Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday signed 13 bills recently passed by the Texas Legislature into law, officially bringing the state’s summer of legislative overtime to a close.
The governor also issued one veto Wednesday for Senate Bill 18, which supporters said would have sped up repairs on small dams used for flood control.
While Abbott told lawmakers he wanted them to focus on flood-related measures after July’s devastating Central Texas floods, he wrote in his veto statement that SB 18 was not what he had in mind.
He did, however, sign two bills that fit his criteria into law: House Bill 20 and Senate Bill 14. The former aims to stop fraud during disasters by certifying trusted nonprofits and volunteers, while also making charity scams a crime with tougher penalties. Meanwhile, SB 14 encourages developers to invest in water conservation projects.
Texas gets rid of STAAR test for public schools
With the swipe of his pen, Abbott marked the beginning of the end for STAAR, the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness. These standardized exams have been used to evaluate the performance of Texas’ public schools and their students since 2012.
After a bill to scrap the test died during the Texas Legislature’s regular session earlier this year, state lawmakers tried again this summer, and managed to get a bill to Abbott’s desk.
Soon, instead of one sweeping test at the end of the year, Texas public school students will take three shorter tests at the beginning, middle and end of the school year.
Texas House Rep. Brad Buckley, a Salado Republican, sponsored the legislation, which he said ends the “high stakes and high stress nature of one test, one day.”
The transition is ongoing, with the new standardized tests first beginning to be administered during the 2027-28 school year.
State tightens abortion restrictions
House Bill 7 cracks down on the availability of abortion pills in Texas by allowing private citizens to sue out-of-state providers of the medication for $100,000 or more.
Abortion is already banned in Texas unless a pregnant woman’s life or a major bodily function is at risk. But some Texans have still accessed the abortion medications mifepristone and misoprostol through the mail with a telemedicine prescription from an out-of-state doctor.
Sponsors of the measure believe it will put a stop to the practice by making the risk too high, deterring doctors outside of Texas from working with women living here.
New change allows ivermectin to be sold over-the-counter
Pharmacies in Texas will soon be able to sell ivermectin over the counter under House Bill 25, which Abbott also signed on Wednesday.
For decades, the anti-parasite medication had been used on livestock like cows and horses, and was largely unknown outside of the world of agriculture.
During the pandemic, though, ivermectin was controversially touted as an alternative treatment for COVID-19. That caused concern among medical researchers and health organizations around the world, who have said ivermectin isn’t an effective treatment for COVID and can even be dangerous for humans.
But the drug has fierce supporters, including the governor, who added making ivermectin more easily available to his special session call last month.
The Texas Legislature delivered on Abbott's request through HB 25, which was sponsored by Rep. Joanne Shofner, a Nacogdoches Republican.
“Unfortunately it was very very politicized … as a horse drug, et cetera, which is so demeaning to the people around the world who are dependent on this drug for survival in developing countries,” said Shofner while promoting the bill during the special session.
Additional bills that were signed into law
Abbott also gave his final nod on Wednesday to a variety of other bills the Legislature recently sent to his desk. Those include House Bill 18, which takes specific aim at the Democrats who broke quorum over the summer. The bill prevents lawmakers from accepting campaign donations while absent from an ongoing legislative session.
Senate Bill 11 offers new legal protections to victims of human trafficking who were forced to commit crimes, including being able to use their situation as part of their legal defense in court.
The state also created property tax exemptions for nonprofits through House Bill 23, allowing them to use their land for new agricultural, youth and educational purposes.
Other measures signed by Abbott will do everything from updating the state’s court system to making certain types of real estate theft and fraud more difficult.
