What is going on?

What about flood relief, THC & bathroom bills?

Governor Abbot called a special session of the Texas Legislature to “redistrict” the Texas federal representative districts, based on a demand for “5 new seats” from the regime.

Special session spark notes: The Governor calls the session and sets the agenda. The session lasts 30 days and if a bill is not passed during the 30 days, and he wants to call another special session, he needs to start from scratch by re-filing bills and having all new committee hearings and taking all the votes again.

What the deal with the redistricting? Long story short, the executive branch is demanding 5 new MAGA representatives out of Texas. Since they anticipate the democratic party “flipping seats” in the midterms (2026 elections) based on how wildly unpopular their authoritarian behavior is in Texas, they are demanding that the Texas state legislature re-draw the districts to “gain” 5 new seats for the MAGA/GOP party.

  1. Does he have to do this? Absolutely not. This is highly unusual, authoritarian and fascist behavior from the executive brand and from the Texas governor. Other states are refusing to redistrict or threatening to re-district to balance the new MAGA/GOP seats that the regime may “pick up” from “successful” Texas redistricting.

  2. Is this normal? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Redistricting is done every 10 years when the federal government completes a new census (AKA trying to count everyone in the country) and we have new data to justify drawing new lines.

  3. What’s their excuse, then? The TX GOP’s excuse for mid-decade redistricting? “Our current maps are racist!” Who drew the current maps? Mostly the Texas GOP.

The Governor has clearly stated his priorities for the session - read his full public agenda.

So far (written 7/29), we’ve had 5 days of committee hearings about redistricting and 1 day of invited testimony only about flood relief and disaster prevention.

Interested in stopping the bathroom bill / advocating to protect trans and gender-nonconforming Texans (and just “less feminine” women) who want to go to the bathroom in public spaces? Equality Texas is doing weekly rallies at the state capitol and direct advocacy work to stop the bathroom bill.

Interested in advocating for retaining access to legal THC? Texas Hemp Business Council is doing advocacy work to stop the THC Ban Bill.

What can we do about all the bad things?

Use your voice + civic power at the TXLege!

Step 1: Review the process of how a bill becomes a law and what civic tools you can use to govern your employees (the elected officials and staff).

View the full slide deck “from zero to hero” TX LEGE 101 presentation from the HOCTX President, Sophia Mirto - VIEW HERE

View the TX LEGE 101 handout if you want a quick refresher! 1 page with essential info - VIEW HERE

Step 2: Pick a Topic or Bill to advocate about. Do you agree or disagree with the bill?

Look up current bills on Legiscan and read the text of the bill. You can also google to see advocacy groups and news coverage (don’t trust what’s written on the internet just because a journalist wrote it!) EX: “TX Lege special session HB 223 flood safety”

Find out when the bill is scheduled for committee by

1. Looking the bill # up on the TX LEGE website (remember a space between the letters and numbers: HB_### or SB###_)

2. Get on the newsletter list / start following an advocacy group who is tackling the bill

Step 3: Start using your civic power!

  1. Use the Committees 101 handout to learn exactly what you can do to advocate about a bill when it’s headed to a committee or in committee!

  2. Use our database to find essential info for every elected official in the TX House or the TX Senate! Sort elected officials by party and committees and find their emails, phone numbers, office number inside the capitol, and much more!

  3. Submit letters to the editor about the TX LEGE special session