From “Catastrophe 88,” the Texas Observer guide to the new session of the state legislature, opening tomorrow:

Elections have consequences. This political bromide is overused for a reason—it’s reliably true. And this year, the fallout for vulnerable Texans could be particularly destructive.

After something approaching a blue wave swept across Texas in November 2018, a chastened Republican majority in the Legislature kept its focus in the 2019 session on serious policymaking—school finance and property tax reform—while largely forgoing their typical red-meat fare.

Republicans thwarted expectations of another Democratic surge in November 2020, and the next year the GOP ignored the problems laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic crisis, instead focusing on passing as much right-wing legislation as possible over the course of a regular session, plus three painful specials. 

The final outcome was ugly: Abortions were effectively banned by threat of bounty, handgun permits were done away with, voting laws were made more restrictive, transgender kids were targeted with statutory bigotry, and school curricula on race and history were whitewashed. Profound policy problems, meanwhile, were left to fester. 

Critically, the state’s electoral districts were redrawn for the next decade to ensure incumbent Republican majorities will be insulated from electoral backlash while the state’s growing numbers of people of color and Democratic-aligned voters are kept at bay. 

This fresh gerrymander set the table for another Republican rout last November as the GOP maintained strong majorities in the state House and Senate and easily swept the state’s high-powered executive offices—led by Governor Greg Abbott’s 11-point defeat of Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke. 

Firmly in control, Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, and GOP lawmakers are now free to do as they please—to pick up where their vengeful 87th legislative session mercifully left off just over a year ago. 

Some top Republicans hinted during campaign season that they might want to soften the sharpest edges of their draconian and unpopular ban on abortion or pull back on the most extreme parts of their so-called “election integrity” laws. But there’s little reason to think this legislative session will yield moderation. The party’s activist base is eager to continue the march toward one-party authoritarianism, punishing political enemies and catering to political patrons as they go. 

Read the full guide on the Texas Observer.

Inexcusable.

COVID pandemic has not increased state-tax spending on Texas' public schools

School finance formulas allocated $23.7 billion in state aid in 2022 to help pay for educating 5.4 million students in more than 1,000 local school districts and charter schools. That's a 3.2 percent drop from 2021, which in turn was a mere 0.1 percent higher than 2020, after major legislative changes to school funding starting in Fall 2019. Nonformula grants to schools did increase in 2022, thanks to federal COVID relief for public education.

Schools get much of their state aid early in the school year, because local property taxes -- the single largest revenue source supporting Texas schools -- aren't due until January 31.

88th legislation session is coming in January....are we ready for the battle again ....we follow the lead of @transtexas when it come to the legislation in TX ...what orgs keep yall up to date on bills and legislation in ya area? #txlege #trans #transrightsarehumanrights🌈 https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl0VjrpugfM/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

I imagine Baytown GOP House Rep. Briscoe Cain struggles a lot in his daily life, just with the routine challenges that come with being a miserable little yeehaw fucko, but I would love to hear how he came to file HB 521, a bill that would enable pregnant people, as the sole occupants of their vehicles, to use the HOV lane.

On the one hand: As a Republican and especially as a Baytown Republican who lives to serve the kings of oil and gas, Cain has a sworn duty to fuck the environment 50 ways from Sunday at every opportunity, so he surely can’t be happy supporting HOV lanes, which are for liberal snowflakes who hate Jesus so much that they are willing to do just one bare-minimum thing which makes their lives slightly easier and has the side benefit of potentially slowing the deterioration of earth into a fiery inferno? 

But on the other hand, teh baybeeeez!??!?!

It’s gotta be a real dilemma for a dude already faced with picking out which big-boy hat he’s going to wear today.

The question of fetuses in HOV lanes, while not new, made news this summer when a Plano, TX woman contested a ticket claiming she had a right to drive in the multi-occupant lane. When the Dallas Morning News asked a state anti-abortion group for comment, they noted that the Texas Transportation Code does not explicitly consider a fetus a person (they believe the penal code does). Cain’s bill would amend the transportation code thusly:

Sec. 545.429.  USE OF HIGH OCCUPANCY VEHICLE LANE BY PREGNANT OPERATOR. An operator of a motor vehicle who is pregnant is entitled to use any high occupancy vehicle lane in this state regardless of whether the vehicle is occupied by a passenger other than the operator's unborn child.

