week, state Rep. Byron Cook, a Corsicana Republican and Straus ally, said he too opposed a broad bathroom bill.

”I do not condone duplicitous grandstanding on this issue and/or discriminatory legislation; nor do I support laws that will adversely affect our state’s economy,” Cook said in a statement to constituents.

The Texas Association of Business, typically allied with Republicans, has opposed bathroom legislation since the start of the regular session, saying it could lead to boycotts and hamper economic development efforts.

Neither Straus nor Cook participated in the survey.

Democrats support just two of the measures in large numbers, according to the survey. They are: keeping five state agencies operating and extending the work of a task force that is examining Texas’ high maternal mortality rate.