Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has selected September 28 as the date of the House District 118 special election to replace former state Rep. Leo Pacheco.

Pacheco resigned effective August 19 to accept a position with San Antonio College.

House District 118 is in San Antonio and covers parts of Bexar County south and east of the city.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is calling state lawmakers back for a third special session on September 20 to begin redrawing legislative and Congressional districts.

Gov. Abbott also added other items to the agenda, including how to distribute federal pandemic aid and whether local governments can mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for employees.

The focus of the special session, however, will be squarely on redistricting, which occurs every 10 years after the release of new census data.

The state population grew by more than 4 million people since 2010. As a result, Texas gained two new Congressional seats and lawmakers must determine where to put them.

In addition, lawmakers will redraw their own Texas House and Senate districts to consider population growth and decline.

On August 19, the Texas House of Representatives once again held quorum for the first time in over a month.

With the House in quorum, lawmakers can take up several bills including House Bill 77 and 87.

House Bill 77 prohibits the use of public funds by political subdivisions for the purposes of lobbying activities.

House Bill 87 places limitations on campaign contributions to state candidates from persons and committees.

Texas Gov. Abbott announced a special election on November 2 for eight proposed constitutional amendments approved by the Texas Legislature during the 87th session.

The amendments include a prohibition on state or local restrictions on religious services and a provision allowing certain charitable raffles at rodeo venues.

On August 6, Gov. Greg Abbott announced a special election for State House District 10 is to be held on August 31 to fill the vacancy caused by the election of Representative Jake Ellzey to the 6th Congressional District on July 27.

As of the candidate filing deadline of August 12, there are a total of eight candidates running for this seat.

If necessary, a special general runoff election will be scheduled.

The winning candidate will serve the remainder of Ellzey’s term through January 2023.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced on August 5 that a second special legislative session will begin at noon August 7 with an expanded agenda.

The 17-item agenda still includes well-known Abbott priorities like the election bill that caused House Democrats to flee the state at the start of the first special session, which ends August 6.

The special session also features six additions, including the spending of federal COVID-19 relief funds and potentially changing the legislative rules regarding quorums.

There is also a new item on public education during the pandemic, an increasingly salient issue as parents prepare to send their kids back to school with the virus on the rise again in Texas.

No adjournment date has been set yet for the second special session.

A Texas House bill relating to restrictions on accepting political contributions has passed.

House Bill 2283 provides the joint elections commission, county election commission, and county election board may not accept a contribution of $1,000 or more, including the value of in-kind donations, offered by a private individual or a business entity, including a corporation, partnership, or trust, or another third party.

Under the bill, the joint elections commission, county election commission, and county election board may accept a contribution of less than $1,000 only with written consent from the relevant political subdivision.

The bill will take effect September 1.

On June 22, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced he will convene a special session of the Legislature on July 8.

Agenda items for the special session have not been released yet but will be available prior to its start. Among the list of topics, Gov. Abbott promised to address is election integrity.

Last week, Abbott vetoed a portion of the state budget that funds the Texas Legislature. The move came weeks after House Democrats walked off the state House floor, leaving majority Republicans without the quorum they needed to approve the bill, SB 7, before a midnight regular legislative session deadline.

Republicans in Texas have sought to join states such as Florida and Georgia that have adopted restrictions making it harder for some residents to vote.

It is not clear whether Republicans will enter the special session set on approving SB 7 as it’s currently drafted or will seek to make further changes.

The measure would have made mail-in voting more difficult by requiring voters to supply more information, prohibiting local elections officials from sending out absentee ballot applications to anyone who has not requested one or from working with get-out-the-vote groups that are encouraging Texans to vote by mail.

The Texas Legislature adjourned sine die May 31 after 140 days in session.

Talk of a special session and questions about how soon one may happen or what additional issues Gov. Greg Abbott could task legislators with has largely defined the last weekend of the legislative session.

In the final days of the session, House Democrats staged a walkout and broke quorum, making it impossible to give final approval to Senate Bill 7, a massive voting bill that would tighten the state’s election laws, before the midnight deadline.

Gov. Abbott quickly made clear that the bill, along with another other priority legislation that would have made it harder for people arrested to bond out of jail without cash, still must pass and that the two issues will be added to the special session agenda.

Before lawmakers adjourned, Gov. Abbott made clear he intends to reprimand the Legislature over its unfinished business by vetoing the section of the state budget that funds the legislative branch.

Texas Secretary of State Ruth Hughs announced her resignation May 20, prompting Gov. Greg Abbott to search for the fifth secretary of state during his time in office.

Hughs’ nomination for another term as the state’s top elections officer was not taken up by the Senate Nominations Committee, effectively forcing her resignation.

Hughs stated she plans to transition back into her private practice. Her resignation will become effective May 31 when the session ends.

With the 87th legislative session nearing conclusion, Gov. Abbott’s next appointee, if made after the session, will not need Senate confirmation until the Legislature convenes again.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has selected July 27 as the date of the special election runoff to replace the late Rep. Ron Wright in Texas’ 6th Congressional District.

Ron Wright, a second-term congressman, died in February after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

The race for Wright’s unfinished term pits Wright’s widow, Susan Wright, against state Rep. Jake Ellzey of Waxahachie.

Wright, a member of the State Republican Executive Committee, finished first in the May 1 special election, which had 23 candidates. She got 19% of the vote.

Ellzey came in second with 14%.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has selected February 23 as the date of the special runoff election for House District 68.

The runoff election will be held to replace former Rep. Drew Springer, R, who is now in the Texas Senate.

The runoff candidates are David Spiller, a Jacksboro attorney and school board trustee, and Craig Carter, a former candidate for overlapping state Senate District 30.

Spiller finished first in the five-way special election last month, receiving 44% of the vote.

Carter was the runner-up with 18%.

Early voting for the House District 68 runoff begins February 16.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has selected January 23 as the date of the special election to fill the seat of Rep. Drew Springer, who recently won a promotion to the Texas Senate.

Springer is headed to the upper chamber after winning the December 19 special election runoff to replace Sen. Pat Fallon, who is on his way to Congress next month.

At least two Republicans have already announced campaigns for the House seat. They are Jason Brinkley, who is resigning as Cooke County judge to run for the seat, and David Spiller, a Jacksboro attorney.

Voters in Laredo approved a proposition exempting certain public officials from the prohibition on participating in political activity.

Proposition D amends the city charter to explicitly exempt the mayor, in addition to individual city council members, from the prohibition against political activity by city employees.

Proposition D took effect when passed 70% to 30% on November 3.