Texas Senate quickly passes several bills on second special session’s first day

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The Texas Senate quickly got to work Monday by passing several bills on the chamber’s desk as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s agenda for the second special session of the year for the Legislature, focusing first on flood-related legislation.

Abbott’s agenda for this special session nearly mirrors the first. However, work during that session was stalled when Texas House Democrats left the state to prevent Republicans from passing the new congressional maps.

Among the flood-related bills the Senate passed was one that seeks to improve safety measures at youth summer camps following the deadly July 4 weekend flash floods that killed at least 135 people in Central Texas, including 27 girls at Camp Mystic. During floor discussion, Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, said with the release of data by the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, officials in the three counties affected by the tragedy are now in favor of flood warning systems.

Here’s a look at the bills the Senate has voted on so far on the first day of the second special session:

Senate Bill 2: In the first special session, the legislation known as Senate Bill 1 was the committee’s wide-ranging response to the testimony heard over two long days in light of the July 4 disaster. SB 2 would create a training program for justices of the peace on how to handle bodies during disasters when many people die, establish licensing requirements for emergency management coordinators and set up a registration system for disaster response volunteers that could include criminal history checks.

The Senate proposal further requires all campgrounds in floodplains to develop evacuation plans, which they would have to activate any time the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning. It would also require campground cabins to have ladders so people could climb onto rooftops as a last resort.

The bill passed unanimously.

Senate Bill 3: SB 3, which in the first session was Senate Bill 2, would require a state agency to determine which areas in the region that flooded on July 4 should have outdoor warning sirens, and then establish guidance on how to install them. The governor’s office would set up a grant program to help local governments pay for the projects.

Senate Bill 5: The bill would pull money from the Rainy Day Fund for several disaster relief efforts, including $50 million for sirens and rain gauges in the Central Texas flood region and $24 million to improve weather forecasting.

Senate Bill 6: The bill would create a blanket ban on products containing any “detectable amount of any cannabinoid” other than cannabidiol and cannabigerol, better known as CBD and CBG, non-intoxicating components of cannabis. SB 6 would eliminate the majority of hemp products, including those that are legal under the federal definition.

This is the third attempt by the lawmakers in the upper chamber to remove hemp-derived THC products from the general public, as they say it’s too dangerous for children. It is identical to the House’s version, which also calls for a ban. Still, since Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed similar legislation that would have banned THC earlier this year , some lawmakers have signaled they’d support more regulations over a ban.

SB 6 received preliminary approval with a 22-8 vote.

Senate Bill 8: The bill seeks to restrict bathrooms, prisons, jails and certain violence shelters based on sex assigned at birth to prevent transgender people from accessing utilities matching their identifying gender. Institutions where people use bathrooms not matching their sex assigned at birth would be fined $5,000 for a first offense and $25,000 for any subsequent violations.

Commonly referred to as a “bathroom bill,” SB 8 was previously passed out of the Senate during the regular session and first special session. The bill would also allow civil lawsuits against institutions where violations occur and grant Attorney General Ken Paxton investigative oversight.

SB 8 preliminarily passed on a 19-11 vote.

Senate Bill 10: State lawmakers committed to spend $51 billion to lower school property taxes over the next two years. But Abbott and Republican legislators are hungry for other ways to bring down the state’s high property tax bills.

The Senate approved SB 10, which aims to curtail city and county property taxes. The proposal would put tighter limits on how much more in property tax revenue cities and counties can collect each year without asking voters. That limit under state law is 3.5%. Senate Bill 10, by Bettencourt would further limit that growth to 2.5% for cities and counties with at least 75,000 residents.

SB 10 preliminarily passed on a 18-12 vote.

Senate Bill 11: SB 11, bipartisan legislation led by Flower Mound Republican Tan Parker, would create an affirmative defense for trafficking victims who commit crimes under their trafficker’s force, fraud or coercion. Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed a previous version of the bill passed during the regular session, saying that it was too broad. With the special sessions, the bill now details the criteria for the protection’s application and limits the types of offense this defense could be used for, removing serious crimes such as murder and sexual assault.

SB 11 passed to engrossment 30-0.

Senate Bill 12: Led by Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Mineola Republican, SB 12 would allow the attorney general to prosecute election-related crimes without waiting for an invitation from the local district or county attorney. In 2021, the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that the attorney general did not have independent prosecutorial authority; despite widespread conservative support, legislation to restore that power to the office stalled during subsequent legislative sessions. This year, Gov. Greg Abbott added it to the special session agenda, but specifically requested it be passed as a constitutional amendment, which requires a two-thirds vote from both chambers, and voter approval.

SB 12 received preliminary approval with a 18-12 vote.

Senate Bill 14: Local governments charge “impact fees” to real estate developers to provide water and sewer infrastructure. SB 14 by state Sen. Charles Perry, a Lubbock Republican, would require cities and counties to lower those fees if developers install mechanisms to better conserve and reuse water.

SB 14 passed with a unanimous vote.

Senate Bill 15: The bill would create a confidential department file for certain law enforcement personnel records, such as unsubstantiated misconduct allegations and background checks conducted during hiring. State Sen. Phil King, the Weatherford Republican who authored the bill, and the legislation’s supporters said it is about standardizing agencies’ public disclosure policies. They also said unsubstantiated claims shouldn’t be publicized because they could be defamatory.

Opponents of SB 15 raised concerns that this bill could keep important files from being shared with the public, hindering police transparency and accountability. This could include records related to the Uvalde shooting, some critics said, as the Texas Department of Public Safety appealed a judge’s order to release videos and investigative files of the botched response to news outlets. King said during the Monday Senate hearing that his bill doesn’t cover body-camera footage, or disclosures required under lawsuits or criminal investigations. Others said they are worried about how this bill would affect local police oversight rules such as in Austin, though King said during the first special session that the proposal wouldn’t change the city’s disclosure policy. Under the current bill, files that are required to be disclosed “by law” are exempted.

The Senate preliminarily approved SB 15 with a 18-12 vote.

Senate Bill 16: Senate lawmakers sought to stiffen criminal penalties for people convicted of deed fraud — in which wrongdoers use fraudulent deeds to commit financial crimes like selling someone else’s property — and give property owners greater protections against that fraud.

SB16 by Sen. Royce West, a Dallas Democrat, was passed to engrossment with a unanimous vote.

Senate Bill 18: The bill seeks to help communities respond quickly during extreme weather events by diverting water or preventing erosion using water infrastructure. The bipartisan bill led by Sen. Judith Zaffirini of Laredo, would allow for a government entity that partners with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’ Natural Resources Conservation Service to build or maintain small-scale water control projects — used for erosion, sediment or flood control — without needing a state permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality as long as it holds no more than 200 acre-feet. One acre-foot of water is about 325,851 gallons of water. This new exception would still apply even if the federal partnership ends as long as the dam is still used for the original purpose. TCEQ must create rules to implement this new exception by April 1.

Senate Bill 34: Current law says that if a person is compelled to testify before the Legislature even if they claim that their testimony may be self-incriminating, they can receive total immunity from prosecution related to their statements — what’s known as “transactional immunity.”

SB 34 would change the law to grant “testimonial immunity” to witnesses instead — meaning that any testimony or evidence a witness gives to the Legislature cannot be used against them in a criminal prosecution.

SB 34 passed 30-0.

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