From the Office of the Texas Governor: Governor Abbott Announces Special Session Agenda

This is from July 9th. The session started on July 21st and can run no more than 30 days. 

- You might find this primer helpful: Texas Legislature 101: Understanding the state government and how it passes laws.

- Click here for the announcement.


The Special Session agenda items include:

FLOOD WARNING SYSTEMS: Legislation to improve early warning systems and other preparedness infrastructure in flood-prone areas throughout Texas.

FLOOD EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS: Legislation to strengthen emergency communications and other response infrastructure in flood-prone areas throughout Texas.

RELIEF FUNDING FOR HILL COUNTRY FLOODS: Legislation to provide relief funding for response to and recovery from the storms which began in early July 2025, including local match funding for jurisdictions eligible for FEMA public assistance.

NATURAL DISASTER PREPARATION & RECOVERY: Legislation to evaluate and streamline rules and regulations to speed preparedness for and recovery from natural disasters.

ELIMINATE STAAR TEST: Legislation to eliminate the STAAR test and replace it with effective tools to assess student progress and ensure school district accountability.

CUT PROPERTY TAXES: Legislation reducing the property tax burden on Texans and legislation imposing spending limits on entities authorized to impose property taxes.

PROTECT CHILDREN FROM THC: Legislation making it a crime to provide hemp-derived products to children under 21 years of age.

REGULATE HEMP-DERIVED PRODUCTS : Legislation to comprehensively regulate hemp-derived products, including limiting potency, restricting synthetically modified compounds, and establishing enforcement mechanisms, all without banning a lawful agricultural commodity.

PROTECT UNBORN CHILDREN: Legislation further protecting unborn children and their mothers from the harm of abortion.

BAN TAXPAYER-FUNDED LOBBYING: Legislation prohibiting taxpayer-funded lobbying, including the use of tax dollars to hire lobbyists and payment of tax dollars to associations that lobby the Legislature.

PROTECT HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIMS: Legislation, similar to Senate Bill No. 1278 from the 89th Legislature, Regular Session, that protects victims of human trafficking from criminal liability for non-violent acts closely tied to their own victimization.

POLICE PERSONNEL RECORDS: Legislation that protects law enforcement officers from public disclosure of unsubstantiated complaints in personnel files.

PROTECT WOMEN’S SPACES: Legislation protecting women’s privacy in sex-segregated spaces.

ATTORNEY GENERAL ELECTION POWERS: Legislation proposing a constitutional amendment allowing the Attorney General to prosecute state election crimes.

REDISTRICTING: Legislation that provides a revised congressional redistricting plan in light of constitutional concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Justice.

TITLE THEFT & DEED FRAUD: Legislation, similar to Senate Bill No. 648 from the 89th Legislature, Regular Session, that provides strengthened protections against title theft and deed fraud.

WATER PROJECT INCENTIVES: Legislation, similar to Senate Bill No. 1253 from the 89th Legislature, Regular Session, that authorizes political subdivisions to reduce impact fees for builders who include water conservation and efficiency measures.

STATE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT: Legislation, similar to Senate Bill No. 2878 from the 89th Legislature, Regular Session, relating to the operation and administration of the Judicial Department of state government.

From the Washington Post: A mysterious LLC is using a 300-year-old law to target D.C. sports betting

I love this story.

It fits into my ongoing exploration about the origins of law. This story has the added feature of highlighting a conflict in the law.

Here's helpful background: 

- Statute of Anne.
- LLC - limited liability company.
- 16 Benefits of a Delaware LLC.
- § 16–1702. Recovery of losses at gaming.

- Click here for the article.


More than 300 years ago, wanting to protect gamblers from losing everything, the British Parliament passed the Statute of Anne, named for the then-reigning British monarch, Queen Anne.

The enactment, which allowed gamblers to sue to recover their losses over a certain amount, eventually found its way to the District of Columbia, where it has remained on the city’s law books for decades, seemingly unknown to generations of elected officials.

Until now, that is.

The 18th-century statute is now threatening the major sports betting companies that operate in D.C., emerging recently in a federal lawsuit filed this spring against the companies by a mysterious Delaware-based LLC.

The LLC, DC Gambling Recovery, revived the Statute of Anne in seeking to recover potentially millions of dollars in gambling losses from sports betting giants, including Caesars Sportsbook, BetMGM and DraftKings, that it says the law allows it to recoup.

