Gov. Greg Abbott called a special session early Monday, ordering state legislators back to the Capitol to tackle six bills that he vetoed shortly before the deadline late Sunday. Among them is Senate Bill 3, which would have banned the sale of hemp products containing THC in Texas.
Abbott, who said the 30-day special session will begin July 21, can still add items to the call list. In a press release, he described that list as “initial.” He has faced pressure from President Donald Trump to ask lawmakers to redraw some of Texas’ 38 U.S. House districts ahead of the 2026 midterms, but that request was not on the list release Monday.
The state constitution only allows lawmakers to pass bills during special sessions on issues selected by the governor.
The other bills that lawmakers will reconsider during the special session are:
Abbott released statements explaining his rationale for the vetoes. He also vetoed 18 other bills late Sunday that he did not add to the call for the special session.
Those measures ranged from changes to the criminal justice system to water rights management that lawmakers had passed during the recently completed legislative session.
Abbott had already vetoed two bills by the time the session closed on June 2.
Among the bills Abbott vetoed was House Bill 413, which would have ensured that no defendant could be held in custody before trial for longer than the punishment they would receive if convicted. That bill, which was co-authored by a bipartisan group of five lawmakers from around the state, passed the House 126-10 and the Senate 30-1.
When promoting the bill on KCEN news before its passage in May, co-author Rep. Pat Curry, R-Waco, said, “if there’s a penalty that requires two years in prison and you’ve spent two years waiting to go to trial, you need to be released.”
Abbott vetoed the bill against the backdrop of sweeping changes to bail laws that he championed this past legislative session that sought to keep violent repeat offenders behind bars.
Abbott also vetoed Senate Bill 974, which would have allowed public school teachers to serve on residential appraisal review boards. Supporters of the bill, like Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, had argued that the bill was necessary because “many smaller rural counties have difficulty filling their appraisal review boards during the summer months.”
However, the bill became a target of conservative activists who argued that the harms of letting teachers sit on these boards statewide outweighed the benefits to rural counties. Andrew McVeigh, president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, wrote in a letter to Abbot that he should veto the bill because appraisal review boards have the ability to influence property tax valuations, which help fund school districts.
“Letting teachers sit on these boards undermines the objectivity of the appraisal process and threatens public trust,” McVeigh wrote.
The other bills Abbott that vetoed this session include:
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2025/06/22/texas-governor-greg-abbott-special-session-veto-bills-thc-ban/.
The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Gov. Greg Abbott orders special legislative session after vetoing 26 bills
Reporting by Hayden Betts / Corpus Christi Caller Times
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