Texas lawmakers have filed dozens of bills ahead of next week's start of a special legislative session. One bill would change how the state calculates its spending limit, another would forbid schools from protecting a class of people from discrimination.
It remains unclear how many, if any, will be added to the agenda.
“People file bills all the time, frequently to make a political statement or for campaign purposes, but the only one who can let anything on the call is the governor,” says Harvey Kronberg of the Quorum Report.
Kronberg says the special session will likely start with Gov. Gret Abbott's original agenda, including SB 6 or the so-called bathroom bill.
“Of the 20 items he has identified, you can only really call six seriously substantive and the others are red meat mostly for Republican primary voters,” he says. “These are largely agenda items of importance to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.”
“The House is generally more pro-business and the Senate seems to be more socially conservative, and to a large degree this is meant to put the House in the cross-hairs.”
The special session is scheduled to begin next Tuesday.