In D.C., the law states that gambling losses of $25 or more can be recovered in a lawsuit. If the plaintiff wins, the LLC would be required to split the damages in half with the city, and its attorneys estimate the District could take in more than $300 million. That is, if the D.C. Council lets the lawsuit move forward.

On Monday, D.C. lawmakers may vote to change the Statute of Anne for the first time in decades by clarifying that the 18th-century law does not apply to legalized modern sports betting — a retroactive provision that they’ve attached to the nearly $22 billion budget that could, in turn, moot the lawsuit.

See also: Wilson Building Bulletin: The fight over a British monarch’s gambling law continues.

Where do laws come from?

Sometimes they come from Ancient Rome. 

Case in point: Laws regarding the ownership of beaches. These date back to the time of Justinian and are still the basis of much - though not all - of contemporary law on the subject. A similar story can be told about most every type of law that exists.

From the New York Times: An Ancient Law Could Shape the Modern Future of America’s Beaches. Here’s How.

. . . At issue is a legal concept from the sixth century A.D., when Emperor Justinian ordered the codification of Roman laws. The resulting code declared that features of nature like the air, running water, the sea and “the shores of the sea” must be held in trust for the use of the public. That idea passed into English common law, and then to the United States.

Today, most states define the beach below the high-tide line as public trust property, meaning members of the public have free access.

As a result, environmentalists, regulators, surfers and others say that landowners must not install sea walls or other coastal armor that will inevitably doom public beaches to disappear. On the other hand, owners of beachfront houses, hotels and other properties argue that if rules against coastal armor cause their private property to vanish beneath the waves, then they must be compensated for their losses.

The result is an impasse playing out from Hawaii to South Carolina.

When it comes to beaches, “there tends to be a lot of agreement that people would like to preserve these properties,” said Jeremy Talcott, an attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation, which has represented property owners in disputes over armor. But there is “a much lower desire to actually pay for it.”

. . . Though rules vary, most U.S. states follow the principle that land below the high-tide line is public property. In Rhode Island, for example, members of the public may walk, fish, gather seaweed and “leave the shore to swim in the sea” on these beaches. These rights are set out in the State Constitution.

Until recently, most court cases about public trust beaches involved property owners who posted no-trespassing signs, erected fences or hired guards to keep people out. Now, the very existence of these beaches is often the issue.

One such case in Columbia, S.C., involves setback rules first adopted in 1988.

This spring in South Carolina Administrative Law Court, Rom and Renee Reddy challenged the state Department of Environmental Services, which had fined them $289,000 for building what officials called an “unpermitted” sea wall at their house on Isle of Palms.

. . . A decision by Judge Ralph K. Anderson III is pending.

For more: 

- Justinian Code.

- Common Law.

- Public Trust Doctrine.

- Texas Open Beaches Act.

For my 11 week GOVT 2305 students: The 1000 word essay

The essay will be due before you know it. If you haven't already, get going on it.

I'll help.

Here's the assignment:

Executive Influence on the Legislature

Describe how successful Governor Abbott has been in influencing the agenda of the 89th Texas Legislative Session.

Some of the powers the governor is granted in the Texas Constitution allow him to impact the legislative process. He can declare that certain pieces of legislation are emergencies, meaning they can be considered before any other. He can also veto legislation without the possibility of an override by the legislature. He can also veto and funding he does not care for, again without the possibility of an override. There are other informal ways he can persuade and/or coerce the legislature to pass the bills he wants passed.

Used skillfully, these allow a governor to dictate what the legislature will do.

Has our governor been successful this session?

I'll break this down to a few smaller questions: 

- What are the legislative powers of the governor?
- What is emergency legislation? 
- What legislation did Governor Abbott declare emergencies? Why?
- How did he promote each of these laws? 
- What opposition existed for each of these laws? 
- How successful have past governors been in promoting their legislative agenda?

(Idea: Input these into ChapGPT and see what you get.)

There will be more, plus helpful sources of information.

From the Houston Chronicle: A three part series on violations of the noise ordinance

1 - Residents of Houston's Third Ward fight nightlife noise, trash and chaos. What can be done?

2 - Third Ward residents are fed up with ‘turn-ups’ and street takeovers. The city needs a plan now.

3 - Washington Ave. residents are leading the fight against nightclub mayhem. It isn't easy.

