It's November, and things at the Capitol are mostly quiet

Two legislative hearings were held last month. The House Committee on State Affairs met to discuss the state's disaster responses. The Senate/House Joint Committee on Civil Discourse and Freedom of Speech in Higher Education met to discuss free speech issues on college campuses. To date, interim legislative study charges have not been announced by either the Lt Governor or the House Speaker.

The filing deadline to be a candidate in the March primaries is December 8th. A recent ruling by a federal court panel in El Paso regarding midterm congressional redistricting has raised doubt about whether districts will change. This ruling could affect who runs in some state legislative races. And many campaigns for the March 2026 primaries are already underway.

The full Fifth Circuit will hear the Ten Commandments case

All 17 justices in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will hear arguments against Texas and Louisiana laws that require schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. The court says it will hear the two cases jointly in January.

Three lawsuits in Texas seek to prevent the displays, arguing that the law violates the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of religion and the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. The lawsuit to be heard by the Fifth Circuit was filed by 16 families in July. Several school districts are defendants, including Plano ISD. Another suit was filed in July against the Dallas, DeSoto, and Lancaster school districts. The parents involved are all ministers or community advocates.

Another 15 families filed suit in September, naming 14 school districts, including Arlington ISD, Azle ISD, Fort Worth ISD, Frisco ISD, Lovejoy ISD, Mansfield ISD, McKinney ISD, Northwest ISD, and Rockwall ISD. In that case, U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia on November 18th temporarily blocked these districts from enforcing Senate Bill 10, the new state law requiring public schools to display the biblical text in classrooms. Garcia wrote that it would be "impractical, if not impossible," to protect students from "unwelcome religious displays" without halting enforcement of the law. The districts must remove the displays by December 1st. This applies only to the districts named in the lawsuit.

Election date is set for North Texas Senate District 9 runoff

The runoff election to fill North Texas' Senate District 9 is set for January 31st, 2026. Democrat Taylor Rehmet and Republican Leigh Wambsganss are in the runoff following a November 4th special election. The seat is vacant after former Sen. Kelly Hancock, a North Richland Hills Republican, left for the Texas Comptroller's office. Early voting starts January 21st and runs through January 27th.

Governor Greg Abbott proposes property tax cuts

Announcing his reelection campaign, Gov Abbott said cutting, or perhaps eliminating, local property taxes will be his next major legislative objective. Among his proposals is a constitutional amendment to eliminate local school property taxes, which account for most public school funding in the state. Last legislative session, lawmakers allocated $51 billion to property tax relief, which accounted for one-fourth of the state's total spending. Eliminating property tax collections would require another source of revenue, such as sales taxes. About a third of the state's total revenue comes from sales taxes, and Texas doesn't collect income taxes. The governor's proposal seems to call upon the Legislature to direct some percentage of its future budget surplus to fund local school property taxes.