The Texas Legislature is in session, and school vouchers, THC bans, voter restrictions and anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation are on the agenda. Credit: Illustration by David Loyola

For the first time in at least 15 years, both houses of the Texas Legislature appear fully unified with the governor’s conservative agenda.

After a string of Texas House speakers — starting with San Antonio’s Joe Straus — who saw themselves as moderating forces, Texas Rep. Dustin Burrows, the GOP lawmaker now in that role, appears to be on the same page as fellow Republicans Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

Despite early Republican infighting over Burrows’ selection as speaker, the trio appear to be firmer footing than last session, when then-Speaker Dade Phelan openly traded jabs on social media with Patrick, who presides over the Senate.

While that’s good news for those eager to see the Lone Star State continue its rightward lurch, it doesn’t bode well for the Legislature tackling some of the state’s most pressing problems.

The new unity could be put to use expanding health care access, giving the state a much-need increase in public school funding or shoring up vital public services decimated by Trump administration cuts.

Instead, political observers said it will likely ensure that conservative priorities such as school vouchers, a ban on THC-containing hemp products and new voting restrictions are prioritized during the session.

“I think what you see this session is that Abbott, Patrick and [Attorney General Ken] Paxton have cleared the field,” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University. “Republican leadership in both houses is moving forward in much closer step with the governor’s agenda.”

Vouchers above all

The overwhelming priority for Abbott this session — and one both Burrows and Patrick appear united in delivering on — is school vouchers. Last session, rural Republicans joined with Democrats in the Texas House to derail the governor’s plans to use tax dollars to pay for kids’ private-school educations.

While Abbott insisted his plan would bring “school choice” to parents statewide, opponents argued it would decimate already underfunded public campuses, especially in small towns.

Since that defeat, Abbott has spent nearly $9 million to fund primary challenges that ousted more than half the Republican legislators who opposed vouchers during the 2023 session, according to nonpartisan money-in-politics watchdog Open Secrets.

With that opposition kicked to the curb, both Abbott and Burrows have signaled that vouchers will pass the House this session. The biggest obstacle is likely to be whether the finally approved bill looks like the one Burrows championed in the House or a similar proposal passed by the Senate.

In recent comments, Abbott has pledged to make sure the state’s public schools are fully funded, including pay raises for teachers. He drew the line on new funding last session as punishment for vouchers dying in the House.

However, political experts said they don’t expect any funding increase for Texas schools to be substantial. What’s more, critics charge, it’s unlikely to make up for the longer-term funding loss that will result from vouchers.

“It’s absolute nonsense,” community organizer and 2024 Democratic candidate for the Texas House Kristian Carranza said of Abbott’s pledge to flow more cash into public education. “If you are taking a child out of public schools, you are taking away that funding and putting it directly into private schools. To try to spin that any other way is dishonest.”

Gov. Greg Abbott wags his finger during a pro-school choice rally in San Antonio last year. Credit: Michael Karlis

Clarifying the abortion ban

On the Senate side, Patrick — a staunch abortion opponent — has signaled that he wants to clarify the state’s abortion ban, making it more understandable when a doctor can intervene to save a pregnant patient’s life.

The only exception the law currently provides is to allow abortions to save the life of a pregnant patient. Doctors argue the existing legislation’s vague language and draconian penalties make it unclear when they can intervene without facing prison time. They say they continue to operate in a terrifying gray area despite lawsuits and court rulings seeking to clarify the matter.

At least three women have died since Texas adopted its ban, and a recent survey by consultancy Manatt Health found that 76% of Texas OB-GYNs believe they can’t practice medicine according to best practices under the ban.

“You worry, where is that threshold? Where is it?” Austin OB-GYNs Dr. Leah Tatum told the Current. “Where am I in a situation where everybody in the room considers it reasonable for me to offer [abortion] care under the current law? … . Luckily, it has not come up that often, that you’re in that situation, but we all worry about being put in that place.”

Even so, it remains to be seen just how much clarity Republican lawmakers actually want to bring to the bill. Many women’s health advocates argue the original legislation employed deliberately vague language with the intent of frightening providers away from offering abortions. Some worry any modifications would simply be a public relations stunt.

