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Legislative session wraps up
The dust hasn’t quite settled on the 2025 legislative session, but here’s a sampling of bills already sent to Gov. Greg Abbott.
• A ban on clubs supporting gay teens in public schools won final legislative passage on Saturday. The measure sponsored by state Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, would prohibit schools from authorizing or sponsoring student clubs based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Several Democrats argued passionately against the bill, the Texas Tribune reported.
“Getting silence in schools from the LGBTQ community, which is what this bill is designed to do, will not stop your kids from being gay,” state Rep. Erin Zwiener, D-Driftwood, said. “It will just make them afraid to come out.'
Supporters of the bill said it solidifies parents’ rights to determine their child’s exposure to diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, including discussions about LGTBQ issues and gender identity.
• Depending on inevitable court challenges, every public-school classroom in Texas could be required to display the Ten Commandments. A similar law in Louisiana has been ruled unconstitutional by a federal court and is under appeal.
• Texas voters in November will be asked to approve raising the homestead exemption from $100,000 to $140,000 for all homeowners and to $200,000 for homeowners who are 65 and older or have a disability, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
“I’m looking forward to what I think will be a record turnout by the public,” said Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, the bills’ author. “This is great news, because these commitments — once they’re enshrined in the constitution — are going to be there forever.”
The increased property tax exemptions overwhelmingly passed both the House and Senate. If approved by voters, they will cost the state’s general revenue fund about $3 billion. Another $3.5 billion will reimburse public school districts for reduced local property tax revenue.
These exemptions are only for homesteads and don’t apply to rental or business properties. A separate bill increased the business personal property tax exemption from $2,500 to $125,000.
• Legislation banning non-citizens from China, North Korea, Iran and Russia from owning property in the state, except for a homestead, is headed to the governor’s desk, The Dallas Morning News reported.
“Texas is not for sale. It is not for sale to our enemy countries,” Senate Bill 17’s author Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, said during a news conference.
Some Democratic legislators decried the bill as racist and creating obstacles to immigrants achieving economic success.
“The danger of this type of legislation is that it is step-by-step repeating the same laws that were passed before we got to the Japanese internment almost 100 years ago,” Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, said during a House debate on the bill.
Under the final version of the measure, citizens of those four countries cannot be a majority owner of a business or own more than one home in Texas. Ownership of agricultural land, industrial property, oil rights, or water rights is also banned.
• A bipartisan bill passed last week will require oil and gas operators to plug wells that have been inactive for at least 15 years, beginning in September 2027, the Texas Standard reported. Regulators estimate there are more than 150,000 inactive wells in the state. Of that number, 8,900 have no established owner because the company no longer exists or has gone bankrupt.
At least eight of these so-called orphan wells have become conduits for water traveling beneath them and have burst since last October, costing the state millions of dollars to plug them. The Texas Oil and Gas Association applauded passage of the bill.
The bill “recognizes that once a well has reached the end of its economic life and there is no useful purpose, the owner should be responsible for the plugging,” said Todd Staples, association president.
The Texas Railroad Commission will be responsible for enforcing the new regulations.
• The Legislature has passed a statewide ban on all products containing TCH, the psychoactive ingredient in many products being legally sold in shops across the state. Now Gov. Gregg Abbott faces an onslaught of political pressure from business interests, veterans’ groups and others to veto the measure, which could wipe out the $8 billion hemp industry.
“This is to save an entire generation from being hooked on drugs,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said at a news conference.
Abbott has not taken a position on the issue. He has the authority to either the sign the bill into law, allow it to become law without his signature, or veto the measure.
Many opponents of the ban said they are willing to place regulations on the consumable hemp industry. Currently there are no age limits or marketing rules in place. Stores that sell these products must register with the state, but only three employees with the Texas Department of State Health Services are responsible for inspecting more than 8,500 locations in Texas.
Gary Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He published a number of community newspapers in Texas during a 30-year span, including in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin and Cedar Park. Email:[email protected].
