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AUSTIN — Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced his top 30 bills for the legislative session Monday, keeping a focus on property tax relief, improving power grid reliability and teacher pay raises among his main items.
Patrick’s top priorities also included several red meat items, such as bills that would ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs, make voter fraud a felony and attack transgender rights.
The priority bills get low numbers to signify their importance to the Legislature’s upper chamber and to Patrick, who presides over the Senate and wields nearly unmatched power in deciding which legislation makes it to the governor’s desk.
As he said in his inaugural address, Patrick would increase the homestead exemption from $40,000 to $70,000 along with a second nonspecific bill to address property tax relief. In North Texas, homeowners would see their tax bill cut roughly between $350 and $400 with the additional homestead exemption, depending on the tax rate of their school district.
After the state budget, Patrick’s top legislative priority was making voter fraud a felony. The criminal penalty for voter fraud was reduced to a misdemeanor in 2021′s omnibus election bill Senate Bill 1. Numerous bills doing just that have already been filed.
In November, Patrick said he would not let lawmakers leave Austin until they pass laws that would lead to the construction of new natural gas power plants. He also announced his intention to address parental choice, create a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years for crimes committed with guns and expand mental health care access in rural communities. Those and bills that would raise teacher pay and give retired teachers a 13th paycheck were given prime spots as low-numbered bills.
Patrick is also placing emphasis on red meat cultural issues that have come to dominate the Republican agenda for the past several years.
“I believe Texans support our priorities because they largely reflect the policies supported by the conservative majority of Texans,” Patrick said in a news release.
Sen. Carol Alvarado, a Houston Democrat who chairs the Senate Democratic Caucus, said she was “glad to see the Lt. Governor has prioritized several issues long championed by Democrats, including increasing teacher pay, additional compensation for retired teachers, improving mental health access and addressing health professional shortages.”
“Unfortunately, many of the other listed priorities continue attacks on vulnerable Texans,” Alvarado said in an emailed statement. “We remain committed to working with all of our colleagues to find solutions for the issues facing everyday Texans including strengthening our economy, the power grid, our public schools and access to health care as well as equitable tax relief.”
While Patrick said most of the bills will pass with bipartisan support, the supermajority the GOP maintains in the Senate will allow him to pass legislation largely without Democrat input. Because of this, bills such as Senate Bill 12 that would ban children from attending drag shows, will require little if any compromise from Republicans.
“It is a menu thick with red meat, no question,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor. “The way that Patrick governs has been increasingly from the right and for the right.”
Diversity, equity and inclusion programs — practices designed to elevate nonwhite voices within organizations — rapidly have become a target among Texas’ top Republicans in recent weeks. Rhetoric surrounding the issue has resembled Republican-led attacks on critical race theory in recent years.
Gov. Greg Abbott issued a directive to state agencies and universities last week stating DEI programs are illegal and should be eliminated at state agencies and universities. Patrick followed up on Abbott’s executive action last week, vowing to “wipe out” DEI during a town hall organized by the state Republican party.
Patrick also made critical race theory a top priority as part of an agenda taking aim at Texas’ public universities. His list of bills includes a ban the teaching of critical race theory from higher education as well as a bill that would eliminate tenure at colleges and universities, which critics say could undermine the state’s ability to attract and retain top talent at its higher learning institutions.
Proposed legislation also includes Senate Bill 14, which would ban gender-affirming care for children, and Senate Bill 15, which appears to ban transgender women from participating in college sports. Abbott has said he would support banning transgender athletes from competing in collegiate sports.
The emergence of culture war issues as top priorities is somewhat of a surprise from Patrick, who previously announced