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Down to the wire: Texas Legislature OKs school funding, water, animal-friendly bills
With the end of the 2025 Texas legislative session approaching Monday's finish line, the House and Senate are engaging in legislative ping pong across the rotunda with bills approved by both chambers. In this version of ping pong, each chamber decides whether to accept the changes made by the other or escalate the debate by settling differences via a conference committee.
Here are some of the highlights from Thursday's floor sessions.
Sweeping legislation to boost funding for public schools was sent to the governor's desk Thursday, completing the "Texas Two Step" designed to change the face of K-12 education in Texas.
Step one fulfilled Gov. Greg Abbott's wish for a school voucher-like program through Senate Bill 2, which will make public money available to help pay for private education. He signed it into law in an elaborate ceremony earlier this month.
House Bill 2 is step two. It provides $4.2 billion for teacher pay raises, expands the merit-based pay program known as the Teacher Incentive Allotment, invests in teacher preparation and certification programs, and creates a new $1.3 billion fixed cost fund for districts to pay overhead expenses. It also rewrites the way the state's special education system works, setting aside $850 million more for such programs, and provides $430 million more for school safety.
More: Would school vouchers help Texas students with special needs? House to weigh 'school choice'
Abbott has signed legislation to expand the list of slogans available for license plates.
Senate Bill 1568 allows the Department of State Health Services to diversify plate design options to boost public interest and increase funding. The first redesign, 'Spay. Neuter. Adopt.', will offer Texans an easy way to support pets.
The Animal-Friendly License Plate Program, originally established in 1997, provides money for free and low-cost spay and neuter initiatives.
One part of the major legislative package to address the need for a reliable water supply in Texas made it across the finish line Thursday when the House agreed to the Senate's changes to a proposed constitutional amendment.
House Joint Resolution 7 is a referendum that would start the allocation of $1 billion annually to the Texas Water Fund for up to 10 years by redirecting a portion of state sales tax collections. The money will help pay for more water and to repair aging infrastructure for local entities. Texas voters will have final approval on the plan in November.
The other part of the package, Senate Bill 7, was still awaiting final approval Thursday. This is the legislation that would put the law on the books. The constitutional amendment would authorize the legislation.
More: Texas infrastructure fares better than U.S. average but needs major investment: report
Legislation to restrict land ownership from people "domiciled" in nations hostile to the United States was sent to the governor's desk Thursday.
Senate Bill 17, authored by Brenham Republican Sen. Lois Kolkhorst and sponsored by Rep. Cole Hefner, R-Mount Pleasant, in the House, seeks to bar individuals and companies from "adversarial nations" as identified by the U.S. national intelligence director — currently, China, Russia, Iran and North Korea — from owning land or real estate in Texas. It also gives the governor authority to add or remove countries from the list.
Each chamber offered its own version of the legislation, and the proposal sent to the governor was the work of a conference committee, which reconciled the differences.
The measure would grant the attorney general jurisdiction to investigate "land law" violations and would make it a state jail felony to knowingly purchase property despite the restrictions.
The conference committee report passed largely along party lines. Democratic Rep. Gene Wu of Houston said it would have the unintended consequence of hindering some members of the Asian community with legal standing to be in the United States from being able to purchase homes and businesses.
More: Some Texans, civil rights groups alarmed by bill to ban certain migrants from owning land
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Legislation on school funding, water, land ownership advances in Texas
