With Gov. Abbott set to sign the redistricting bill, the Texas House and Senate have other key pieces of legislation to discuss.
AUSTIN, Texas — After weeks of fights over redistricting, the Texas Legislature is focusing on other issues.
The Texas House and Texas Senate are advancing bills filed in response to the July Fourth Hill Country flooding.
It’s part of Gov. Abbott’s priorities for this second special session.
This week, bills were passed after we heard testimony from parents of girls who died at Camp Mystic. There are also millions of dollars in flood relief still to be debated.
After a day of grueling testimony, action was taken. Two pieces of legislation were passed by the House and the Senate, dedicated to improving camp safety.
State Senator Carol Alvarado said beyond safety, the lawmakers’ goal is to hold people accountable.
“I think continuing to get to the bottom of it to find out how things kind of became so dismantled in the communication process with local elected officials,” Sen. Alvarado told KHOU 11.
SB 2 is one piece of legislation dealing with emergency response.
This includes training for how justices of the peace handle mass casualty events in a disaster. Another bill would allocate $240 million in funding for disaster-related needs.
“Is there a way the state can come in and offset some of those costs to be proactive, to get out in front of what we’re seeing now, [which] is more and more flooding and turbulent weather across our state here,” Sen. Alvarado said.
Governor Abbott has already said he would sign the camp safety legislation into law, which takes effect in September.
Another priority for Gov. Abbott includes action on THC. The Texas Senate passed a full ban this week, but HB 6, regulating THC, has not made it out of committee yet.
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