Inside Texas Politics: Could the school choice bill lead to a special session?

this morning with eight days left in the legislature Texas Republicans are crossing off red meat issues like bills affecting transgender children before addressing priorities like property taxes game over for casinos and sports betting bills this session Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick called them a waste of time State lawmakers closed a loophole for gun background checks it's the one the Texas Tribune revealed in an investigation last year and the crown act finally passed overwhelmingly in the

legislature did the elimination of just one word in the bill yet Republicans on board we'll ask the author State Rep red Bowers [Music] inside Texas politics with Jason Whiteley Starts Now hi everybody I'm Jason Wheeler in for Jason Whiteley we have just about a little more than a week left in this legislative session so let's get you to some headlines as we head down the stretch run here School vouchers also known as education savings accounts might be the issue that ends up in a special sessio

n the Senate passed a bill on this but the chair of the house public education committee didn't even bring the issue up for a vote on Thursday it remains a priority for governor Abbott though in fact he says if lawmakers don't expand school choice he'll call special sessions the holdouts here though are suburban and Rural Republicans Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has committed about a thousand National Guard troops from his state to the Texas border with Mexico Governor Abbott asked fellow Gover

nors to send all the police and soldiers they could Abbott feared a surge in migrants after the title 42 covid restrictions ended this month allowing migrants to once again be able to request asylum in the U.S but that surge that the governor feared didn't materialize the numbers at the border have been sharply down so far it is game over for casinos and sports betting in Texas this year legalizing Casino Resorts didn't move in the legislature sports betting did pass the house but Lieutenant Gov

ernor Dan Patrick says it's not going any further than that he tweeted that the Texas Senate doesn't pass bills with the GOP in the minority Patrick adding can't waste committee and floor time in the last days meantime one of the biggest priorities for Texas Republicans might not make it to the Finish Line either School vouchers we're talking about here also called education savings accounts or esa's Governor Abbott as we just said really wants this the Senate passed it but suburban and Rural Re

publicans in the house still oppose this State Rep Brian Harrison a republican from Waxahachie sits on the public education committee he remains optimistic that it will pass one way or the other he took some questions from Jason Whiteley representative thanks for being back on the program with us first question is school choice dead for the regular session well it might be dead for the regular session but that does not mean that it's dead for the State of Texas this year I really appreciate uh G

overnor Abbott's leadership on this and his continued commitment to getting not just School of choice but Universal school choice past so that every family every parent every student in the state of Texas can have education Freedom he used to come out and been very clear that even if it takes a special session which it's looking like it's going to he's willing to do that and quite frankly we need to do that we need to get this right I don't care how long it takes or how many special sessions it

takes we must power every Texas Empower every Texas family with education Freedom this year but it's suburban and Rural Republican to remain the roadblock on this do you expect any votes to change if this goes to a special session well I think there's a sense that we're going to get something done I am encouraged I am optimistic I am not discouraged in the slightest because I'll tell you what I would rather this go to a special session and get a good robust Universal bill that works for every Te

xas family then try to rush something together here in the last week so I I'm not discouraged at all I'm perhaps more optimistic and more encouraged than ever and I will tell you from my conversations even amongst some of my colleagues in the legislature that might have been a little bit skeptical of the issue at the beginning early days of session there is a real sense there's an understanding that Texans deserve this and we need and we owe it to our voters to get this done I'm more encouraged

than I've ever been if the governor calls a special session and it looks like that he might on this issue is there anything else you'd like to see the governor add to that call well we're in the final days of negotiations here on certain big issues such as property tax relief I would like to make sure that we do as much as we can to give as much of our Surplus back to the voters that's of utmost importance to me and then another thing that I think would be good for him to probably consider addin

g to the call is strong border security legislation uh I am really disappointed that the Texas house allowed Democrats on a silly weak point of order to kill the only serious the only robust uh piece of border security legislation in either chamber that was House Bill 20 by representative Matt Schaefer it included all of the Texas title 42 act that I introduced a couple months ago that created a border security force with actual findings and authorizations and it would give Governor Abbott ever

