SAN ANTONIO – Monday marks the halfway point of the third special session of this year for the Texas Legislature.
Jon Taylor, a chair of the political science & geography department at UTSA, said an end isn’t in sight just yet.
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“Normally, it’s like one special session,” Taylor said. “It’s a little unusual to already have three and the governor potentially threatening a fourth one and maybe even a fifth one.”
But he said a reason for this is because of the session agenda’s contentious nature. Among the topics that Gov. Greg Abbott selected for this special session are school vouchers, border security and COVID-19 mandates.
Senate Bill 7 is a bill that could ban private employers from having mandates that require someone to have the COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of their employment or position.
The Senate passed the bill just a week ago, and now it waits in the House. On Thursday, a House committee held a public hearing to discuss the bill.
Juan Sepulveda, a professor of practice in political science at Trinity University, said this bill has ignited an ongoing discussion of individual rights.
“It’s a classic battle about individual rights,” Sepulveda said. “The majority of the Republicans are saying, ‘we don’t want people getting fired because they don’t want to take the vaccine. We don’t think you should force them to do it.’ On the other side, you’ve got the Democrats saying, ‘this a public health crisis and we have to take care of each other.’”
On Sept. 1, a law went into effect banning governmental entities from enforcing or creating mask or vaccine mandates.
“They passed the restrictions on local government and now are talking about the private employers,” Patricia Jaramillo, an associate professor in political science at St. Mary’s University, said. “Governor Abbott has really said that he sees this as being a very important issue.”
This comes as the city of San Antonio’s Metropolitan Health District reported a decline in COVID-19 cases during the last few weeks.
“The virus that causes COVID-19 is always changing,” a spokesperson with Metro Health said in a statement. “As we approach fall and winter seasons and holiday festivities begin, Metro Health encourages the community to stay up to date with their routine vaccines.”
In Texas, each special session is limited to 30 days, meaning legislators have 15 more days to compromise, pass or reject any ongoing legislation.
