Thursday, June 27, 2013

From the Texas Tribune: Rick Perry Calls Second Special Session

No big surprise after the recent successful filibuster:


Hours after Democrats won a rare victory by blocking a restrictive abortion bill, Republican Gov. Rick Perry called a second special session to take up the issue again.

Perry also put transportation funding and a juvenile justice measure on the agenda for the session, which is set to begin July 1.

“I am calling the Legislature back into session because too much important work remains undone for the people of Texas. Through their duly elected representatives, the citizens of our state have made crystal clear their priorities for our great state," Perry said. "Texans value life and want to protect women and the unborn. Texans want a transportation system that keeps them moving. Texans want a court system that is fair and just. We will not allow the breakdown of decorum and decency to prevent us from doing what the people of this state hired us to do."
The governor had been almost universally urged by conservative grassroots activists and Republican lawmakers to call a new session after Democrats, with the help of boisterous activists in the Senate gallery, killed abortion restrictions in the final seconds of the first special session, which ended in chaos Tuesday night.

What's not immediately clear is if Perry will make good on his vow earlier to make a decision about his own political future by July 1. Now that there's a new session about to start, he might choose to delay an announcement so that he won't be considered a lame duck while legislation is being debated.