On Wednesday, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick listed his top 25 Senate priorities for the 2025 legislative session, which got underway earlier this month.
In addition to certain infrastructure and health care measures that might win over both parties, they also contain a variety of conservative Republican goals, some of which are anticipated to coincide with Governor Greg Abbott’s emergency items that will be announced in Sunday’s State of the State speech.
The state budget (Senate Bill 1), school vouchers (SB 2), and a ban on the sale of THC products (SB 3) were the top three topics on the list.
Senate Bill 4, which would increase the property tax homestead exemption to $140,000 for the majority of homeowners and $150,000 for seniors, is one item that could cause disagreement in the Texas House.
According to Jon Taylor, chair of the University of Texas at San Antonio’s department of political science and geography, “some have argued that might actually, long term, make it more difficult for homeowners, because what will happen is property values will just be raised, so it may not actually save money in terms of property taxes.”
Bills to improve electric grid dependability (SB 6), expand investments in water infrastructure (SB 7), and establish a research institute to treat dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (SB 5) are likely to garner Democratic votes.
The majority of the agenda’s remaining items center on what Taylor refers to as “red meat” issues for Republicans’ conservative base, such as mandating local law enforcement to comply with the Trump Administration’s directives to apprehend and deport those who are in the country illegally (SB 8). SB 16 is a related law that aims to prevent non-citizens from voting, despite the fact that there is little evidence that this has been an issue in the United States.
Governor Abbott has also discussed bail reform in relation to violent offenders who have committed crimes while out on bail (SB 9). That’s what I believe we’ll witness,” Taylor stated. “Others are much more along the lines of keeping certain conservative elements of the Republican Party happy, things such asplacing the Ten Commandments in schools(SB 10), the so-called Freedom to Pray in School (SB 11),’ which would allow the use of the Bible in teaching and courses.”
The Texas Senate’s leader, Patrick, has set aside the lowest 40 Senate bill numbers for his priority goals. He promised to reveal his final 15 priority bills shortly.
The story is still evolving.
