(The Center Square) – The Texas Senate continues to pass legislative priorities, from affordable housing to parental rights. Most bills received bipartisan support.
Senators passed a bill Wednesday designed to remove barriers to affordable housing filed by state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston. It passed with bipartisan support.
According to a 2024 state comptroller housing report, Texas faces a shortfall of 306,000 homes.
“Local regulations and permitting issues are stifling our housing supply, rendering our communities unable to meet present and future growth,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said.
Bettencourt’s bill, SB 15, “with more legislation to come, will make a huge difference in allowing countless Texans to pursue the American dream.”
The bill would implement a series of regulatory reforms, including removing municipal minimum lot size regulations in Texas’ fast-growing cities, “allowing developers to build more affordable homes without compromising neighborhood character,” Bettencourt said, The Center Square reported.
The Senate also passed state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst’s bill to ban foreign adversaries from purchasing land in Texas with bipartisan support. The bill would prohibit certain foreign entities from purchasing private property in Texas as a matter of national security. It would prohibit the purchase of certain private property by government entities, companies, and individuals from hostile countries and their actors named in the three most recent Annual Threat Assessment reports prepared by the director of National Intelligence. It would ban private property ownership by entities, not foreign business investments in Texas, The Center Square reported. The bill received bipartisan support.
The Texas Senate also passed several education bills, including allowing for prayer and religious text reading in public school and displaying the Ten Commandments, The Center Square reported.
It also passed a bill to ban age-inappropriate books in public school libraries. SB 13 passed its second reading; a final passage is expected soon. The bill, filed by state Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, would increase parental oversight of children’s education records, including school library materials. It would modify the definition of objectionable content to match the Federal Communications Commission’s definition and allow districts to implement additional restrictions. It also would require school districts to establish a Local School Library Advisory Council to include parents, educators, and community members to make recommendations on content available in school libraries.
The Texas Senate also passed a Parental Bill of Rights, which affirms parents are the primary decision-makers in their child’s education, bans Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) ideology in K-12 public schools, restricts teachings of sexual orientation and gender identity, simplifies public school transfers, and reforms the parental-ISD complaint process, The Center Square reported. SB 12, filed by state Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, passed its second reading; its final passage is expected soon.
The Texas Senate also passed a bill with bipartisan support to ban Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in Texas.
“Since 2019, retailers across Texas have exploited a state agriculture law to sell life-threatening, unregulated forms of THC to Texans, including children,” Patrick said. After conducting his own investigation, he found that the stores often target children and sell to them, with many stores located next to public schools – even though the products are only permitted to be sold to individuals over age 21. In one shop, they were openly selling gummies with 750 milligrams of THC, he said, “which is powerfully strong.”
“I will not allow retailers to circumvent the law and put Texans’, and especially children’s, lives in danger,” Patrick said, which is why he made the bill a legislative priority. “These rogue retailers are selling THC products containing several times more THC content than marijuana purchased from a drug dealer off the street. These dangerous products must not be allowed to permeate our communities and endanger Texas children.”
The bill, SB 3, filed by state Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, would prohibit the retail sale of any cannabinoid in Texas, excluding CBD and CBG; ban Delta 8, Delta 9, and all forms of intoxicating THC, including beverages. It doesn’t alter Texas’ Compassionate Use Program.
The Senate also passed a bill to improve efficiency in the multi-billion-dollar road construction contracting process to build more highways in Texas. SB 35 file by Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, would restrict the state Department of Transportation to only use competitive Design-Bid-Build projects to create “operational efficiencies and cost-savings for taxpayers” and build high-quality roads.
The Senate also passed with bipartisan support a bill to increase pay for judges and improve accountability. SB 293, filed by Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, would increase the base pay for district judges by 15%, from $140,000 to $161,000. It would expand the definition of judicial misconduct and enhance the complaint process against judges. It also would require quarterly reporting of district judges' duties to ensure transparency of judicial workloads. It also would increase the base pay for district judges by $21,000.
The bills now head to the Texas House for consideration.