I don’t know the extent to which this, if passed, is likely to shore up attempts to secure full fetal personhood in Texas or elsewhere, but I assume it’s what Cain has in mind. (I would also love to know how badly it pained Cain, or whatever lackey penned this thing, to use gender-neutral language in its construction. Shout out to all the ~ pregnant operators ~ out there.)

State Senator Angela Paxton: Texas Legislature passes largest property tax cut in Texas history

Friend,We finally did it! The Texas Legislature has passed the largest property tax cut in Texas history. Senate Bill 2 delivers $18 billion in property tax relief by buying down the school district tax rate, increasing the homestead exemption, and reforming the appraisal process. Senate Bill 3 helps 67,000 small businesses by eliminating the franchise tax for them. We also passed House Joint…

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It's me. Hi. 👋

I'm Josh Tutt, the Democratic candidate for Texas Senate District 18. If you live in one of these counties, I'll be on your ballot this election. If you're ready for progress like I am, I hope you'll make a plan to vote, and be sure to bring a friend with you!

It’s a beautiful day to donate to Beto O’Rouke’s campaign:

Whose Choice is this? Everyday Texas women make the hardest of personal choices one can make. Why do politicians make this choice for women? Why is it women who are losing their personal freedoms and rights? Well the time is now to stand up and say, "We are no longer going to take it." TxGOP politicians are not going to come and save us. It's up to us ladies to stand up now and vote them out! The time has come to vote for Democrats. Please join us in our fight. #WhoseChoice #MAGAtheGood #txlege #womensrights Reposted from @momsagabbott To donate to Mothers Against Greg Abbott PAC go here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/mothers-against-greg-abbott-pac-1 Website: https://www.mothersagainstgregabbott.com TWITTER: https://twitter.com/MomsAGAbbott INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/momsagabbott/ FACEBOOK Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersagainstgregabbott FACEBOOK Page: https://www.facebook.com/MomsAGAbbott TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@mothersagainstgregabbott YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrcGH8l1nBHnD88_k1kjhow https://www.instagram.com/p/CgcHspFFIB_/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

the texas legislature only meets every two years and whenever they do its nonstop awful bullshit and little to nothing to help anybody. if you pay attention to the nonsense they’re up to, it actually is pretty demoralizing. i’m not a pessimist politically but until we get money out of politics… things will largely remain the same. we are stagnant in this state because the people in power spend much of their time in office fundraising so that when elections come around they remain entrenched, and nobody is better at this than abbott. he is the most prolific fundraiser we’ve had in long time as a governor. maybe ever. because thats all these people are in office to do - enrich themselves and then serve their donors.

jensenackles: Beer, mud bugs and legislation all in one post. Some said it couldn’t be done. Also…to any of my actor pals making the good stuff…love y’a. 😉 And I’ll take a case. #BeerToYou #TXlege #supportlocalbreweries #fixtexasbeerlaws #craftbeer THANK YOU!!!! 💙 (x)

Click through for Texas-specific, time-sensitive information regarding abortion laws in our state.

[posted in the late afternoon of 27 june 2022]

jensenackles:  Beer, mud bugs and legislation all in one post. Some said it couldn’t be done. Also…to any of my actor pals making the good stuff…love y’a. 😉 And I’ll take a case. #BeerToYou #TXlege #supportlocalbreweries #fixtexasbeerlaws #craftbeer THANK YOU!!!! 💙

jensenackles 📸 Beer, mud bugs and legislation all in one post. Some said it couldn’t be done.

Also…to any of my actor pals making the good stuff…love y’a. 😉 And I’ll take a case.

#BeerToYou #TXlege #supportlocalbreweries

#fixtexasbeerlaws #craftbeer

THANK YOU!!!! 💙