Early bills filed ahead of 2027 Texas legislative session

Bills being filed ahead of next year's Texas legislature show the direction Democrats would like to take Texas now that they have full control of the House. The list includes bills to expand Medicaid and fulfilling one of Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa's campaign promises, a $1,500 check to every Texas household. Fox 4's Amelia Jones takes a look at how a lot of this will still come down to cooperation from the state's Republicans. Amelia. Right, Steve. Well, more than the thousand of bills that have been filed, only a small portion of them will actually become law. But filing a bill is a way for lawmakers to send a message, which bears watching with split control of the legislature for the first time in decades. One week since Democrats were swept into power in Texas, more than 1,200 bills have been filed on topics such as education, THC, and property taxes. But with a split House and Senate, bills tied to strong ideologies aren't likely to make it far. So what I think we need to look for is, what are the bills that might be able to get people from the other side on board? Matthew Wilson is a political science professor at SMU. He thinks that some of those issues include transportation, water, the power grid, even regulations on data centers, which has been gaining some bipartisan support. I don't think efforts to just shut them down, stop them cold, are going to garner majority support. But perhaps a rollback of some of their tax incentives, perhaps tighter monitoring of their power, water usage, those kinds of things are likely to get bipartisan consensus. Another topic Wilson is watching closely this legislative session is gambling. Former Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick bottled up any possibility of legislation moving through the chambers. But with Democrat Lieutenant Governor-elect Vicki Goodwin now leading, there's a chance something could get through. So the question is now... With Dan Patrick not in that leadership position, what do the 19 Republicans in the state Senate think about this? Do enough of them peel off to join with the Democrats to move a gambling referendum to voters? Wilson says with Democrats controlling the House and Republicans remaining at the helm of the Senate, there will be bills that are used as more political messaging, and some party priorities could be used as bargaining tools to gain favor from the other party. Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa has said she wants to do away with Greg Abbott's school voucher program. But Wilson says it won't be that easy. But it could also be a bargaining chip. If Republicans are passionate enough about it, really believe in it, then Democrats might say, okay, we'll preserve the school choice program in some form in exchange for X or Y or Z. And Republicans will just have to weigh that very carefully. The debate over THC and hemp is another one that could see bipartisan support over the next legislative session. There was already disagreement within the Republican Party about this. And it's not clear that everybody in the Democratic Party wants full bore legalization. So both parties will kind of have to figure out what is their own middle ground and then find the middle ground between those two middle grounds. Asked Wilson if he had to describe what he thinks the next legislative session will be like, he used the word contentious at least to start the year. Lawmakers have until March 12 to file bills. The next legislative session begins in January.