the more tools than he has today before we let you go I want to ask about property taxes do you expect that to get settled before the gavel falls on the 29th of May I'm really optimistic both Chambers are putting in a lot of a lot of hard work on this it's probably one of the the biggest issues that matters to my voters of course I would like to see us ultimately pass a package that puts us on a path to eliminating property taxes I don't think either plan that's being proposed right now goes as

far as I would like it to get to but both of them do offer real property tax relief and I hope that we can get something uh accomplished here soon as appraisals have already gone out to the millions of Texans back home they're waiting anxiously and with and rightfully expecting that we give them some property tax relief representative Harrison we appreciate the time as always always great to be with you Jason we watched something rare happen at the state capitol regarding guns lawmakers closed a

critical loophole in background checks passing a bill now requiring courts to report juveniles sent to Mental Hospitals to the federal gun background check system this was the result of an investigation last year by propublica and the Texas Tribune Ayan Mitra is the senior managing editor at the Tribune and joins us from Austin this morning Ian thanks for being with us some good reporting from you all and that led to some change here this is a rare example of gun related legislation passing sin

ce the Uvalde Massacre any reason here to believe that the governor might not sign it oh not necessarily I think it's just an interesting thing because I think if you look back at the 2009 legislation that kind of created this uh background check reporting um the intent was for uh was for juveniles as well as adults who were you know subject to involuntary mental health hospitalizations for them you know for their names to be reported to the federal background check system and though and while a

dults were being reported in uh juveniles weren't uh necessarily uh consistently and so I think you know from a from a from from a legal perspective the law originally was intended to do this and so this was you know kind of addressing a loophole with the intention of the uh original Law okay we'll stay tuned to see what the governor does with that uh also we discussed this a few weeks ago lawmakers want to set up a fund to build new water reservoirs here in Texas and repair aging infrastructure

this is finally moving do you expect the governor to get that one before the end of the session iron yeah this is moving and I think the governor this will go to the governor's desk and you know this has been a an issue that the Tribune is highlighted but also it's just a Statewide issue in terms of like looking ahead to the state's water supply as as the state continues to grow in population so I think this is something that a lot of you know uh Republicans and Democrats are really uh strong b

ehind in terms of like thinking out uh years from now in terms of like you know Shoring up our water supply I am Metro with the Texas Tribune thanks for that and please stick around with us for the reporters Roundtable here in just a few coming up the crown Act is on its way to the governor's desk did the elimination of one word in that bill get Republicans on board State Rep red Bowers is with us from Austin in a moment and what will the final days of the legislature look like in the State Hous

e State Rep Mahala plesa has a fresh eyes on this we're going to ask her when inside Texas politics returns welcome back to inside Texas politics today a bill called the crown Act is now on its way to the governor's desk it prevents schools or businesses from discriminating against people because of their hairstyle now two years ago it could not get out of a single committee but this year it passed overwhelmingly however it was missing one word this time here's Jason Whiteley again with the bill

s author State Rep red Bowers from Dallas representative Bowers congratulations to you first question how did you convince Republicans to get on board with this this time you know what I'm gonna be honest with you and I think you'll appreciate that but they the colleagues that were returning Republican colleagues they thought they were like didn't we already pass this they felt so good about it um and they remembered it uh that was really to our benefit that they remembered it those new ones I d

o recall one of my Republican colleagues I had to send them to my Republican joint author so that was key as well because I was like explaining it to him and he just wasn't hearing me maybe because he kept seeing that D behind my name and on my chest I want to say Jason to you and to all anyone watching that I felt the love of the Body for a change this issue really began to get uh some attention several years back when a high schooler outside of the Houston area and channel view I believe could

not graduate high school because he had dreadlocks how do you expect this bill if it's signed into law to change for this student and so many others across the state how will it change things in Texas what it will do is make sure that children are not held in in-school suspension and without classroom instruction it'll make sure that so many people are not looking at not getting hired or being held back from a promotion so for better quality of life and certainly better quality of life when loo

