AUSTIN, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — The office of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced that a Special Session of the Texas Legislature centered around cutting property taxes and border security will convene at 9 a.m. Tuesday. This comes after the Texas Legislature ended its regular legislative session Monday evening.

According to a news release from Abbott’s office, the agenda items for Monday’s special session include:

• PROPERTY TAXES: Legislation to cut property-tax rates solely by reducing the school district maximum compressed tax rate in order to provide lasting property-tax relief for Texas taxpayers. 
• BORDER SECURITY: Legislation solely for the purpose of increasing or enhancing the penalties for certain criminal conduct involving the smuggling of persons or the operation of a stash house. 

Abbott said in the release that while he is planning to sign laws that “advance” the state of Texas and the future of its residents, covering topics like ending COVID-19 restrictions, school safety, and the Texas power grid, he expects several special sessions to occur.

“Many critical items remain that must be passed. Several special sessions will be required. To ensure that each priority receives the time and attention it deserves to pass into law, only a few will be added each session,” Abbott said in the release. “Special session #1 will focus only on cutting property taxes and cracking down on illegal human smuggling.  We must cut property taxes. During the regular session, we added $17.6 billion to cut property taxes. However, the legislature could not agree on how to allocate funds to accomplish this goal. Texans want and need a path towards eliminating property taxes. The best way to do that is to direct property tax reduction dollars to cut school property tax rates.”