Special Session Ends; Dems Make New Demands

With a quorum-breaking number of House Democrats still out of state, House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, gaveled the first special session to an end Friday. Gov. Greg Abbott immediately called a second special session that has already convened.

House Democrats indicated they will likely return to Texas at some point during the second special session and would fight the proposed redistricting attempt with legal challenges against the Republican plan to add five GOP-heavy congressional districts, The Dallas Morning News reported.

“Texas House Democrats broke quorum and successfully mobilized the nation against Trump’s assault on minority voting rights,” said Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Gene Wu of Houston. “Now, as Democrats across the nation join our fight to cause these maps to fail their political purpose, we’re prepared to bring this battle back to Texas under the right conditions and to take this fight to the courts.”

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom has said voters in his state will be asked in a November election to counter the redistricting move in Texas by approving new Democratic congressional districts there.

Meanwhile, the Texas Senate has passed legislation on flood relief and disaster response, doing away with STAAR testing in favor of three tests annually, and other measures that would await approval in the House during the new special session.

Colleges, Nonprofits Urge Judge to Reinstate Dream Act 

As the fall semester gets underway, lawyers are again asking a district judge to allow them to contest a ruling that overturned the Texas Dream Act. That measure for 24 years has allowed eligible Texas residents who are non-citizens to pay in-state tuition rates, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

The federal government in June sued the state, arguing the 2001 Dream Act provides unfair benefits to non-U.S. citizens. When the state declined to fight the suit, state District Judge Reed O’ Connor stopped the law from being enforced. That means non-citizens would have to pay the considerably higher tuition rates charged to international students. Multiple parties have sued seeking to join the suit after the state declined, but the judge has not ruled on that bid, leaving colleges and universities in limbo as tuition bills are sent out.

“They would have had a very hard time proving that a 25-year state law that has helped tens of thousands of students is somehow harming the U.S.,” said David Donatti of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is seeking to join the suit. “Our arguments are very strong. To me, our right to intervene is extremely clear.”

Texas has more than 57,000 students without legal documentation, second only to California, according to Inside Higher Ed. They would face tuition rates up to four times higher than in-state tuition if the ban on the Dream Act becomes permanent.