AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Work started Friday afternoon on the second special session at the Texas State Capitol. But when the roll call took place in the Texas House, not enough members were in attendance to conduct business.
“Showing up is half the battle, and those present today will have a say in what we accomplish over the next 30 days, or hopefully fewer,” House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, told the members.
Burrows said he expected the House to have quorum by Monday. “So let’s be ready to work,” he told members.
The first special session ended Friday morning, shortly after for the sixth consecutive time the Texas House failed to reach the 100 member quorum needed to conduct business Friday morning, falling five members short as Democratic lawmakers remained out of state to block Republican redistricting plans.
True to their word, Republican leadership officially ended the first special session after just minutes and immediately launched a second special session Friday afternoon, with Gov. Greg Abbott expanding the agenda to include youth camp safety measures in addition to the 18 original items.
“Do not go very far,” Speaker Burrows, R-Lubbock, warned lawmakers before ending the first session, signaling the quick turnaround that followed.
The failed first special session leaves significant business unfinished, including relief for the victims of the Hill Country floods that killed more than 100 people over the July 4 weekend.
“It’s incredibly disappointing. We have people that need resources right now. We have some funding in some of those bills that I think would be critical,” said State Rep. Wes Virdell, R-Brady, who represents flood affected areas.
Second session launches with same agenda
More than 200 bills have already been filed in the new special session, including a similar congressional redistricting proposal that sparked the Democratic exodus. The plan would redraw Texas’s 38 congressional districts to give Republicans an advantage in picking up five additional House seats, with only a slight adjustment made to the West Texas portion of the map.
By Friday evening, State Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston, was the only confirmed Democrat from the quorum break planning to return to Texas. But House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu signaled that more will be likely to return.
“We have members who are like, let’s keep going into infinity. They want to fight,” Wu said. “But at the same time, we have, I mean, look, we came out of a bruising regular session, and people are tired. People are exhausted. Staff has been running, just doing like 16-18, hour days for two, three months now.”
“We’re human beings. We have a physical limit,” Wu added.
“All of us were able to stay together and see the end of this first session come to an end. We did exactly what we said we needed to do, and that is bringing a spotlight on this issue,” said Rep. Josey Garcia, D-San Antonio, speaking Thursday about the quorum break strategy.
National redistricting battle escalates
The Texas standoff has triggered a national redistricting race, with California preparing to release its own redistricting proposal on Monday. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said his state will not back down from its gerrymandering efforts while Republican states pursue similar tactics.
“We’re not waiting and we’re not anticipating that the states will be passive, particularly with the directive coming from President Donald Trump,” Newsom said.
Abbott dismissed California’s threats, calling Newsom “all talk and no action,” while hinting Friday that he may expand Texas’s redistricting efforts to include state House districts as well.
“We hold a lot more bullets in our belt that we’ll be ready to use when [we] need to,” Abbott said at a Friday press conference.
Wu said he believes the quorum break sets Democrats up for an eventual victory. “I think Democrats are going to get a win, our first win in a long time.” Wu said the quorum break has energized supporters.
“The people of the state of Texas are rising up. The people of America are rising up because everybody has had enough,” Wu said.
While Rep. Wu envisions a win for Democrats, Speaker Burrows expects state lawmakers to pass a slate of Republican priorities in the special session.
“We will be able to move immediately to pass a strong pro life bill, to protect women’s spaces, and more property tax protections without the threat of procedural gamesmanship getting in the way,” Burrows said.
House Republicans said they are confident the chamber will have a quorum when the second special session convenes Monday, though it remains unclear how many Democrats plan to return.
The second session can last up to 30 days, with all bills needing to be refiled and the legislative process starting over completely.
Gov. Abbott announces plans to address screwworm threat
On Friday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins publicly addressed “plans to fight back against threats posed by the New World screwworm.”
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, New World screwworms is an invasive species that burrows fly larvae into fresh wounds of living animals like livestock, pets and occasionally people. The damage they cause can be deadly.
