Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called a special session on July 8 to take care of loose ends as this year's session has been "through ups and downs," as State Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R-Odessa) said.
Landgraf took to social media as the 87th legislative session ended "sine die" and reflected on how the 140 days of the session went. Abbott did not specify what the priorities for the special session would be, according to The Texas Tribune.
"It’s safe to say that it was an eventful 140 days, but through the ups and downs, I was proud to serve you and fight for you in the Texas House of Representatives." Landgraf wrote on Facebook.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
| gov.texas.gov
One key piece of legislation that was signed into law by Abbott was House Bill 103. HB 103, introduced by Landgraf, will create the "Texas Active Shooter Alert System."
The legislation, called the Leliah Hernandez Act, is named after 15-year-old Leilah Hernandez, the youngest victim of the late August 2019 shootings in Midland and Odessa, Your Basin reported.
“The passage of the Leilah Hernandez Act means that Texans will be able to receive timely alerts, similar to Amber alert messages we currently receive, if there is an active shooting taking place in their area,” Landgraf said, as reported by Your Basin. “This alert system could have saved the lives of some of my constituents back in 2019, like high school student Leilah Hernandez. The goal of this legislation is to save lives and prevent mass violence while protecting the constitutional rights of law-abiding Texans.”
Hernandez's mother, Joanna Leyva, spoke at the Texas Capitol in support of the bill stating an active shooting alert system could have saved her daughter's life.
“I want to thank everyone who had a hand in the passage of this legislation, especially Leilah’s family and other victims and witnesses of the Odessa shooting. Speaker Dade Phelan, Senator Judith Zaffirini, Chairman James White, Governor Abbott, and many others played important roles in getting this bill over the finish line. Now it is time to get the system in place so we can start saving lives,” Landgraf said, according to Your Basin.
According to a broadcast from CBSDFW on Yahoo!news, Abbott is telling lawmakers to prepare themselves for a special session to discuss issues like that of Senate Bill 7 concerning election security, which was not taken care of before the midnight deadline of the sessions' last day.
According to the report from Yahoo!news, Democrats walked out during the discussion of SB 7 towards the end of the session.