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.