During a press conference, Secretary Rollins announced a new sterile fly production facility in Edinburg, TX. The facility will breed three hundred million flies a week.
Additionally, the Trump Administration will invest in the development of technology and work closer with Mexico to track the screwworm population.
“We have a lot of data to collect. We have a lot of work to do. But we have to protect our beef and cattle industry in this country,” Rollins said.
Governor Abbott said during the press conference that screwworms, which feed on cattle and deer, could result in billions of losses each year.
“This is an issue that is essential to the cattle industry, to the food supply which are at risk,” Governor Abbott said.
The animal is named after their feeding behavior, with the larvae screwing into the flesh of their victims.
Larry Gilbert, a professor at UT Austin and the faculty director of the Brackenridge Field Lab, said he was more concerned about the impact New World screwworms could have on the deer population.
“The deer herds would be very vulnerable to this, and you don’t go around treating wounds on deer. Its hard to find them,” Gilbert said.
In June, the Department of Agriculture reported that screwworms were detected about 700 miles from the southern border. Cattle imports were suspended from Mexico to prevent an infestation in the states.
This drew concern from Governor Abbott earlier in the year. He established a Texas New World Screwworm Response Team.
According to Peyton Schuman, senior director of government relations for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, a screwworm outbreak could cost Texas around $1.8 billion in damages to livestock annually.
The state’s hunting industry could also face issues. During the 1960s outbreak, 80% of Texas’s white tailed deer died as a result of screwworms.
The species originates in Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and some countries in South America. The pests were mostly eradicated in the U.S. in the 1960s, but they have occasionally reemerged in Central America and Mexico.
According to the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension office, the population is controlled through the release of sterile males into the population. Using sterile populations for control was developed at the University of Texas in Austin by entomologists, Edward F. Knipling and Raymond C. Bushland.
Signs of an animal infested with the New World screwworm include:
- Foul-smelling wounds with maggots
- Animals biting or licking their wounds
- Lesions in bellybuttons, ears and where branding has occured
- Lethargy
If an infestation is suspected, Texas A&M Agrilife recommends you contact authorities, like the Texas Animal Health Commission and Texas Parks and Wildlife, and notify your veterinarian.
You should then inspect the animal for signs of infestation and collect any samples to give to authorities. There are several treatment options, including topical treatments.
Visa delays pose challenge for prospective international students
Dan Weber and his husband, from Dripping Springs, wrote a letter to their senator as a last resort in May. The couple said they have been trying since 2022 to sponsor 25-year-old Mexican citizen Angel to study at the University of Texas at Austin’s English Language Center. Emails between Weber’s husband and UT Austin staff reveal how, year after year, Angel deferred his admission to later semesters because he was unable to secure a student visa.
“This recent spring was the fourth time we tried,” Weber said.
The couple’s motivation to help Angel stems from a desire to pay it forward. According to Weber, Angel came to the US under humanitarian parole years earlier to see if he was a match for Weber, who was in kidney failure.
He wasn’t – but Weber said he still wanted to do something nice for someone who tried to do something nice for them.
In his letter to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Weber’s husband, Clement, wrote, “Our concern is that having been turned down for an F-1 visa before, he will face similar problems in this application.” He wrote about Angel’s goals to improve his English and pursue a career as a commercial pilot.
Over the years, the visa interviews have been quick, according to Weber. The shortest was under 10 minutes. The most recent under the Trump administration was the longest, but the consular post still denied Angel’s visa.
The spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, stated that their office has reviewed more than 124 visa cases since January, with 40 of those cases remaining pending.
A spokesperson for Doggett stated that in all the cases they have seen, there are long delays in communication and unanswered phone calls, including in instances where families are obtaining visitor visa interviews at embassies to return to the U.S.
Since January, when President Donald Trump took office, the U.S. State Department temporarily halted scheduling new visa appointments (the State Department has since lifted the pause), suspended issuing visas to individuals in 19 countries, and implemented a new policy to vet the social media profiles of foreign nationals seeking a U.S. visa. Applicants will now have to make their social media profiles public.
