The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - June 24, 2025

Episode Date: June 24, 2025

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Howdy folks, today's Tuesday, June 24th, and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans Assistant Editor Rob Lauschus, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, State Senator Robert Nichols announced his retirement on Tuesday afternoon after two decades in the Texas Legislature. Nichols stated in a press release, quote, Today I am announcing that I will not be running again for the Texas Senate. I do intend to continue serving the people and communities of Senate District 3 until the end of my current term. He was first elected to represent Senate District 3

in 2007, serving through nine legislative sessions. Shortly after Nichols' announcement on Tuesday, fellow East Texan state representative Trent Ashby, whose House District 9 overlaps with SD3, launched his campaign for the retiring senator's seat. Nichols was reelected in November 2024 after edging out Democratic candidate Steve Russell, collecting 77% of the vote in SD3, rated R78% according to the Texans Texas Partisan Index.

His term will come to a close on January 12, 2027. Next, Governor Greg Abbott vetoed legislation just before the Sunday midnight deadline that would have created an affirmative defense to the prosecution of suspects who had been coerced or acted under duress or threat of imminent death or serious bodily injury. The bill drew bipartisan support, passing unanimously in the Senate and by 140 to 0 in the House. But in his veto statement, Abbott said the measure would go beyond offering aid and support to victims of human trafficking by allowing the affirmative defense to any prosecution and sever, quote, the link between culpability and conduct. In other news, with Governor Greg Abbott's bill signing deadline passed,

the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas is planning to launch a lawsuit challenging the recently approved Parental Bill of Rights. Senate Bill 12 was authored by Senator Brandon Creighton, who explained the legislation during a Senate K-16 committee hearing in February as, quote, reaffirming that parents are the chief decision makers for their children and making clear their fundamental role in their children's education, moral and religious upbringing is paramount. The legislation details that those parental rights include the ability to direct the moral and religious training of the child and provide consent to medical, psychiatric, and psychological treatment of the parent's child.

Additionally, SB12 places a prohibition on diversity, equity, and inclusion duties, including requiring schools to adopt a disciplined procedure for an employee who quote, intentionally or knowingly engages in or assigns, end quote, DEI duties. Also, ahead of the fall 2025 semester at universities across the state, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has issued a letter to college presidents requesting the identification of students who are not lawfully present after a federal judge struck down the Texas DREAM Act. In the letter to university presidents, Commissioner of Higher Education Wyn Rosser includes the

explicit directive that, quote, Each institution must assess the population of students who have established eligibility for Texas resident tuition, who are not lawfully present and will therefore need to be reclassified as non-residents and charged non-resident tuition for the fall 2025 semester. The letter comes as a direct result of an order from a US District Court judge who agreed with the Department of Justice complaint that the state's law granting in-state tuition to illegal aliens conflicted with federal law.

Last but not least, Texans will now be able to invest in an exchange traded fund focused solely on companies headquartered in the state via a new offering from BlackRock, the world's largest asset management firm. Texas Equity ETF, listed as TEXN on the NASDAQ, launches on Tuesday and will allow investment in nearly 200 companies whose headquarters are located in the state. BlackRock filed the proposal with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 12th this year, though an initial filing had been

made back in March. Since 2000, Texas's gross domestic product grew from $742 billion to $2.7 trillion, significantly outperforming inflation, and the state is now home to one out of every ten publicly traded companies in the United States. In the last decade, corporate relocations to Texas have reached nearly 300 entities. Thanks for listening. To support The Texan, please be sure to visit thetexan.news and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.