Abbott orders another Texas special session to pass voting bill
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Greg Abbott is ordering another special legislative session to again try passing a GOP voting bill.
The announcement Thursday comes after Democrats left the state in protest to again prevent Republicans from changing elections laws.
More than 50 Democrats left Texas for Washington, D.C., on July 12 and were on the cusp of running out the clock on the current special session and torpedoing the sweeping voting package for a second time since May.
Abbott said the second special legislative session will begin at noon Saturday — and with an expanded agenda.
In addition to the election bill that caused House Democrats to flee the state at the start of the first special session, which ends Friday, the 17-item agenda still includes well-known Abbott priorities as well as a number of additions, including the spending of federal Covid-19 relief funds.
Abbott has vowed to call special session after special session until the Democrats return from Washington and provide the quorum that the state House needs to pass the elections legislation. He initially said he would make sure the second special began the day after the first one ends.
The second special session is approaching unfold amid continued uncertainty over the fate of paychecks for over 2,000 legislative staffers. Abbott vetoed their pay after House Democrats staged a walkout over the elections bill in the regular session that ended in May, and the funding was set to start Sept. 1.
