(The Center Square) – After the Texas House passed a Congressional redistricting bill Wednesday, Gov. Greg Abbott announced that he was adding new legislation to the call for the second special legislative session.
Abbott sent a message to the Texas legislature expanding the second special session agenda that he first called on Friday.
Abbott called the first special session in July, which was derailed by more than 50 absconding House Democrats. He then called the second special session.
Within days of the second special session beginning, the Texas Senate passed all bills on the call except for four, The Center Square reported. On Wednesday, the Texas House passed the redistricting bill that Democrats had tried to stop by fleeing the state.
Prior to doing so, state Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, filed a bill to remove lawmakers from office who are absent without leave for seven days, The Center Square reported. He filed it in both the first and second special sessions, saying, “Texans deserve lawmakers who show up.” The bill would “vacate the seat of any legislator who skips 7 straight legislative days without an excused absence. If you abandon your job, you don’t deserve the title.”
On Wednesday, Abbott added three additional bills to the call, including a bill to impose penalties or punishments for legislators who are willfully absent during a legislative session.
Abbott said he was “expanding the agenda for the second special session to include important issues that will benefit Texas. First, we need to ensure that rogue lawmakers cannot hijack the important business of Texans during a legislative session by fleeing the state.”
After the Texas House passed the redistricting bill, Abbott also congratulated House Speaker Dustin Burrows and House Republicans for passing it. He said the new maps will “better reflect the actual votes of Texans. While Democrats shirked their duty, in futility, and ran away to other states, Republicans stayed the course, stayed at work and stayed true to Texas. I will sign this bill once it passes the Senate and gets to my desk.”
Abbott also added two other bills to the second special session call. He added a bill Burrows identified last Friday as a priority for the special session. Burrows added HB 25, filed by state Rep. Joanne Shofner, R-Nacogdoches, to his legislative agenda. The bill would legalize the sale of over-the-counter Ivermectin, The Center Square reported.
A few days after Burrows added it, Abbott added it to the special session agenda, saying, “Texans should have increased access to the benefits of Ivermectin.” The call states that the legislature should consider “legislation to authorize a person to purchase Ivermectin at a pharmacy.”
He also added legislation to the call related to a Texas Water Development Board groundwater study of East Texas aquifers. The bill would require the study to be conducted prior to certain groundwater conservation districts issuing permits or permit amendments. “We need to ensure appropriate studies are conducted to protect the health of East Texas aquifers,” Abbott said.
Burrows has said he hopes to move through all the bills on the call in order to end the special session by Labor Day weekend.
