(The Center Square) – Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced additional legislative priorities for the Texas Senate to pass.
Initially, Patrick announced 25 legislative priorities, saying he would later announce additional priorities to make a total of 40, which he did on Thursday.
“The Texas Senate has started the 89th regular legislative session at breakneck pace,” he said, already passing 25% of the first batch of legislative priority bills, including many that passed unanimously, The Center Square reported.
They include a school choice bill creating Texas’ first Education Savings Account program; a property tax reform bill; creating a $3 billion taxpayer-funded institute for dementia; bail reform; stopping AI-generated child pornography; creating Texas’ first cryptocurrency reserve; “Making Texas Healthy Again;” increasing teacher pay; and banning lottery couriers after the state failed to prevent an alleged combined more than $200 million stolen from those who participated in the state lottery system.
“We are moving rapidly to ensure all these bills, which reflect the will of the conservative majority of Texans, have ample time to pass the Texas House and arrive at Gov. [Greg] Abbott’s desk to be signed into law,” Patrick said. “This session has started out with a hopeful working relationship with Speaker [Dustin] Burrows. Working together with the House, this could be the best session ever for all Texans and especially for conservatives.”
On Thursday, Patrick announced the second round of his top 40 priority bills, Senate Bills 26 through 40. Three of them, SBs 26, 28, and 40, already passed.
The bills include:
SB 26, Increasing Teacher Pay;SB 27, Establishing a Teacher Bill of Rights;SB 28, Banning Lottery Couriers;SB 29, Incorporate Texas!;SB 30, Curbing Nuclear Verdicts;SB 31, Life of the Mother Act;SB 32, Business Tax Relief;SB 33, Stopping Taxpayer-Funded Abortion Travel;SB 34, Wildfire Response;SB 35, Competing for Quality Roads;SB 36, Establishing a Homeland Security Division within DPS;SB 37, Reforming Faculty Senates;SB 38, Stopping Squatters;SB 39, Protecting Texas Trucking;SB 40, Bail Reform.
Patrick also notes that “just because a bill is not included in my top 40 priorities does not mean it is not a priority for me or the Senate. Hundreds of bills will pass the Senate this session, all of which are important to Texans statewide. Many other priorities are also included in our state budget, such as border security, hiring more Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers and enhancing statewide disaster relief.”
Burrows also announced legislative priorities. The House has yet to vote on them.
“The Texas Senate is the finest, most deliberative legislative body in America. Texans, and especially conservatives, can count on us to lead the charge by passing our bold, conservative agenda to keep Texas strong,” Patrick said, adding that the goal of the Senate is to have “all 40 of my, the senators’, and the people’s priority bills passed by mid-April.”
The regular legislative session meets every other year for 140 days, according to the state constitution. If the governor’s legislative priorities and emergency items don’t pass during the regular legislative session, the governor may call a special session for both chambers to convene to address them.
