Texas Tribune Brief

The lower chamber, led by House Speaker Dade Phelan, is trying to start off on a new foot with a controversial election bill that blew up during the regular session.

Abbott also put border security and restoring funding to the Legislative branch — which he vetoed last month — on the special session agenda.

The latest, most transmissible strain of COVID-19 is spreading rampantly in countries with low vaccination rates, and health experts are bracing for impact in Texas.

In a new court filing, the attorney general's office said the governor properly used his veto power when he nixed funding for the Legislature in response to House Democrats’ walkout over a Republican priority bill on elections.

The legislative branch budget includes funding for House and Senate lawmakers, their staffers and those working in nonpartisan legislative agencies. In total, more than $410 million was allocated in the 2022-23 fiscal budget.

The former president appeared at the border Wednesday with Abbott, who has promised to build a state-funded border wall.

Their Texas swing is part of a larger effort by senior administration officials who are fanning out across the country this week to encourage vaccinations ahead of the administration’s self-imposed goal of hitting a 70% countrywide vaccination rate by July 4.

Most of the money will be used to help Texas colleges and universities expand or add new programs in areas with employment shortages and provide additional aid to students.

The governor vetoed funding for legislative operations, including staff salaries, in retaliation to House Democrats fleeing the Capitol in late May to block passage of a controversial elections bill.

Abbott’s office did not specify what legislative priorities will be included on the special session agenda and said in an advisory that such items “will be announced prior to the convening of the special session.”