A recap of a recap: a look back at the Texas 89th Legislative Session

From left to right, Representatives Gene Wu, Penny Morales Shaw, Lauren Ashley Simmons, Ann Johnson, Jon Rosenthal, Christina Morales, and moderator Nancy Sims.

This past Tuesday, July 15, ROADwomen and Southwest Democrats hosted a joint Legislative Recap Panel, moderated by Nancy Sims, University of Houston lecturer on Political Science.

This was not going to be an evening of high fives for progressive or even moderate, wins. Few states can match Texas for Most Dysfunctional Legislature. That said, while around 200 bills passed the state senate, considerably fewer made it through the House. If Democrats are able to flex at all, it is among the congressional reps. If Texas has a chance to turn a corner it will be there and of course, if the composition of the Senate could change in the event of John Cornyn’s seat falling to a Democrat. Even then, none of this means that the Abbott machinery would be crippled.

The state is replete with craven power holders who are most assuredly unwilling to release their grip on their offices and actually serve the interests of their constituencies and communities.

Before I dive into the recap of the recap, I suggest some reviews of legislation are useful. I’m not going to do that here, but by way of sharing resources and offering useful tools for now and future legislative sessions, I highly recommend the following.

Texas Legislature Online - Legislation - Report downloads: 

These are general, canned reports: https://capitol.texas.gov/Reports/General.aspx

Here you can set your own parameters and download data sets to fit your needs:

https://capitol.texas.gov/Reports/BillsBy.aspx

Law firm Varghese Summersett has a handy digest of legislation passed in the 89th session with description of each bill and what it does. There may or may not be implicit bias in their description of the bills, but if you do cross-reference their descriptions with what the bills actually do versus the stated intention, it becomes clear that much of the legislation passed protects police, public figures, diminishes societal protections, and damages public education relentlessly. 

https://versustexas.com/blog/2025-legislative-update/.

In other words, much of what has passed into law this session is for buttressing the powers of the state over the people as opposed to providing support for communities at risk, providing true voting reform, and promoting greater avenues for access to healthcare, particularly for women and LGBTQ people.

It is worth noting as Doug Lewin, author of the Texas Power and Energy Newsletter, noted in an article in the Texas Tribune pointed out, the legislation of this session might be as notable for what didn’t get passed as for what did. For example, legislation designed to regulate and/or damage renewable energy sources failed.

Some legislation, like SB 23 that would nearly double property tax exemption for seniors, people with disabilities, but excludes similar benefits for renters who comprise a larger cohort, while still worthwhile may still leave others behind. 

Other bills addressing bail reform passed, as well, but some are tied to immigration status and could raise issues of constitutionality.

The biggest flashpoints are in legislation addressing education. Vouchers, mandatory posting the Ten Commandments in schools, draconian measures to allot more power to administrators to act arbitrarily, peculiar at best taxation measures, all characterize the substance of discussion around education this session. The Texas Association of School Administrators has a comprehensive listing of every bit of legislation and where it is in the pipeline, including what will be voted on in November. 

In some cases, legislation is relatively anodyne. In others, it is Machiavellian, if not problematic, if not devastating. It is the last that, of course, causes concern for those on Tuesday’s panel. 

Participants

Representative Gene Wu (GW): State Representative District 137 (southwest Houston, including Sharpstown and Westchase) and Chair of the House Democratic Caucus; committees: Vice Chair of Criminal Jurisprudence, Appropriations, S/C on Juvenile Justice and Redistricting

Representative Ann Johnson (AJ): State Representative 134 (central west Houston including Rice Military, Greenway, and Bellaire); committees: Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence (Vice Chair), Public Health, and S/C on Disease Prevention and Women’s and Children’s Health

Representative Christina Morales (CM): State Representative District 145 (runs north/south in central Houston and includes the East End, the Heights, and the Northside); committees: Human Services and Transportation; Texas Tribune ranked her as the most progressive member of the Texas House

Representative Jon Rosenthal (JR): State Representative District 135 (northwest Houston, including CyFair and Katy); committees: Vice Chair of Redistricting; Energy Resources, Intergovernmental Affairs

Representative Penny Morales Shaw (PS): State Representative 148 (northwest Houston, including Spring Branch, Garden Oaks/Oak Forest, Carverdale, and Cypress Fairbanks; committees: Elections, Environmental Regulation

Representative Lauren Ashley Simmons (LS): State Representative District 146 (southwest Houston and includes historic Sunnyside neighborhood); committees: Appropriations, Public Health

Starting with “biggest highlights/biggest disappointments”, it was the latter that predominated.

