Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Wednesday announced his top 25 priority Senate bills for the 2025 legislative session that began earlier this month.
They include a mix of conservative Republican priorities – including some that are likely to align with Gov. Greg Abbott’s emergency items that will be announced in Sunday’s State of the State address – as well as some infrastructure and health care items that could garner bipartisan support.
Topping the list were three previously announced items: the state budget (Senate Bill 1), school vouchers (SB 2), and a ban on the sale of THC products (SB 3).
One potential source of controversy with the Texas House will be Senate Bill 4, a proposal to lift the property tax homestead exemption to $140,000 for most homeowners and $150,000 for seniors.
“Some have argued that might actually, long term, might make it more difficult for homeowners, because what will happen is property values will just be raised, so it may not actually save money in terms of property taxes,” said Jon Taylor, chair of the department of political science and geography at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Items that are likely to attract Democratic votes include bills to create a research institute to combat Alzheimer’s disease and dementia (SB 5), to improve electric grid reliability (SB 6) and to increase investments in water infrastructure (SB 7).
Most of the rest of the agenda focuses on what Taylor terms “red meat” items for Republicans’ conservative base, including requiring local law enforcement to cooperate with the Trump Administration’s orders to round up and deport people who are in the U.S. without legal status (SB 8). A related bill (SB 16) is aimed at stopping non-citizens from voting – even though there is little evidence this has been a problem anywhere in the U.S.
“Another is about bail reform, one that Governor Abbott has talked about as well, related to violent criminals who have committed crimes while on bail (SB 9). I think we are going to see that,” Taylor said. “Others are much more along the lines of keeping certain conservative elements of the Republican Party happy, things such as placing the Ten Commandments in schools (SB 10), the so-called ‘Freedom to Pray in School (SB 11),’ which would allow the use of the Bible in teaching and courses.”
Patrick, who presides over the Texas Senate, has reserved the lowest 40 Senate bill numbers for his top priorities. He said he will soon announce his remaining 15 priority bills.
This is a developing story.
