Emergency Items of the Governor: An Analysis of the 86th Legislature

Abstract

The 2019 Capstone Scholars analyzed emergency items presented by Governor Greg Abbott at the start of the 86th legislative session. These emergency items include school finance reform and pay raises for teachers, property tax reform, mental health reform, school safety, and disaster relief. These emergency items are considered the most important to the legislature and to the state and are required to be addressed in the legislative session. Some of these emergency items are more controversial than others—disaster relief legislation followed a politically-smooth process while school finance and property tax reform remained in the spotlight throughout the session.