king at housing that they won't get discriminated against when try filling out those locations and trying to make sure they get uh the where they live where they want it and walk in authentically as themselves this year's Bill specifically did not mention the word dreadlocks how vital was that in getting Republicans to support it you know I don't know if that was exactly it but it certainly didn't I mean we we made sure that it said bantu knots twists and uh and locks when it came to protective

styles I think that you know using the word or the part of the word dread before locks really does uh have a demeaning uh connotation and I just don't think that we needed we need to speak about locks in that way representative Bowers do you expect the governor to sign the center law I'm I'm hopeful uh that he will and and that he will grant it a full signing ceremony I just think that we should be able to get those pins uh stand with the governor um and I I just hope that he sees what a great a

nd historic moment that will be for the state of Texas representative Bowers congratulations to you thank you so much always good to see you and besides the crown act Democrats got some other things that they wanted in Austin this time around too for starters killing School vouchers suburban and Rural Republicans joined with them to be to defeat that measure in the Texas house but what will happen when we get to a special session State Rep Mahala plesa represents part of Collin County and spoke

to Jason Whiteley from her office at the Capitol representative welcome back to the program it looks like school choice is dead for the regular session Governor Abbott of course saying that he will call a special session uh to handle this but do you have any indication that suburban and Rural Republicans who also oppose this whether they might change their minds and finally support it in a special session you know what um I do not see that we are going to move this bill in the house I don't see

my Republican colleagues that have been opposed to vouchers moving at you know to be a yes on this honestly I would like uh for us to come back if we're going to come back and have a special session I think that we should have a special session on the things that are really affecting Texans and you know the number one killer of kids in our state is gun violence and so I would like to see us focus on things that really matter uh to our state and not continue to try to pass these voucher schemes l

et's talk about gun violence for a moment here too uh your district is very close to the Allen Premium Outlet mall where the mass murder was recently you wrote in an email to your constituents recently if elected officials can take credit for the successes in our state we also must be willing to accept responsibility for the failures and tragedies uh as well and do better for our constituents I I'm curious though what more could the state have done to to prevent what happened in Allen when he di

dn't have a criminal record and no mental health history well look last session I watched my colleague has criminalist care Democrats on the house floor proposed numerous amendments they would have prevented not just the shooting in Allen but the shooting in Uvalde and all over the state of Texas you know we know that the shooter had a history of mental illness that's why he was discharged from the military we know that he legally acquired an arsenal of weapons I've seen my colleagues and I prop

ose legislation around raising the age tightening gun show loopholes red flag laws even safe storage laws but unfortunately we have not even been able to move and get a Committee hearing on these bills let alone have a debate you know on them on the house floor so I believe that we can prevent this epidemic of mass violence and mass shootings in our state we just have to have leaders on the floor that are willing to be courageous enough and stand against the NRA have you heard from any shopping

areas in your District that are taking uh new security measures after what happened in that one absolutely um living in fear um and it's not just about the trauma and grief counseling that they're going to have to provide to their employees and their staff it's all about it's also about the damage that has done to these businesses you know when you look at the Alum outlet mall I shop there my constituents shop there people are afraid to go there people will never be able to shop at that location

the same way again and and to be honest with you I don't even know how long that mall is going to be closed I know that um when speaking with survivors there is a lot of trauma there is a lot of anxiety and my community is living in fear right now representative we appreciate the the honesty and the uh the time as well thank you thank you so much all right still to come in the round table this morning the struggle between the house and the senate in the final full week of the legislature and a

brand new episode of our yolatix podcast is out this morning we are pulling the politics out of immigration it can be done so that you can really understand what's happening at the border and who's at fault for it it is a smart conversation with an immigration expert from the George W bush Institute look for yolatics wherever you get your podcast it is time now for the reporters Roundtable to put all the headlines in perspective iron Mitra is back with us from the Texas Tribune also each week wi

