The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - August 12, 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy, folks. Today is Tuesday, August 12th, and you're listening to The Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans assistant editor Rob Lauchess, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, the Texas legislature is barreling toward an immediate second special session if no quorum is reached Friday. The state's top Republican officials confirmed on Tuesday. The House gaveled in on Tuesday only reaching 95 votes during the roll call, lacking a quorum for the fourth time since Monday last week. The de facto quorum count remains at 97 as two members. State representatives J.M. Lazzano and Eddie Morales were present yesterday, but marked absent

Starting point is 00:00:48 today. Lazzano was in the chamber, just not at his desk. After the vote, Speaker Dustin Burroughs announced that the chamber would try once more for a quorum on Friday. If that fails, the two chambers will adjourn Sinai die early, and Governor Greg Abbott will call an immediate second special session. Abbott said that the call for the second special will be the same as the current one, loaded with more than a dozen items. Next, the Supreme Court of Texas has responded to Governor Greg Abbott's writ of Quo-Woronto petition against state representative Gene Wu to have his house seat declared vacant, setting upcoming dates for briefs to be filed

Starting point is 00:01:27 for either side in the case. Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a similar suit against 13 Democratic members that fled to other states, and with this order, the Supreme Court has consolidated Abbott and Paxton's cases. With the briefing schedule being set to conclude after the last day of the current special session, the case proceeding would roll into a likely second special. Additionally, the extra runway in the courts provides more time for Democrats not present in Austin to begin trickling back to the Capitol, which could provide the necessary 100 members for the Texas House to meet a quorum so that legislative action on bills can begin again. If that happens, both lawsuits could become moot. In other news, a 37-year-old Lubbock man has been convicted for threats he made

Starting point is 00:02:13 against U.S. Secret Service agents. Tristan Renee Langston was found guilty by a federal jury last Thursday, August 7th, on two charges, transmitting threats in interstate commerce and threatening a federal law enforcement officer. He is scheduled to be sentenced on November 6th and could face up to 15 years in prison. The threats were apparently made in retaliation for a previous investigation the Secret Service had conducted into Langston in 2023. Also, local government leaders in North Texas agreed to send a letter supporting the high-speed rail plans from Fort Worth to Dallas to Houston. The Regional Transportation Council of the North Central Texas Council of Governments approved a letter to be sent to the North Texas Congressional Delegation, opposing language in a

Starting point is 00:03:01 proposed appropriations bill for fiscal year 2026. And related agencies Appropriations Act states in part that, quote, none of the funds appropriated under this act or any other act may be provided to the state of Texas for a high-speed rail corridor development project that is the same or substantially similar to the Amtrak, Texas High Speed Rail Corridor, previously known as the Texas Central Railway Project, end quote. The House Appropriations Committee approved the measure by a vote of 35 to 28. Last but not least, Elon Musk and his electric vehicle company Tesla have been granted approval by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation to operate as a transportation network company in the state. Tesla Robotaxy LLC has been

Starting point is 00:03:49 granted a license to operate until August 6, 2026, according to the TDLR website, allowing the Autonomous Ride Hailing Service to roll out its offerings statewide. The license will also allow for Tesla's Robo Taxi program to compete in the same ride-sharing category as Uber, Lyft, and Waymo. Waymo, another autonomous ride-share company, currently operates approximately 100 vehicles in Austin, according to Uber's CEO, who added the fleet could be expanded to hundreds in the coming months. Thanks for listening. To support the Texan, please be sure to visit the texan. News and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - August 12, 2025

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