Governor Abbott Convenes 2nd Special Session to Tackle Key Texas Priorities

On August 15, 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced a special session of the 89th Legislature, starting at 10:00 AM in Austin. The session aims to address urgent issues, including youth safety, disaster preparedness, and regulatory reforms.

The agenda covers a wide range of priorities:

- Youth Safety: Strengthening safety measures at youth camps.

- Disaster Preparedness: Improving early warning systems and infrastructure in flood-prone areas following severe storms in July 2025, alongside relief funding and local FEMA assistance.

- Regulatory Reforms: Streamlining rules to enhance disaster preparedness and recovery.

- Education: Replacing the STAAR test with better tools for assessing student progress and school accountability.

- Property Taxes: Providing relief and imposing spending limits on entities with taxing authority.

- Hemp Regulation: Criminalizing the provision of hemp-derived products to minors under 18

- Abortion Protections: Safeguarding unborn children and mothers from abortion-related harm.

- Lobbying Restrictions: Prohibiting taxpayer-funded lobbying activities.

- Women’s Privacy: Protecting privacy in sex-segregated spaces.

- Election Integrity: Enhancing the Attorney General’s authority to investigate and prosecute election crimes.

- Redistricting: Adopting a congressional redistricting plan.

- Additional Measures: Strengthening protections against title theft and deed fraud, reducing impact fees for builders using water conservation measures, protecting human trafficking victims from liability for non-violent acts, and shielding law enforcement from public disclosure of unsubstantiated complaints.

Secretary of State Jane Nelson will notify legislators of the session. This special session reflects Governor Abbott’s focus on addressing immediate recovery needs and advancing long-term policy goals for Texas’ resilience, safety, and governance.