Session’s first bills near passage
But most of governor’s priorities still struggling as deadline looms
AUSTIN — Entering the final week of the 30day special legislative session, Texas House and Senate members Thursday were on the verge of sending the governor the first set of bills he can sign — but are running out of time to send him more.
Aides to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said the governor was keeping the pressure on to get as many of his priorities approved as possible before adjournment next Wednesday.
However, most measures on the governor’s 20-point priority list are struggling. Some have simply failed to advance through the legislative process. Others are in jeopardy because major differences remain between the House and Senate versions.
The first bills likely to land on the governor’s desk are arguably the most important. House members voted Thursday to approve a pair of bills that will continue and fund operations for the Texas Medical Board and four other agencies
that oversee therapists and medical professionals past their Sept. 1 expiration date.
The so-called “sunset legislation” failed to pass during the regular legislative session, requiring lawmakers to return to the Capitol for the special session. Although the bills are not controversial, the legislation moved slowly in both chambers until this week. Senate Bills 20 and 60 are expected to pass the House on final reading Friday, handing the governor his first wins of the special session that is expected to adjourn Wednesday.
Also still making progress among Abbott’s priorities are bills regulating end-of-life decisions and changing the state’s annexation rules.
Another area in which agreements appear possible is abortion-related legislation. In fact, by the end of the weekend, two abortion-related bills could be among the next set of bills on Abbott’s priority list to make it to his desk for his signature.
One measure — House Bill 13, requiring stricter reporting requirements for doctors when they have complications while performing abortions — has passed the House and is to be debated by the Senate as early as Friday.
And another, which would block private insurance policies and those offered under the Affordable Care Act from including abortion coverage except under supplemental policies, has already passed both the House and the Senate. The Senate is expected to review the House version — HB 214 — at a committee hearing on Friday and have it up for discussion in the Senate over the weekend or early next week.
If the Senate doesn’t change the House version, it can be set for final passage and sent on to the governor.
“I really didn’t know how the House would treat this legislation,” said Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, who sponsored the Senate version of the insurance coverage legislation. “I’m very pleased with the package of bills that are advancing.”
During the regular session, the Senate passed similar legislation, but it didn’t make it through the House. Creighton said that had him thinking his bill was one of those most at risk of failing during the special session. Instead, Texas is close to joining 26 other states that bar insurance policies from the Affordable Care Act exchanges from covering abortions. To get that coverage, Texans would have to purchase supplemental policies. Just 10 other states block all private insurance plans from covering abortions.
Creighton said his legislation helps prevent taxpayers who oppose abortion rights from having to subsidize the procedure either through Obamacare or through private insurance pools.
The House plans to take up one of the governor’s priority bills Friday to give residents veto power over a city’s move to annex its community. The bill would curb power of local governments to scoop up land outside their growing cities without residents’ consent, allowing voters to defeat the proposed annexations through referendums.
But the House and Senate plans differ, which means the bill — should it pass the House — could still die before the special session is over.
Also making its way through the House is Senate Bill 11, which would bar doctors and medical facilities from applying a do-notre-suscitate order unless patients are notified in writing. If a patient is not conscious or competent, the patient’s power of attorney, legal guardian or family member must be notified. Currently Texas law does not require patient or family consent prior to execution of a DNR order.
Long tied up in committee, the bill advanced out of committee Thursday and is expected to surface for a floor vote.
Most measures taken up in the special session by both chambers differ from one another.
One such bill is Senate Bill 1, a property tax reform bill high on the governor’s priority list. The House plans to debate that bill on the floor Saturday, although it backed off its plan to freeze the bill in its current form.
House leadership originally planned to ban amendments to the bill, which allows voters to block cities and counties from raising effective tax rates above a 6 percent threshold via a referendum. The Senate wants to set that trigger at 4 percent. Currently, voters can petition for a rollback election if their municipality raises their effective tax rate higher than 8 percent.
Members of the House Freedom Caucus — about a dozen tea party Republicans — had threatened to fight the rule blocking changes to the bill earlier in the week, increasing tensions over the fate of the governor’s conservative agenda. Other members said they favored the amendment ban because they want the bill unchanged.
Chairman Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, said Thursday House members pushed back against the Calendar Committee’s plan to block amendments to Senate Bill 1 and decided he would abandon that rule.