Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Friday ordered state senators to study a wide range of policy issues before next year’s legislative session, including predictive markets, data centers, THC and others, expanding on the original list of priorities that included “banning Sharia law” and investigating Medicaid fraud.
Patrick’s latest list of interim charges is in line with many of the priorities House Speaker Dustin Burrows laid out Thursday.
Information centers appeared three times on Patrick’s priorities, with the lieutenant governor – who leads the state Senate – ordering various committees to examine water needs for “high-tech,” including data centers; considering how to meet the power needs of data centers but also “balancing the economic development benefits of this growth against the impacts on landowners, private property rights, water infrastructure, and public safety;” and assessing the cost of sales tax exemptions granted to data centers.
Patrick also pointed to a focus on banning hemp-based THC products, charging the Health and Human Services Committee with studying “the impact of THC on increased health care costs, accidental incarceration, and the risk of being diagnosed with THC-induced mental illness.” Patrick made banning the products one of his priorities in the last legislative session, but the bill that passed the Legislature was ultimately vetoed by Governor Greg Abbott.
Prediction market gambling has also reached Patrick’s sights, as markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket have expanded into the state through a state crackdown even though sports betting and casinos are otherwise banned in Texas. Patrick directed the state affairs committee to “study the sudden proliferation of gambling” and “make recommendations to ensure the integrity of Texas elections and Texas sports.”
On the property tax front, Patrick reiterated “Operation Double Nickel,” his proposal to reduce property taxes by increasing the tax-free mortgage to pay for public schools, known as the homestead exemption. The plan also includes lowering the age at which Texans qualify for additional relief on their school tax credits.
Patrick’s proposal contrasts with the way House leaders generally prefer to reduce property taxes, by suppressing county tax rates and lowering assessments. Gov. Greg Abbott has floated a separate property tax cut plan, one of which ends property taxes for home owners, setting up a potential legal battle over the issue next year.
Patrick also listed election security and efficiency on his list of priorities, instructing the National Affairs Committee to “ensure access to observers,” study “various methods used by regions in the marking and counting of votes” and monitor district polling stations during primary elections. Thousands of Dallas County voters showed up at the wrong polling place this month after the Dallas County GOP eliminated polling places statewide, causing election day chaos.
According to Burrows’ list, Patrick’s priorities include cracking down on immigrant truck drivers, and the Transportation committee is charged with ensuring drivers are fluent in English and strengthening driving school safety standards with “unannounced or hidden tests.”
Patrick also included fertility issues on his agenda, ordering senators to “scrutinize the illegal and foreign interests operating the surrogacy and birth industries in Texas” and to study “the continuing threat posed by abortion pills illegally shipped to Texas.” The legislature last year banned the production and distribution of abortion pills in the state.
In another agreement with the House, Patrick directed the Heath and Human Services committee to examine “the causes of rising health care costs.” Thousands of Texans are seeing higher premiums this year after the Republican-controlled Congress refused to extend last year’s revised Affordable Care Act subsidies.
The Religious Freedom Committee, founded this month by Patrick, was charged with advocating “any legislation necessary to improve, improve, or fully implement” the measures the Legislature passed in the previous session requiring public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments and enabling schools to devote time during the day to prayer.
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