91. The Last Word - Texas Legislature Opens the 89th Legislative Session

In this week’s Last Word, Bob Rivard explores the opening of the Texas Legislature’s 89th biennial session, unpacking the pressing issues and political dynamics shaping the state’s future. From the ongoing school voucher debate and public education funding crisis to the challenges of housing, transportation, and water conservation, Bob offers sharp insights on what’s at stake for Texans.

He also reflects on the broader implications of one-party rule and its impact on transformative policymaking. Tune in for a candid analysis of where Texas is headed—and what it means for San Antonio and beyond. Watch, listen, or read below.

The Last Word: Texas Legislature Opens the 89th Legislative Session

The Texas legislature was gaveled into its 89th biennial session on Tuesday, and from now until June 2, we will be watching the 31 members of the Texas Senate led by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and the 150 representatives in the Texas House as they consider the thousands of bills introduced every two years. Most, of course, won’t go anywhere.

Republicans hold commanding majorities in both houses, 19-12 in the Senate and 83-65 with two vacancies in the House. With Greg Abbott firmly in power as Texas governor, an office he has held since 2015, there is no mistaking who holds power in the state and the legislature.

When some Republican House members joined Democrats in thwarting Abbott’s push for a controversial school voucher bill in 2023, Abbott retaliated by vetoing many of the bills passed and waiting his signature, including a bipartisan $4.5 billion public education bill. He then used his funds and out-of-state fund provided by ultra-conservative Republican donors to target those Republicans in the 2024 primaries. Most were defeated as the party and its elected leaders continued to shift rightward. House Speaker Dade Phelan, who resisted Abbott and Patrick on the voucher bill, has lost that leadership position as a result. A new, more conservative speaker of the house was set to be elected last week.

This week, the Texas Tribune published a useful Texas Legislature 101 Guide for people unfamiliar with the legislative process in Texas. You can read it on the Tribune’s site or on the San Antonio Report. As one lobbyist said, the system is designed to kill bills, not pass them, so only a fraction of the thousands of proposed bills will make it out of committee in the coming months. Even fewer will be passed and then signed into law by the governor.

It’s now been 30 years since Texas Democrat Ann Richards served as governor. Since then, no Democrat has held statewide office. The country has become a gerrymandered, divided nation of red and blue states, with only a few so-called “purple states” remaining politically competitive. Texas was one of the first states to become a one-party state. Democrats may hold individual Senate and House seats and even represent a majority in major cities, including San Antonio, but they are largely powerless to effect public policy statewide.

That, in my view, is at the heart of the state’s failures to address and adequately fund the most pressing issues in the state, starting with public education. Many Republicans, including Gov. Abbott, speak disparagingly of public schools in Texas, even as they struggle with some of the lowest per capita student funding in the country. Abbott is expected to get his school voucher bill this session. Hopefully, he will allow legislators to use the billions in state surplus funds to provide significant new funding for the state’s 1,200 public school districts.

Even if you do not have school-age children, you should know that many of those districts have less funding than they did before the pandemic, and subsequent budget cuts have left the state’s 5.5 million public school students and their teachers woefully lacking the support they need to succeed. Each year schools remain underfunded is a year of disinvestment in our state’s future, particularly for minority children attending inner-city schools.

There are, of course, other pressing issues. Tens of billions of dollars in windfall revenue left from the last session and a robust economy give legislators options that other states can only dream of. Yet it is far from certain that any of the most pressing issues will be acted on in any meaningful way.

Water conservation and management bills are badly needed to protect cities against the next drought of record. Republicans continue to resist calls to connect the Texas energy grid to other neighboring states to hedge against another catastrophic system failure during one of the increasingly extreme weather events. Interstate 35 exists in a state of gridlock between Austin and San Antonio, yet state leaders seem determined to stop any efforts to fund mass transit options. Mass transit is seen as an East Coast/West Coast Democratic thing. Texas spends tens of billions building more highways and more lanes. Transportation experts point out that new highways and more lanes only attract more vehicles. Congestion remains.

Texas remains the fastest-growing state, and its five major metros continue to rank among the fastest-growing cities, yet housing starts lag badly behind the inflow of new residents. The housing crisis grows worse in cities like San Antonio by the year, with housing prices rising and high interest rates for mortgages. Rents continue to rise as more and more families are pushed out of home ownership.

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hager has said lawmakers will have $194.6 billion available in general revenue for the 2026-2027 biennium. The estimated funds include $23.8 billion left over from the 2024-25 biennium. The Rainy Day Fund, the state’s savings account, will exceed $20 billion this year, a cap set in the Texas Constitution that requires lawmakers to draw down at least 10% of those funds for worthy projects.

Will the state’s wealth lead to transformative policy initiatives that move Texas forward? I’m a realist. As long as Texas remains a state where one party holds all the power, we can expect the ruling party to act in its own interests, not those of the state’s 30 million citizens.

I hope I am wrong.

That’s my Last Word for this week. Thank you for watching, listening, or reading.

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