Texas Legislature Will Be Headed Back For Special Session, Question Is 'When'

Some of Gov. Greg Abbott's priority bills died when House Democrats walked out Sunday.

Video Transcript:

KEN MOLESTINA: Still no word when Governor Greg Abbott will decide to call Texas lawmakers back for a special session. He said there will be more than one session after some of his priority bills died after house Democrats walked out late Sunday night. Political reporter Jack Fink is in the CBSN DFW studio to explain what happens moving forward now Jack.

JACK FINK: All right, Ken. The governor's office is keeping a very tight lid on timing of the special session, whether it will happen this month or later this summer. Today on Facebook, the governor signed into law one of his emergency or priority items, a bill that would stop cities from defunding their police departments.

Republican lawmakers and members of law enforcement associations joined him, but there are two key bills that failed to pass, and they include the very controversial Elections Integrity Bill, which prompted house Democrats to walk out late Sunday night before the midnight deadline to pass it. That was also one of the governor's emergency items. In addition, another one of his priorities, bail reform, failed in the house. He has said both will come back in a special session, but bail reform means something very different to Republicans and Democrats.

ROYCE WEST: What I don't want to see happen is that if a person is working, and they have committed an offense or allegedly committed an offense that they have to stay in jail until that particular case is heard just because they can't afford bail. And so yes, there's still more work to be done on that.

DAN PATRICK: Bail reform is important because we have a lot of judges letting a lot of bad people, particularly in our big cities, out of jail who shouldn't be on the streets. So that was a very important law. That'll be on a special session I'm sure.

JACK FINK: The governor has said he wants lawmakers to iron out the details before any special session begins so they can quickly pass legislation. He's also threatened to veto the legislative budget so members and their staffs can't get paid past August 31st. We'll have more on that coming up at 5:00. Ken.

KEN MOLESTINA: All right, Jack. We'll see you then. Thank you.

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