Response to Worst Texas Flood Top Priority
on 17-Point Abbott Summer Session Agenda Capitol Inside
July 9, 2025
Governor Greg Abbott released the game plan for an upcoming special session on Wednesday with a package of natural disaster protection proposals taking center stage in direct response to the deadliest Texas flood in more than a century and why the people who it killed had no warning that it was coming.
After calling the summer session for the primary purpose of regulating a hemp industry that a veto saved, Abbott relegated THC to second-tier status in an agenda that has the elimination of the Staar test in public schools and property tax cuts coupled with caps on local spending listed higher in the marching orders he issued to lawmakers.
"We delivered on historic legislation in the 89th Regular Legislative Session that will benefit Texans for generations to come," Abbott said in an email. "There is more work to be done, particularly in the aftermath of the devastating floods in the Texas Hill Country. We must ensure better preparation for such events in the future."
Abbott wants the Texas Legislature to pass legislation to bolster warning systems and emergency communications in areas that are flood-prone like the stretch of the Guadalupe River that torrential rains turned into a killing machine on the Fourth of July. The death toll could surpass the 300 mark by the time lawmakers return to Austin for the session that's set to begin on July 21.
The governor included natural disaster preparedness and funding for the response and recovery efforts in the patch of the Hill Country where most of the fatalities from the flash flooding on Independence Day were recorded. But Abbott did not specifically mention a measure that cleared the House in the regular session before its burial in the Senate without action in committee
Sponsored by GOP State Rep. Ken King of Canadian, House Bill 13 would have made local governmental entities eligible for state subsidies to install alarm systems in areas with histories of natural disasters in the form of wildfires, floods and other violent acts of nature. The House approved the measure with only 18 opposing votes before the fizzling across the rotunda.
Republican State Rep. Drew Darby of San Angelo asked Abbott in a letter on Tuesday to include language similar to HB 13 to the special session with a "more sophisticated, statewide emergency alert system" in addition to localized warning capabilities in areas that are prone to flooding.
The original summer agenda includes other topics that have potential for significant fireworks with proposals that would tighten abortion laws, prohibit the hiring of lobbyists with public money and give the Texas attorney general the power to prosecute election fraud with a constitutional amendment that would require voter approval.
The starting agenda also features congressional redistricting in a bow to President Donald Trump and an administration that's pushing Texas Republicans to redraw the U.S. House in a way that will boost the number of seats controlled by the GOP. The call for revised maps for Congress districts here has the potential blow up the special session on its own as an invitation for Democrats to leave the state to deprive the Republicans the quorums they would need to pass legislation in the special gathering.
The governor cited bills that failed in regular session as models for a quartet of proposals in the summer lineup on issues including protection for human smuggling victims, a law to combat title theft and deed fraud, water project incentives with reductions in builders fees for those who have conservation and efficiency plans in place.
Abbott also instructed lawmakers to revive a streamlined version of legislation that would have expanded the number of state district courts in Texas. The governor vetoed the measure amid the assertion that the Legislature added needless provisions that he wants to see removed
The agenda contains two proposals that stemmed from a THC prohibition that he torpedoed with the veto pen in a high-level snub for its champion - Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick - and almost all of the Republican lawmakers who supported it in fear of the Senate leader's wrath. Abbott wants the Legislature to pass a bill to criminalize the sale of products made from hemp to people under the age of 21.
The governor also wants lawmakers to pass "legislation to comprehensively regulate hemp-derived products, including limiting potency, restricting synthetically modified compounds, and establishing enforcement mechanisms, all without banning a lawful agricultural commodity."
more to come ... | 