HB 1868 - Relating to a study on changes to performance tier funding for dual credit or dual enrollment courses under the public junior college state finance program and the capacity of the state's workforce to teach dual credit or dual enrollment courses.

- Click here for it.

- Texas Tribune: Eviction bill now focuses on squatters in Texas House rewrite.

List of professions pursued by summer 1 students:

If you're taking me now you'll note that in written assignment 1 I ask you about what career you plan to pursue. This allows to ficus on what state mandated criteria might be necessary to pursue that career. 

Not all do of course. 

Here is a list of what I received in summer 1. I'll follow up with what licenses are required for the occupations that require them, I'll also ask why they are required.

- Medical / Health Care
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist
dentist
child psychiatrist
podiatrist
physician assistant
Dental Assistant Certificate
sonographer
radiologist assistant
surgeon
child and adolescent psychiatrist
nurse
Dental Hygienist
nurse anesthetist
nurse practitioner
Doctor of Nursing Practice
child psychologist
Forensics
forensic pathologist
Registered Nurse
orthopedic surgeon
neurologist
health administration
veterinarian
Esthetician
pediatrician
ultrasound technologist
maxillofacial surgeon
epidemiologist
anesthesiologist
dermatology
pharmacist
psychiatrist
orthodontist
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist
clinical psychologist
oncologist
medical technologist
psychiatric physician assistant
Field Technician

- Business
marketing assistant
Real Estate
real estate agent
commercial real estate agent
finance
commercial banking
corporate finance
investment banking
business woman

- Engineering / Technology
engineering
mechanical engineer
biomedical engineer
Aerospace Engineering
chemical engineer
Petroleum Engineer
biomedical engineer
computer scientist or software engineer
web developer

- The Arts
Art Professor
choir director
high school teacher.
High school Art Teacher
film director
music performance
musician
industrial or interior designer
model
actor or singer
architecture

- Law Enforcement
special agent for the FBI
Crime Scene Investigator
law enforcement

- Law
lawyer
family attorney

Commercial Airline Pilot
astronaut
airline pilot

- Science
wildlife biologist
marine biologist

- miscellaneous
traveler
influencer

1000 word essay question for Summer 2

For GOVT 2306  

I want you to select one of the bills below and decribe it as thoroughly as possible.

Follow the link provided and navigate through the site it takes you to. That's all the information you need.

- HB 2 - Relating to public education and public school finance.

- HB 6 - Relating to discipline management and access to telehealth mental health services in public schools.

- HB 20 - Relating to establishing the Applied Sciences Pathway program.

- HB 27 - Relating to courses in personal financial literacy for high school students in public schools.

- HB 33 - Relating to active shooter incidents at primary and secondary school facilities and other emergencies.

- HB 42 - Relating to the amount and allocation of the annual constitutional appropriation to certain agencies and institutions of higher education and to the permissible uses of that money.

- SB 2 - Relating to the establishment of an education savings account program.

- SB 4 - Relating to an increase in the amount of the exemption of residence homesteads from ad valorem taxation by a school district and the protection of school districts against certain losses in local revenue.

- SB 5 - Relating to the creation of the Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.

- SB 10 - Relating to the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.

- SB 11 - Relating to a period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious text in public schools.

- SB 12 - Relating to parental rights in public education, to certain public school requirements and prohibitions regarding instruction, diversity, equity, and inclusion duties, and social transitioning, and to student clubs at public schools.

- SB 13 - Relating to a school district's library materials and catalog, the establishment of local school library advisory councils, and parental rights regarding public school library catalogs and access by the parent's child to library materials.

- SB 24 - Relating to the inclusion of an understanding of communist regimes and ideologies in the essential knowledge and skills for the social studies curriculum for certain public school students.

- SB 25 - Relating to health and nutrition standards to promote healthy living, including requirements for food labeling, primary and secondary education, higher education, and continuing education for certain health care professionals; authorizing a civil penalty.

- SB 37 - Relating to the governance of public institutions of higher education, including review of curriculum and certain degree and certificate programs, a faculty council or senate, training for members of the governing board, and the establishment, powers, and duties of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Office of the Ombudsman.

Nuts and Bolts:

- The 1000 word requirement is a minimum, not a maximum. You may write as much as you wish.
- Please use at least three references.
- You may use whatever format you wish.
- I don't use rubrics, so you are free to approach this as you wish, nut be professional.
- If you want an A, be excellent.

Update on 89th Legislative Session from UH President Renu Khator:

- Click here for it.