The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - June 26, 2025

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

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Howdy folks, today is Thursday, June 26th and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans Assistant Editor Rob Lauschis and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, activists and ministers have launched a lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency and multiple Dallas area ISDs, arguing the unconstitutionality of a new state law requiring the 10 commandments to be displayed in every classroom, two days after Governor Greg Abbott signed it into law.

After barely scraping by through its contentious time in the 89th legislative session, Senate Bill 10 is under legal fire. The lawsuit names Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath, the TEA, and the boards of trustees for Dallas, DeSoto, and Lancaster ISDs as the defendants. One of the plaintiffs is Minister Dominique Alexander, a self-described Minister of Justice who has been arrested and charged in Texas for a number of crimes, including ones related to child abuse in 2009, forgery in 2013, theft in 2016 and 2017,

and domestic violence in 2019. Also represented among the plaintiffs are several Christian denominations and the Nation of Islam. The lawsuit filed on Tuesday in the Northern District Court of Texas alleges that under the newly signed law all of Texas's quote nearly 6 million students in about 9100 public elementary and secondary schools will be forcibly subjected to religious mandates every single school day. In other news laws signed by Governor Greg Abbott last week include several expanding victims' rights and one mandating that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice

provide certain details about a parolee's conditions of release when requested by victims or their advocates. Introduced by Senators Juan Chuy Hinojosa and Joan Huffman, Senate Bill 1120 was originally limited to include victims of family violence in a 2023 statute giving victims of sexual assault, stalking, indecent assault, and trafficking the right to confer with prosecutors on charges and potential plea agreements. Testifying in support of the bill, Willbarger County Attorney Staley Heatley said that while he has routinely met with victims of domestic violence to confer, the practice should be mandated

across the state. Heatley said, quote, as both a former DA and now is a county attorney, I've seen firsthand how including the victims voice enhances justice, strengthens cases, and increases safety for victims. SB 1120 passed unanimously in the Texas Senate and was carried in the House by Representative Ann Johnson.

But when brought to the floor of the lower chamber, Johnson accepted an amendment from Representative Lacey Hull that included the contents of another bill addressing the lack of transparency of parole conditions. Last but not least, Governor Greg Abbott signed more than 1,100 bills into law before the Sunday midnight deadline, with one of those being legislation aiming to make Texas healthy again. Senate Bill 25, one of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick's legislative priorities, was authored by Senator Lois Culchors to make fundamental changes to how food products in Texas are labeled, as well as enhanced

nutrition education. The new law, which is set to go into effect on September 1st, creates a requirement that Texas public schools include, quote, nutrition instruction based on nutritional guidelines recommended by the Texas Nutrition Advisory Committee," end quote, for kindergarten through eighth grade. Additionally, Texas colleges will now be required to provide students with the opportunity to take a course of instruction in nutrition education, including mandating medical students or other majors related to health care service to complete nutrition curricula. SB25 also creates the Texas Nutrition Advisory Committee,

which will develop and maintain dietary and nutritional guidelines and examine the impact of nutrition on human health as it relates to ultra-processed foods, including foods containing artificial color and food additives. 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.