Targeting THC

Patrick, a longtime roadblock for cannabis reform in the Texas Lege, has also thrown his support behind a bill to ban the sale and possession of all consumable hemp products carrying THC, the compound in weed that gets people high.

The proposal faces an uncertain future in the House, and Abbott hasn’t publicly opined on it. Even so, political watchers warn that it could actually reach the governor’s desk in the newly unified Lege.

Advocates argue the move would kill off a growing $267 million business while doing nothing to expand the effectiveness of Texas’ medical marijuana program, considered one of the most restrictive in the nation.

“Prohibition is a failed concept. How do you solve anything by banning it?” Cynthia Cabrera, co-founder of the Texas Hemp Business Council told the Current. “If you want to expand a marijuana program, that’s great, but not at the expense of 50,000 jobs and six years worth of labor and work on the small business side.”

LGBTIA+ advocates, including a pair of drag performers, line up to lobby state lawmakers late last month for All In For Equality Coalition’s annual advocacy day. Credit: Michael Karlis

Voter restrictions and anti-LGBTQIA+ bills

Once again, Texas Republicans in both houses are using spurious claims of widespread voter fraud to justify tightening restrictions on voting. Among the bills filed this session is one mirroring legislation adopted in Arizona that would require people to show proof of citizenship to register to vote.

Voting-rights advocates argue the measure would disenfranchise many on the margins who are unable to present a passport, a birth certificate or other required proof of citizenship. Indeed, 1.3 million Texans who are U.S. citizens of voting age would have difficulty showing documentation proving their citizenship, according to recent research by advocacy group VoteRiders.

“Proof-of-citizenship laws are not about safeguarding elections,” said Selene Gomez, VoteRiders’ national outreach director. “They’re about silencing voters. We know that federal and state laws already protect election access and integrity. And we know that research shows that non-citizens voting is virtually non-existent.”

As per usual, right-wing lawmakers have flooded the session with proposals seeking to take rights away from LGBTQIA+ Texans. This year, civil-rights advocates count at least 80 such bills, many targeting schools. One proposal, for example, would ban teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity, while another would require school employees who learn a minor is socially transitioning from their birth gender to notify a parent.

Although most of those proposals are expected to fizzle out, Brad Pritchett, interim CEO of Equality Texas, recently told the Current they represent a slippery slope.

“Some of the [bills] getting the most attention right now are probably the ones that are less likely to go anywhere because they’re so extreme,” Pritchett said. “But there are bills that will have a direct impact on people’s lives.”

Water and deep cuts

While this session’s unified front is likely to deepen the state’s red hue, Jillson said he’s relieved to see lawmakers tackling at least one major nonpartisan issue: water. Stricken with a statewide record-breaking drought and with no sign of its population growth slowing, Texas faces a looming shortage.

High-profile bills in both the House and Senate would pump billions into securing future water sources for the state while repairing and upgrading aging infrastructure. Additionally, Abbott has declared water an emergency item for the session, potentially putting such legislation on a fast track during the session.

“The biggest positive this session is that they’re focused on water,” Jillson said. “It’s not glamorous stuff, but ensuring the state continues to have a dependable water supply is critical.”

Even so, the state appears to be ignoring yet another significant threat: that of the deep cuts the Trump White House is making to federal spending on social services. If lawmakers don’t move to bolster services such as health care availability, education and rural broadband, it will probably be another two years before they can address major disruptions.

Given the Texas Republican Party’s continued allegiance to Trump, that kind of action appears unlikely.

Indeed, the Texas Senate has already passed a bill that would create a Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office, a body modeled after Trump advisor Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

“The idea of establishing a Texas DOGE is particularly perverse because we’re already so tight-fisted when it comes to public spending,” Jillson said. “It’s hard to imagine where they could find any more to cut, even in the guise of rooting out corruption or improving efficiency.”

For the first time in at least 15 years, both houses of the Texas Legislature appear fully unified with the governor’s conservative agenda. Credit: Shutterstock / amadeustx

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This article appears in Mar 19 – Apr 1, 2025.

Sanford Nowlin is editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Current. He holds degrees from Trinity University and the University of Texas at San Antonio, and his work has been featured in Salon, Alternet, Creative...