The Blast - September 3, 2025

10 days until sine die, theoretically
66 days until the candidate filing period begins
96 days until the candidate filing deadline

IN TODAY’S BLAST

• 11th-hour negotiations

• House rules package heads to the floor, but is it enough?

• Hunter: Redistricting issue “is not over at all”

• Exclusive: Paxton’s delinquent Hawaii, Utah property taxes

11TH-HOUR NEGOTIATIONS

Apologies for the late Blast tonight, but as you’ll see, this day has really only just begun.

Today was supposed to be the day the Legislature adjourns sine die. But with outstanding negotiations on camp safety and property tax bills — and a last-ditch chance to revive the THC bill — lawmakers may be in town for at least another day or two of the second special session.

As recently as yesterday, lawmakers were resigned to the fact that the THC bill was dead despite the issue being the impetus for a summer special session in the first place. Since then, the Big Three have relit the effort to ban THC.

After about an hour in the governor’s office this evening, House Speaker Dustin Burrows walked back onto the floor, seemingly waving to members that work is not done.

The document being passed around to House Public Health Committee members this evening is House Bill 36, which would be a plain ban on THC products for people younger than 21. But things were still fluid as of this evening, with neither chamber confirming the makings of a deal so far.

Beyond the THC bill, there are major pieces of legislation still outstanding, including new flood safety requirements for youth camps, a new framework to replace the STAAR test, and the property tax bill that Democrats and a band of 27 Republicans scuttled on a House floor vote yesterday.

Lawmakers have simultaneously been trying to renegotiate the property tax bill, Senate Bill 10, though both chambers ended Tuesday dug in on their dueling plans for curbing city and county spending, leaving an uphill climb to eke out a deal.

Members to watch tonight are Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, Rep. Ken King, R-Canadian, Rep. Morgan Meyer, R-University Park, and Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston.

VanDeaver chairs the lower chamber’s Public Health Committee, which is expected to meet tonight to discuss THC regulations.

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HOUSE RULES PACKAGE HEADS TO THE FLOOR, BUT IS IT ENOUGH?

Another item expected to be on the docket tonight is the House rules update, which would institute tougher penalties for breaking quorum.

A measure like House Resolution 128, filed by Rep. Cody Vasut, R-Angleton, needs to be laid out 48 hours before the House can consider it. The House Administration Committee voted out the resolution on Monday and distributed its committee report at 7:39 p.m. that day, perhaps explaining today’s 6 p.m. start time in the lower chamber. The House is expected to consider the resolution after it completes the bulk of its work. No word yet on whether THC negotiations could derail that timeline.

If adopted, the new rules would subject future quorum-breaking members to stiffer fines and allow the House to strip absent members of seniority and committee leadership roles.

The fact that House Speaker Dustin Burrows is supporting — or at least greenlighting — the rule changes during the current special session is a shift from the House’s more leisurely response to Democrats’ 2021 quorum break. Under then-Speaker Dade Phelan, the House held off on updating the rules till 2023, by which time tensions had mellowed out.

Still, some proposed rule changes, like removing the requirement that vice chairs be Democrats, may wait until 2027 anyway.

“To Speaker Burrows’ credit, he has been infinitely more aggressive in terms of pursuing the quorum breakers and taking action than his predecessor,” Texas House Republican Caucus Chair Tom Oliverson of Cypress said in a Texas GOP virtual roundtable on Monday. He credited Burrows’ response with limiting the quorum break to two weeks.

More than two-thirds of the GOP caucus voted to endorse the rules package at one of their recent meetings, effectively saying “we were not going down that road again,” Oliverson continued.

A one-time speaker hopeful himself, Oliverson acknowledged that Burrows is “obviously getting a lot of pressure from the Democrats,” but argued he’s “a speaker that listens to Republicans first and Democrats second,” in line with what the GOP grassroots wanted.

Yet, conservative activists have been clamoring for more, including censuring Democrats and punishing them by stripping them of leadership positions and seniority, rather than merely putting those penalties in place for future quorum breakers. While a majority of the caucus supported the move at the recent meeting, it came three votes shy of the two-thirds threshold to officially endorse that action. The vote was conducted by secret ballot.

Freshman Rep. Mike Olcott, R-Fort Worth, said he was “very, very” disappointed the caucus didn’t go further. Rep. Terri Leo-Wilson, a Galveston Republican who was not on the panel, chimed in to say voters should ask their members how they voted on the secret ballot and “take that to the polls.”