CM: “Most of it (the 89th session). All of it?” She noted that it was one of the most conservative sessions ever and pressed to pinpoint a highlight, it was that her district got some money for a pedestrian overpass.”

JR: “not a lot of highs” and the lows he pinpointed were Senate Bills 10, 11, and 12 “that target underperforming kids, LGBBTQ kids, and the educational code.”

AJ: She pointed to the Life of the Mother Act that, at least, removed ambiguity and the threat of arrest of doctors called upon to perform life-saving abortions; she noted small gains in public safety funding in Bellaire, but overall? “It was a terrible session; combative and performative.”

LS: As the freshman rep, she found the 89th “brutal.” She mentioned that she is still learning how to represent her constituents, but found the passage of school vouchers “heart-wrenching”. A bright spot was that a sickle-cell leukemia registry is now in place to help people get the assistance they need.

PS: She pointed out the expansion of gun rights, making it easier to get guns and the adoption of an “anti-red-flag” law, so that even if a perpetrator has a red flag on their record from another state, it renders any adjudication unenforceable. Good old Texas.

GW: No legislative victories, but he has spent the past three years fighting laws targeting immigrants and overtly racist legislation.

As of Monday, July 21, a special session has been called to address the devastation from the recent flooding in Central Texas. That said, Gov. Greg Abbott added re-districting to the agenda. Thoughts?

GW: The priority should be dealing with the Central Texas tragedy; it didn’t have to happen and the $50 billion in relief dollars that wasn’t used needs to be addressed, as well. Most of this is likely to be ignored by the GOP.

PS: “It’s all about re-districting!” She pointed out, directly and harshly, that “the storm stuff was convenient”. The redistricting will shut down entire communities of voices and that there is no need to redraw districts except to serve the president’s agenda. “The Republicans are shooting for a super-majority.”

LS: “We’re at the whims of 30 years of Republican leadership. We have to win. She pointed out that the 9th and 18th districts are needed for them to secure more seats. A slim possibility is that if they do succeed in merging some districts, the districts may prove to be more competitive than the Republicans expect. 

AJ: In the most bleak report, Rep. Johnson emphasized that “it’s about math, about elections. The Democrats may be about to hit a rock bottom we can’t get up from. We are staring at full authoritarianism.” There was a pause and she admonished the attendees that “I want you to be prepared that we will be arrested by the federal government” should it happen that the Republicans are successful in gerrymandering and rigging the system beyond what it is already.

She issued a challenge: “Every day between now and 2026, find one person who doesn’t know what’s going on and talk to them. Tell them what’s going on and implore them to talk to their friends.” 

JR: Not so much about the special session, but a general mission statement: “We’re going to fight like hell; we’re going to take it to the mat.”

CM: While real solutions need to be found in the wake of the floods like “help from FEMA? Sirens for the county?”, she added that “only one person is fighting for redistricting: Donald J. Trump.” This isn’t just Texas’ problem; it is a national problem.” 

PS: Maybe the rock bottom we hit will be the one that gets the comeback going. “The craziness may help us win seats.”

Wrap-up/final thoughts

JR: In 2016, Trump’s win galvanized Rosenthal to run; we need to grasp that kind of energy because we need more people engaged and ready to fight back. He added the hope that new districts might give rise to more competitive stages.

AJ: There are multiple lifetimes between now and 2026; we need to get folks out to run against these people at every level of government.

LS: “As a labor organizer, I have to believe there will be retribution for the voucher vote, and that everyone needs to be ready to help everyone else out.”

PS: the special session will get a lot of coverage; this is the time to get people to watch, to get involved and that it’s not just one vote, it’s the next 100 votes that we can get when these messages circulate.

GW: as an admonition to the Democratic Party: “we can’t treat this coming election like other elections; Democrats need to understand “kitchen counter issues”; MAGA is not necessarily wrong: “what’s going wrong with their lives is a wake-up call to how they’ve been played; we need to remember that our fight is about families being able to get by, about finances…” 

The panel ended pretty quickly as it was getting close to the time limit. Admittedly, not much was discussed that shed a light of hope on surviving a Trump-led Texas Legislature, but that’s all the more reason to organize and continue fighting, talking to your neighbors, telling people what’s going on, and yes, bringing these issues home so that people feel the urgency for getting into the fight and not waiting around for elections to change the face of the government. 

From left to right, Representatives Gene Wu, Penny Morales Shaw, Lauren Ashley Simmons, Ann Johnson, Jon Rosenthal, Christina Morales, and moderator Nancy Sims.