Last spring, the federal government also faced a slew of legal challenges after the State Department abruptly terminated approximately 4,700 international students from the Student Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS. The database tracks the minute-to-minute status of international students and workers in the U.S.
For its part — the State Department said consular posts “constantly adjust their schedules to allow for sufficient time to fully vet the cases before them” and told KXAN, “in every case, [it] will take the time necessary to ensure an applicant does not pose a safety risk to the safety and security of the United States.”
Waiting to see how student visas affect universities
Matthew Hughes is a former consular officer, and through his legal practice, BorderCall, he represented Angel in trying to obtain a student visa. Hughes said that while some challenges with visa applications have always existed, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get a visa in the United States.
Hughes said that it can have a ripple effect on college campuses.
“I imagine that they are dealing with a lot of phone calls. They are probably dealing with a lot of withdrawn applications. And I think, too, assuming that fewer people show up on these college campuses in the fall, that takes a way a bit from this, from the student experience, right?” Hughes said.
With less than two weeks before the start of the Fall 2025 semester, University of Texas at Austin officials say they still don’t have a clear picture of the impact, if any, that new federal visa policies and the SEVIS terminations last spring might have on its international student population.
University officials said they won’t officially know how many international students will enroll until the official census is recorded on the 12th day of classes this semester.
According to UT Austin data, from January to July 31, the university issued 1,220 I-20 forms to new prospective international students. In the same period in 2024, the university issued 1,322. Individual universities issue the I-20 forms, which visa applicants use to demonstrate their authorization to study at a specific institution.
UT Austin’s Texas Global officials say I-20 issuance data is an unreliable indicator of the international student body in any given year. According to Texas Global, international students admitted to multiple schools might receive an I-20 form from each institution.
Texas Global told KXAN that even if the university issues fewer I-20s in one year compared to the previous year, the number of students who ultimately enroll may remain constant. At UT Austin, students can arrive and enroll until the census date.
Officials with Texas Global also noted that, from year to year, there are variations in student behavior, such as the level of commitment among applicants to attend, as well as changes in a country or region’s economic situation, which can impact the I-20 issuance rate.
After repeated failed attempts, Dan Weber said they are embracing the idea that Angel might never be able to get a student visa. They are now thinking of ways they can be helpful to him abroad.
“We are kind of like ‘why can’t we make this happen for you?’” Weber said. “We are taking a lesson from him. He has never been like – ‘Oh, woe is me.’ He’s always been ‘This is what I have. Let me make the best of it.’ So, we are saying — OK, maybe the best of it for you isn’t in the United States.”
Flood victims work to rebuild as legislation stalls at Texas Capitol
Nathan and Audrey Rich, a newly married couple, felt like they had “adulting” figured out. They were renting a home and a workshop on a property in Kerr County. Audrey worked at the local bank across the street and Nathan ran his diesel repair company out of the workshop.
Then the Independence Day Floods happened.
The Rich’s home, about 1,000 feet from the river bank, took on three feet of water and mud that destroyed the interior of their home, and damaged tools and vehicles inside Nathan’s workshop.
Both Audrey and Nathan, along with Audrey’s parents and brothers, safely evacuated in hip-deep water. Audrey recalled the moment they went back to the home to see the damage.
“We walked in and it broke our hearts,” Audrey said through tears. Their wedding photos were thrown across the front yard. A pool table in the garage with significant value to the couple was ruined. Audrey said she saw Nathan cry for only the second time since they’ve been together.
“Everybody would come over no matter what the day, and we were the house in the center of all the houses, so everybody would come over and play pool and hang out,” Audrey explained.
The couple is now trying to find a new place to live while restarting their business and paying their bills. It looked like they were going to get some help from Austin after Gov. Greg Abbott called on all legislators to come back to the Capitol building in a special session.