th us Bud Kennedy from the Fort Worth Star Telegram and Bernadine Steptoe the political producer at WFAA in Dallas thanks all of you for being with us here for this let's start off with the elbowing going on between the house and the senate in Austin you know Texans keep saying that they want the electric grid fixed and they want property tax relief we've had a lot about this is it getting done though is it going to get done Ian well starting on the electric grid you know there's been legislatio

n moving related to kind of financial incentives for you know building gas-fired uh natural gas-fired plants and so you know this is certainly a a spot of sensitivity for the state because of of the massive grid failure that happened so there is legislation moving on that and certainly property taxes has just been a a you know has been constantly in the news and so something is going to something you know the bills are very different right now in the House and Senate but they're you know there's

going to be negotiations a lot of stuff and if it doesn't pass versus in the regular session you know you keep an eye out for a special on that one yeah these are definitely Hefty items bud what say you well something has to happen on the grid by Tuesday something has to go over to the Senate and come back it can still get done but my gosh you know given a 10 billion dollars in in discount loans to get it done there's battles between big business in Texas on whether to do this or not you know s

ynfronia Thompson is accusing the Senate of holding house bills hostage yeah Bernadine there's been a lot of criticism about the plans that they've been discussing there in Austin this time I know it but they must get something done and if not then I'm thinking that this is something that Governor Abbott would possibly bring into a special session but I think as as Ian said earlier was in the public domain as much is about property tax relief because that's present that's what's going on now the

the the the voters are getting the uh constituents are getting their bills and they're skyrocketing so I think that something is going to happen it's just had we just have to find out what it will be not Republicans have full control they have for a long time I and uh and yet they've been butting heads this time over property tax relief and school vouchers and other things as well but they stood solid against gender treatments for teenagers under 18. we've been hearing about this issue for year

s it seems like it's been sweeping the country uh in in legislatures all across the country what's different this time here in Texas well I think Jason you nailed it in terms of like you know looking at the national aspect of this this isn't just about the state of Texas this is a you know this has been a national uh movement here on this legislation and this is you know this is you're seeing this as part of a broader wave rather than something specific in the state this is something that really

is just kind of being put on a national stage and Bud this makes the base Happy Well the reason it's on the national stage is because Republicans are happy now with the Supreme Court decision on abortion that doesn't turn voters out anymore uh Republicans have mixed feelings about same-sex marriage there that doesn't motivate voters like it used to but transgender rights anything involving sex and gender is the big issue that inflames Republican vote that's why it's in the house in the Senate t

hey must be seeing something in polling Bernadine yes and it is a safe issue for Republicans because as you as we've said most of the agree with some kind of Regulation and that's what's happening and when you talk about children you know people tend to agree when you're talking about doing something they feel is positive for their children and I think that's why it is a safe issue for republicans and they are in the majority so they can get done what they want to get done and Jason Democrats ar

e 50 50 on the issue so the Democrats can't really effectively fight yeah we're in that rare position where we actually have a little bit of time left over here so I have to ask the three of you with the legislature winding down here what are the chances that we see a special session because there's some big things left to hammer out what's the chance that we see multiple special sessions like we did the last time Ian Ayan sorry well it really kind of depends on what happened the last couple of

weeks I think you know the the governor is already kind of you know thrown out hints about a special session potentially on on a voucher related program later in the in the year and you know obviously certainly we talked about property taxes in the grid those are issues that could easily spur a special too if they don't get resolved before the end of the regular session and Bud the the governor has spent a lot of political capital on school vouchers in particular he's going to bring them back fo

r vouchers there's too much to get done in this last week you know whether they did or didn't finish work on the border Bill we didn't talk about that did they have a lot of big jobs ahead they don't they don't have time to do vouchers we're going to see a special session and I think that school choice will probably be in it there are too many issues out there and too many laws that have not been uh moved to the governor's desk and so we're going to see a special session and with that we are out

of time thank you to you all and thank you for watching we'll see you again next week