Governor Abbott Announces Fourth Special Legislative Session
November 7, 2023 | Austin, TX
The 4th Special Session will be focused on Education and Border Security.
Governor Abbott Announces Special Session #4
The third special session ended this afternoon with the Texas House and Senate immediately beginning the fourth session called by Governor Greg Abbott.
Third Special Session Results
Governor Abbott’s third special session agenda called for bills addressing education, border security, the Colony Ridge illegals development, and prohibiting COVID vaccine mandates by private employers.
Only two bills passed in the third special session:
SB 7 by Senator Mayes Middleton will prohibit employers from requiring COVID vaccines for employees as a condition of employment.
SB 4 by Senator Pete Flores will increase penalties for human smuggling and operating a stash house, establishing a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years for violations.
Other bills regarding border security, Colony Ridge and Governor Greg Abbott’s priority, School Choice legislation, died in the House.
Fourth Special Session
The fourth special session begins this evening, focused on education and border security.
A draft of a new School Choice bill, this time from the House, has already been placed on the table for consideration in the fourth special session.
The bill, HB 1 by Representative Brad Buckley, would set up Education Savings Accounts, but would additionally include teacher pay raises and additional monies for school districts. As currently written, each qualified child would be allocated $10,500 for private school tuition and expenses and home schooled children would qualify for $1,000 a year toward expenses.
The business of testing students would be a beneficiary under this plan, as each student that receives an ESA would be required to take a state assessment or a nationally norm-reference test. Student testing is big business and all sorts of government-required learning can be wrapped up into them.
Please be in prayer for meaningful legislation to pass this session to address these urgent issues.