One of the 18 items on the agenda was “relief funding for Hill Country Floods.” However, those efforts have been put on pause as Democrats and Republicans battle over redistricting proposal that would give Republicans an advantage to pick up five additional seats in Congress ahead of the 2026 midterms. More than 50 Texas House Democrats fled the state to block any votes from happening. A process known as breaking quorum.
Looking for financial help
The couple has moved into a camper located on one of their friend’s property and is taking one day at a time. Nathan said he applied for help through FEMA as soon as his internet was restored. An inspector with FEMA and their insurance company came out to look at the damage.
Audrey said they were able to get $10,600 from FEMA for the personal property they lost. However, they estimate there was about $60,000 worth of damage done to the house and the workshop.
Nathan started applying for grants through local groups and county governments and was able to secure about $30,000 worth solely for his business. He is not sure he would’ve gotten that money if it wasn’t for his business.
But the couple has not had the best luck getting money for their living situation. The Community Foundation of the Hill Country began doling out millions of dollars to different groups to help first responders, schools, businesses, and families impacted by the floods.
The foundation granted the Center Point Alliance for Progress $200,000 to allow them to distribute the money to families impacted in Center Point. Susan Walker, the alliance’s treasurer, said 58 families applied for funds.
“We have a committee that actually went to their houses to verify that they did have damage,” Walker explained. The group also was gifted private donations that increased their fund to about $270,000.
Walker said the alliance is giving out money in two phases. The first phase cut a $2,500 check for each family that applied. For the Riches, that money paid one month of rent for the workshop.
“We don’t have the money to just rebuild, go buy a house, go rent somewhere,” Audrey said. “We need help to restart.”
In total, Walker said their fund will be able to pay each family about $4,500 to $4,600, but she understands more needs to be done to help people.
“It would be nice for our government to want to help but we’re going to try to make sure they’re taken care of regardless,” Walker said.
Collateral damage
Kerr County residents waiting for funds to come from the state are becoming collateral damage as a political drama plays out in Austin. Texas Democrats have vowed to prevent quorum until the first special session is ended.
Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, said Friday will be the last chance for Democrats to come back to the Texas House floor. If a quorum is not met, both chambers will end the session and Abbott has vowed to call another special session immediately beginning Friday.
Both sides have pointed fingers at each other when it comes to the lack of legislative help for the flood victims. Republicans have regularly criticized Democrats for leaving the state. Abbott posted on his X account Wednesday, “These representatives were elected to cast votes not run away from their responsibilities.”
On the other side, Texas Democrats have accused Abbott and Republican leadership of using the floods as leverage to get a new congressional map passed to appease President Donald Trump. On Tuesday, nine Senate Democrats walked out of the chamber just before it considered and approved the controversial redistricting map that started the quorum break.
“That’s why we walked out – because this session should only be about flood relief, and we refuse to engage in a corrupt process,” the group said in a released statement.
Some House Democrats have even argued the governor has the power to transfer money within different state departments to help provide relief for flood victims. State Rep. Armando Walle, D-Houston, wrote an opinion piece in the Houston Chronicle where he said, “Gov. Abbott has the power to make that happen efficiently, and without inappropriately tying this tragedy up in partisan politics or political games.”
Shannon Halbrook, a fiscal policy analyst at Every Texan, a nonpartisan policy advocate, confirmed the governor does have the power to transfer money to different state agencies during an emergency. It’s a process called budget execution.
“The governor has to make a proposal to the Legislative Budget Board, which is a state agency that’s in really in charge of the budget made up of members of the legislature, and then they review it,” Halbrook explained.
It has been used in the past. Halbrook said in the 2022-2023 biennium there was $415 million moved around for some behavioral health support for the Uvalde victims, and then $1.3 billion was moved around for Operation Lone Star.
But Halbrook said the governor can not execute this power when the legislature is in a regular or special session.
One day at a time
The Riches say they are not too focused about what’s happening in Austin. “I got way more going on than to sit and watch the news and be mad at Democrats or be mad at Republicans, or whatever,” Nathan said.
His business is running once again. He and his wife say they are taking things one day at a time.