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No Bathroom Bill But New Abortion Laws: What Passed and Failed in Texas' Special Session

It appeared late Tuesday that Texas' legislative special session would end a day earlier than expected with only about half of Gov. Greg Abbott's priorities having passed both the House and the Senate and made it to the governor's desk.

By John Savage

It appeared late Tuesday that Texas' legislative special session would end a day earlier than expected with only about half of Gov. Greg Abbott's priorities having passed both the House and the Senate and made it to the governor's desk.

Abbott ordered the special session in part to pass legislation that would keep open several state agencies, including the Texas Medical Board, which licenses doctors. Abbott named the so-called sunset bill the first order of business during the special session, after which legislators could consider other items chosen but the governor. Abbott's grab-bag list of 20 items included many issues that appealed to social conservatives, such as the so-called "bathroom bill, which would regulate transgender Texan's bathroom usage. Others pleased fiscal conservatives, while still others would've curtailed local governments' authority.

Here's a scorecard of how Abbott's priorities fared during the special session.

 

Passed

1. Sunset legislation to keep alive state agencies

2. Limiting local tree regulations

3. Restricting cities' ability to annex property

4. Increasing abortion complication reporting requirements

5. Prohibiting abortion coverage under primary health insurance plans

6. Extending a study of the causes of maternal mortality

7. Cracking down on mail-in ballot fraud

8. Strengthening patient protections relating to do-not-resuscitate orders

9. Public school finance improvements and a study commission

10. Increasing teacher benefits, including easing trims to retirees' health care

 

Failed

11. Teacher pay increase and more flexible contracts and salary schedule (linked in his proclamation with their benefits as one item)

12. School vouchers for special-needs children

13. Limiting growth of local property taxes

14. Caps on local government spending

15. Caps on state government spending

16. Speeding up local government permitting process

17. Preventing local rule changes midway through construction projects

18. Pre-empting local restrictions on mobile devices in automobiles

19. Restricting transgender Texans from using the bathroom of their choice

20. Prohibiting public employers from collecting union dues

21. Prohibiting local governments from sending tax dollars to Planned Parenthood

NOTE: Items don't add up to 20 because of the teacher pay and benefits item, a split decision.

(c)2017 The Dallas Morning News

Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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