Harrison Delivers 15,000 Petitions Seeking Special Session on Emergency Powers

State Rep. Brian Harrison of Midlothian said he and a coalition of conservative organizations were delivering 15,000 petitions to Gov. Greg Abbott’s office Thursday morning, asking Abbott to call a special session to limit the governor’s emergency powers. Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa takes office in January, and Harrison wants the limits in law before she does, Nexstar reported.

“I thought it was wrong when Governor Abbott had and exercised these powers and it will continue to be wrong if we allow the next governor, especially Gina Hinojosa, to exercise these,” Harrison told Nexstar earlier this month.

The powers come from the Texas Disaster Act of 1975, now Chapter 418 of the Government Code. Once a governor declares a disaster, the governor’s executive orders “have the force and effect of law,” and the governor may suspend agency rules and the regulatory statutes that set procedures for state business. A disaster declaration lasts 30 days, and the governor can renew it.

Harrison wants Abbott to put House Bill 708 on a special session agenda. He filed it on November 9 for the regular session that opens January 12, under the same caption as bills he filed for the 2023 and 2025 sessions. The bill would let an order that “infringes in a nontrivial manner on a protected constitutional right” stand for 30 days, after which it expires unless the Legislature extends it by law. Its list of protected rights includes travel, work, assembly, speech, religious exercise and the purchase of lawfully acquired firearms. A governor could reissue an expired order for no more than three days, and only on a finding of significantly changed circumstances. The bill would also hand renewal of a disaster declaration to the Legislature and remove the governor’s power to suspend statutes.

When Harrison first filed the bill in December 2022, Abbott’s COVID-19 disaster declaration, issued in March 2020, had passed its 1,000th day, Texas Scorecard reported at the time.

On November 4, the day after the election, Harrison wrote on X that no governor of either party should hold unchecked emergency powers, and that the current Legislature had ten weeks left to act. On Thursday he acknowledged to Nexstar that no lawmaker from either party had joined his call.

Rep. Wes Virdell of Brady has criticized the plan in public. He supports the bill on the merits but called a special session before January a waste of time, because members who oppose it could leave the state and deny the House a quorum. The Texas Constitution requires two-thirds of each chamber to do business, 100 of the House’s 150 members.

“It is one thing to pursue this if there was even a small chance of victory, but in my opinion this is guaranteed failure,” Virdell said in a statement to Nexstar. “If Brian can produce a list of 15 or more Democrats that will show up so we can have quorum, then count me in.”

Hinojosa did not address Harrison by name when reporters asked on November 5. “The people of Texas have spoken, and I think it’s important that as elected leaders we respect what the people of Texas have said,” she said, KPRC reported. Neither her office nor Abbott’s answered Nexstar on Thursday.

Only the governor can call a special session, and the Constitution caps one at 30 days. If Abbott does not call one, HB 708 goes to the next Legislature, where the governor whose powers it would limit holds the veto.