The Legislature will look at proposals for emergency preparedness in a special session that was already planned over hemp laws. A bill to help build emergency systems failed in the spring.
Just over two weeks since floods in the Texas Hill Country killed more than 130 people, Texas lawmakers start a special legislative session today with the aim of funding recovery and protecting from future disasters.
This spring they failed to pass a bill that could have led to increased spending for emergency warning systems. Now special committees of the House and Senate plan to go to Kerrville, the area with the most flood fatalities, to hear about the life-saving help local governments need.
They’ll be working while there’s uncertainty at the national level about the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), an agency in doubt after calls from members of the Trump administration that it be cut back or eliminated.
There were already plans for a special session this month on the totally different topic of laws to regulate sales of hemp products. But Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, in his proclamation calling the session, led with flood-related matters.
And disaster relief wasn’t all he added to the session, which can last up to 30 days. He’s also including a list of controversial GOP priorities. They include redrawing congressional voting districts in ways that would impact the 2026 midterm elections and tightening laws against medication abortion. Here are some of the issues at stake.Flood proposals range from new alerts to rebuilding
Abbott is asking that lawmakers improve early warning systems, strengthen communications infrastructure and provide relief money for areas impacted by the recent flood or future floods.
One of the first ideas for what exactly lawmakers should do came from Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the leader of the Texas Senate, when he spoke to Fox News after the storm.
“Had we had sirens along this area up and down, the same type of sirens that they have in Israel when there’s an attack coming that would have blown very loudly, it’s possible that that would’ve saved some of these lives.” Patrick said.
He wants those in place by next summer, when youth camps like the ones destroyed in the flooding will be operating again.
Bills already filed include proposals to tighten flood safety standards at youth camps and to create a flood disaster guide for volunteer organizations.
