Looking back as the dust settles in Austin, looking ahead as lawmakers to reconvene

A  tight pocketbook due to declining oil and gas revenues; A zealous Senate countered by a cautious House; a noncommittal governor approaching a bid for re-election; a faction of House members set on killing hundreds of bills; a widening gap between the interests of business leaders and social conservatives and between state and local interests; and a hyper-partisan 2016 national election cycle.

The results after 140 days in Austin? The lowest rate of bill passage - 12.4 percent - since 1891; Threats of physical violence among lawmakers; A special session featuring 20 items up for debate, including contentious bathroom regulation; House and Senate leaders - both with higher disapproval ratings than when session began - forced to come together after holding each other's bills hostage; and a Texas electorate holding firm in its faith in the state's economy.

Gov. Greg Abbott looks on as Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (left) and House Speaker Joe Straus shake hands May 27 at the Capitol.

Though many try, it's near impossible to predict how the ingredients of the political brew floating around Austin in January will actually turn out come June. There is no calculus for how the varying Lone Star interests - state vs local; social vs economic; urban vs rural; etc. - will stack up against the inner political workings under the Hill Country granite and limestone Capitol dome in Austin.

With a loaded special session ahead, the state's leaders seek to shift the tensions of the most grueling month of May in recent memory from a near fistfight on the House floor to meaningful conversations of consensus on issues affecting all Texans - from property taxes and school finance to abortion funding and deciding who can use what bathroom.

Political calculations aside, the Texas commercial construction industry managed to make meaningful reforms while fending off harmful legislation. Like most legislation this session, AGC Texas Building Branch bills were caught in the House-Senate crossfire, but, nonetheless, two major bills reached the finish line and were signed into law. Though proving to be relatively chaotic and unpredictable, the 2017 session has left AGC-TBB with plenty of work to be done in the way of studying and framing key issues and building alliances ahead of what's slated to be a taxing primary election season. 

The 85th Texas Legislature: Construction Industry Roundup

• CPRC § 38.001 - HB 744 by Farrar (Meyer floor amendment) - Passed House 103-45. Died in Senate.
• CPRC § 38.001 - HB 2457 by Meyer - Passed House Civil Jurisprudence 7-0. Died in House Calendars.
• Recovery for frivolous state suits - SB 813 by Hughes/Meyer - PASSED, BUT VETOED

• expanding permissible uses of job order contracting (JOC)
• expanding sovereign immunity
• expanding procurements via purchasing co-ops

Special session agenda outlines divide between traditional and newcomer conservatives

After the  Texas Legislature adjourned on Memorial Day, the idea of a special session seemed to be on the one hand a necessity. But on the flip side, it appeared to be a fruitless endeavor considering the events of the preceding 140 days.

Not only were Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Joe Straus feuding over their latest round of political "chicken" - each side holding the other's priorities hostage to the political process - but a palpable divide in the House between Tea Party and traditional conservatives had resulted in hundreds of bills being "chubbed" (basically, stalling bills past deadlines) to death on the House floor. 

Since then, Straus and Patrick have been loading their political firepower and exchanging barbs as they continue to place the blame on the other over TV and radio waves across the state. Meanwhile, Gov. Greg Abbott has declared 20 items as eligible for debate during the special session slated to begin in Austin on July 18. Recently, Abbott has joined Patrick in criticizing the speaker. 

Gov. Greg Abbott

"In my conversations and also in my perceptions, it seemed like [Straus'] priorities differed from, for example, these priorities that I have on the special session call," Abbott said. "His priorities differed from the deals that we were trying to broker at the end of the session."

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick had been urging Abbott to call a special session ever since the Legislature failed to agree on two of his top aspirations for the session - a change to the way local property tax elections are held, and a bill to regulate which bathrooms can be used by transgender people. Now, both of those issues are on the special session docket. 

House Speaker Joe Straus , who had been optimistic about avoiding a special session, prioritized passing the budget and a "sunset safety net" bill to keep certain state agencies funded for two more years until their periodic reviews could be finished.

	Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick

While the House and Senate agreed on a budget, Patrick held up the sunset bill as collateral for the House not passing his versions of the bathroom bill and property tax bill. However, Straus had made clear that he would not budge on the Senate's version of the property tax bill dealing with local rollback elections. 

Now, the governor is calling for many of the big-ticket items that the Legislature failed to pass in five months - including most of Patrick's wish list - to be worked out in the coming weeks. In a recent email to supporters, Straus indicated his Senate counterpart was to blame.

"Why is a special session necessary? During our regular 140-day session earlier this year, the Texas Senate never voted to keep a number of state agencies, including the Texas Medical Board, in operation," the email said. 

Speaker Joe Straus

Perhaps most interesting will be how the divide plays out among conservatives - particularly in the House - willing to compromise and move legislation and those self-described 'Freedom Caucus' members who appear to stop at nothing to kill legislation as protest against a speaker they see as too moderate. 

The divide was highlighted during the so-called 'Mother's Day Massacre' when Freedom Caucus members put a halt to over 100 House bills as a deadline for the legislation passed. Among those bills was an expansion of stem-cell treatment that could help one House member's wheelchair-bound wife. 

"It does some remarkable things," Rep. Drew Springer, (R-Muenster) said through tears. "It might give somebody like my wife a chance to walk."  

The interlude put a brief pause on the "massacre" of bills, but the Tea Party-aligned group continued momentum up until the Legislature adjourned, killing over 250 House bills in the final week by "chubbing," or delaying votes. 

All the while, the Texas Legislature accumulated its lowest rate of bill passage since 1891. Only 12.4 percent of the 6,631 bills - second-most in state history - filed this session were actually passed and sent to the governor. Fifty of the 1,211 bills passed have been vetoed by Gov. Abbott. 

	Sen. John Whitmire

A Democrat from Houston, Sen. John Whitmire, who has served in the Legislature since 1982, attempted to sum up the seemingly contradictory statistics:

Abbott's agenda for July's special session

 

Biennial Bill Caption Contest

 

1. Relating to the operation of an electric unicycle

 

2. Encouraging the President of the United States to refrain from threatening elected officials

 

3. Relating to operating a motor vehicle while another person is occupying the trunk

 

4. Relating to the regulation of raising or keeping six or fewer chickens by a political subdivision

 

5. Urging Texans not to use the flag emoji of the Republic of Chile when referring to the Texas flag

 

6. Relating to the operation of a golf cart or utility vehicle on a public highway in certain counties

 

7. Relating to a franchise tax credit for entities that establish a grocery store or healthy corner store in a food desert

 

8. Relating to a sales and use tax exemption for certain feminine hygiene products for a limited period

 

9. Relating to a study by the Department of Agriculture of the transfer of water from the Mississippi River

 

10. Relating to restrictions on the use of certain sprays, Tasers, and stun guns against public school students

 

11. Relating to the prosecution of the offense of impersonating a public servant

 

12. Relating to the creation of the offense of bestiality

 

13. Relating to standing in a roadway

 

14. Relating to the solicitation of pen pals by certain inmates of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice

 

15. Relating to honesty in state taxation

 

2017 winner: "Relating to the taking of certain feral hogs and coyotes using a hot air balloon" (HB 3535 by Keough)

 

2015 winner: "Relating to the establishment of an unmanned aircraft program in the office of the governor" (HB 3429 by Lozano)

 

2013 winner: "Relating to liability for injuring a trespassing sheep or goat" (HB 1819 by Kacal)