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HUNTER: REDISTRICTING ISSUE “IS NOT OVER AT ALL”

It’s been less than a week since Gov. Greg Abbott signed Texas’ new congressional map into law, but the House’s mapman, Rep. Todd Hunter, is already teasing the possibility of a fresh round of mid-decade redistricting in the coming years that could extend to the state’s legislative districts.

Hunter, a Corpus Christi Republican who chaired the 2021 redistricting effort and carried this year’s congressional redraw, told listeners on the Texas GOP roundtable that the redistricting issue “is not over at all,” citing ongoing legal challenges against political maps in Texas and Louisiana.

“With this new case and the one that’s going on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, you may have, next year, a complete new set of laws that will provide a lot more activity in looking at all the areas of redistricting,” Hunter said.

The high court’s 2019 decision in Rucho v. Common Cause paved the way for partisan gerrymandering. And the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2024 decision in Petteway v. Galveston led the Department of Justice and Gov. Greg Abbott to call for breaking up coalition districts, where Black and Hispanic voters combine to form a majority. 

Lawmakers eventually dropped this as the grounds for their mid-decade redraw, instead focusing on the explicit goal of winning more Republican seats. And legal experts have told the Tribune that while the Petteway ruling established that coalitions of racial or ethnic groups cannot band together to bring challenges under the Voting Rights Act, it didn’t require states to go back and redraw existing coalition districts.

In any case, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to rehear oral arguments in Louisiana’s redistricting case, Louisiana v. Callais, in its upcoming term. If Louisiana gets its way, SCOTUS could demand that redistricting be entirely race blind, challenging the Voting Rights Act and overturning its 1986 decision that requires states with histories of race-based discrimination to draw districts that protect those voters’ ability to elect a representative of their choice.

If that happens, Hunter said it could set off another round of redistricting to conform to the new standards. That could also “ignite a review” of more congressional seats.

But state House, state Senate and State Board of Education redistricting were also a part of the roundtable conversation. 

Redrawing state House lines simmered under the surface this summer as Republicans weighed their options to address the Texas Constitution’s two-thirds requirement for meeting quorum. It began on the conservative fringes, but when asked about the possibility before Democrats returned to Austin, Abbott said “we hold a lot more bullets in our belt that we’ll be ready to use if we need to.”

Activists have flagged at least 22 coalition districts held by Democrats. Together with the 88 seats currently held by Republicans, redrawing those districts to elect Republicans would position the GOP to reach the requisite 100 members to conduct business in the House — along with advancing changes to the state Constitution — without relying on Democrats.

Texas GOP Chair Abraham George said he hopes the State Republican Executive Committee will adopt a resolution calling for state House redistricting at its quarterly meeting on Saturday. Hunter affirmed that the Petteway ruling had laid the legal groundwork to do so by unequivocally shooting down the requirement for coalition seats.

“That backs up what you’re saying,” Hunter told George, reading the ruling. “The court is strong. The court came out and answered that question.”

EXCLUSIVE: PAXTON’S DELINQUENT HAWAII, UTAH PROPERTY TAXES

Attorney General Ken Paxton has been a delinquent taxpayer multiple times on two properties in other states, according to public records reviewed by The Texas Tribune, marking another potential liability for the beleaguered Senate candidate. 

Paxton came under fire earlier this summer when The Associated Press reported that he claimed three homes as his primary residence, enabling him to secure lower interest rates than what he would have paid had he properly listed two of the homes as secondary or investment properties. The issue quickly made it into a number of campaign ads from Sen. John Cornyn, who is looking to fend off a primary challenge from Paxton next March.

The attorney general also owns real estate outside Texas, operated through a blind trust created by Paxton and his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, in 2015 to hold their assets. Among the trust’s holdings are a lot in Lahaina, on the Hawaiian island of Maui, and land in Eden, Utah, in the Ogden Valley, a ski resort community. Both properties are held by the Esther Blind Trust, which lists Ken Paxton’s McKinney home as its mailing address. Paxton listed himself as a beneficiary of the trust on his state personal financial disclosure forms this year.

The Paxtons have been late to pay property taxes on both the Hawaii and Utah properties three times each, including this year’s bill in Hawaii, according to local property records.

In Maui, the Paxtons paid penalties in 2022 and 2024, totaling $411.45, due to their delinquency. This year, they owe $3,057.12 on their first of two tax bills, which was due on August 20. Maui County property records indicate the Paxtons have yet to pay their bill, the third late payment in four years since they bought the home in 2021.

