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Public Opinion and the Lt. Governor’s Priority Bills for the 86th Legislature
March 11, 2019 | By: Jim Henson, Joshua Blank

Lt. Governor Dan Patrick released 30 priority bills for the current legislative session Friday, conveniently mapped onto the numbering of Senate Bills 1-30. We published a similar list when Governor Abbott used the power of the governorship to shape the legislative agenda with his declaration of emergency items in February, prior to the most recent University of Texas / Texas Tribune Poll. The overlap between the Lt. Governor’s priorities and those previously announced by the governor means that several of the items below provide a useful update for that post, too. (To that end, we’ve included the questions from the February poll that were based on the Governor’s emergency items under SB 1.)

The items below reproduce the grouping in the Lt. Governor’s announcement (hence the quotation marks). You can search for specific items on this page using the bill number – we have data relevant to most but not all items. The bill numbers in each entry link to each bill history at the Texas Legislature Online site. 

"Taxpayer Protections"

SB 1 – State Budget (Here)

SB 2 – Property Tax Reform (Results: here, here, here, here, here, and here)

SB 5 – Increase the Homestead Exemption (Here)

SB 30 – Taxpayers Right to Know – Bond Transparency (Here)

"Life, Liberty and Conservative Texas Values"

SB 9 – Enhance Election Security (Results)

SB 13 – Ethics Reform (Results: here, here, and here)

SB 17 – Protecting Religious Liberties (Results)

SB 19 – Protecting Second Amendment Rights (Results)

SB 22 – Defund Abortion Providers; SB 23 – Texas Born-Alive Infant Protection Act; SB 24 – Alternatives to Abortion Information Act (Results: here and here)

"Protecting Texas’ Future"

SB 3 – Across-the-Board Pay Raise for Teachers; SB 4 – School Finance Reform (Here)

SB 6 – Disaster Response Act; SB 7 – Flood Disaster Plan – Matching Fund; SB 8 – Statewide Flood Plan (Results: here and here)

SB 10 – Student Targeted Mental Health; SB 11 – School Safety Act (Here)

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