A similar story played out with their Utah property. The Esther Blind Trust was listed on a Weber County log of delinquent taxpayers in 2023 and 2024. Property records indicate the Paxtons were 18 days late to pay their property taxes in 2023 and 28 days delinquent in 2024. In each case, the couple was assessed a penalty of about $20 on top of their tax bill of over $2,000. They also paid five days late in 2022 and were not penalized.

A Paxton campaign spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

The tax delinquency, first reported by the Tribune, is the latest in a series of homeownership-related headaches for Paxton. His buying spree of real estate outside Texas — such as these Hawaii and Utah properties — came under scrutiny during the Texas House’s 2023 impeachment investigation into Paxton. The lower chamber voted to impeach him, after which he was acquitted by the Senate. 

Paxton had not disclosed the extent of his real estate holdings for years, only listing his McKinney home on his personal financial disclosure in 2024. This year, he listed eight properties, including seven held by the Esther Blind Trust. 

— Gabby Birenbaum

The Rio Grande Valley region has helped power Texas’ economic growth in recent years. But the current political climate, drought and an uncertain global economy present new challenges.

On Sept. 24, Texas Tribune editor-in-chief Matthew Watkins will talk with local business leaders from Edinburg and McAllen about the outlook for the region and how to prepare the Valley for continued economic success.

Confirmed speakers include Ramiro Garza Jr., mayor of Edinburg. Additional speakers will be announced soon.

Doors open at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance at 11:30 a.m. and the one-hour conversation begins at noon. The Tribune will provide lunch and coffee.

RSVP today

• The Senate amended HB 15, the police records bill, removing the carveout to let Uvalde families view records. The ball is now in the House’s court.

• As for everything else: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

• Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, took a moment before giving the Senate invocation yesterday to apologize for his comment during a 2022 hearing, when he said that a way to deal with immigration could be to “shoot, shovel and shut up.”

• Governor: Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaign is promoting the fake Brad Johnson bid for a nonexistent seat in the state House by selling Johnson campaign bumper stickers benefiting the Texans for Greg Abbott PAC. The bumper sticker uses Johnson’s social media handle and the starred “N” from the bannerhead of his news outlet, The Texan. Johnson says he had nothing to do with it.

• Attorney general: Alexis Nungaray endorsed U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin.

• Attorney general, cont’d: Roy and the three other prominent GOP candidates, Aaron Reitz and state Sens. Joan Huffman of Houston and Mayes Middleton of Galveston, are slated to attend a candidate meet and greet in Waco on Sept. 16.

• HD-10: After much speculation that he would run for higher office, state Rep. Brian Harrison announced he’s running for reelection. He has already drawn primary challenges from accountant Matt Authier and businessman Chris Rowland, each of whom used their campaign launch statements to take jabs at Harrison for his rabble-rousing approach at the Capitol.

• HD-131: State Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, made her retirement announcement official. She will serve out her term and is supporting her son, former State Board of Education member Lawrence Allen Jr., to succeed her.

• Only three GOP members of the Texas House are not members of the Texas House Republican Caucus: State Affairs Committee Chair Ken King of Canadian, former House Speaker Dade Phelan and Rep. Brian Harrison.

Do you or someone in your office have a new job you’d like mentioned? Email us.

• Texas Supreme Court Justice Jeff Boyd retired on Monday, meaning there is a vacancy on the court. Gov. Greg Abbott can appoint his successor. By retiring when he did, Boyd earned an additional $300,000 per year in retirement, notes Bloomberg Law’s Ryan Autullo.

• John Wittman is joining his former Abbott office colleague, Matt Hirsch, as a partner at Vianovo. Wittman, who most recently led Texas operations for PLUS Communications, was Abbott’s communications director, a role also previously held by Hirsch. Sam Taylor also joins as senior vice president in Vianovo’s Austin office.

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“Texas House advances fundraising restrictions for lawmakers who leave state to block legislation” by Alejandro Serrano of The Texas Tribune

“Texas AG Ken Paxton encourages students to recite Lord’s Prayer in latest test of church-state separation” by Jaden Edison of The Texas Tribune

“Corpus Christi folds on its desalination gamble” by Dylan Baddour of Inside Climate News

Do you or someone in your office have a birthday you’d like mentioned? Email us.

(Sept. 4) U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen
(Sept. 4) Beyoncé

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