The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - September 3, 2025

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

Want to support The Texan and help us continue providing the Lone Star State with news you can trust? Subscribe today: https://thetexan.news/subscribe/The Texan’s Daily Rundown brings you a quick recap of the latest stories in Texas politics so you can stay informed with news you can trust.Want more resources? Be sure to visit The Texan and subscribe for complete access to our in-depth articles, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, videos, podcasts, and more.Enjoy what you hear? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review!

Howdy, folks, today is Wednesday, September 3rd, 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, its leadership, its membership, and its staff is wary and frazzled as the second special session of 2025 winds to a close. But with the end in sight, the Texas legislature, the Texas legislature, its leadership, and its staff is wary and frazzled as the second special session of 2025 winds to a close. typical mad dash to pass everything possible runs up against significant existing disagreement over pending legislation on THC, property taxes, and standardized testing. With the new Republican congressional map passed and signed by Governor Greg Abbott, which purports to put Republicans on a path toward gaining five seats in Congress, focus has moved to everything else that was

put off until after the bruising political food fight had concluded. On Tuesday, two curveballs were thrown at the chambers regarding property taxes and a proposed elimination and replacement of the standardized star test. So, on what the leadership in both chambers had hoped would be the last day of this special session, they're now left to find a solution to those two issues that featured unforeseen disagreement. While those are the most recent blow-ups, the elephant in the room is what, if anything, can be agreed upon by the two chambers and the governor on THC. Next, a panel of judges of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on Tuesday for a property rights lawsuit against the city of Kima, questioning the parties about steps property owners must take before

seeking relief from the federal courts when the government has rendered property unusable through regulation. In July 2021, then-Kima Building Code official and acting fire marshal Brandon Shoeff ordered a four-story building housing multiple businesses closed for alleged but non-specified life safety issues, effectively revoking the owner's certificate of occupancy. Show-off did not provide the owner with a pre-deprivation notice or the opportunity to contest findings in a hearing. Prior to the closure, the owner operated an indoor bar on the first two floors and residential units on the third and fourth floors. Those residential units were given a certificate for bed and breakfast vacation rentals in 2004 and were operated for residential purposes since at

lease that time according to court documents. The owner's property also includes Palapas, a popular local tiki bar. In other news, as of September 1st, the Texas Lottery Commission is now under the jurisdiction of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The agency has undergone a tumultuous saga involving state lawmakers, investigations, and accusations about its alleged scandalous operations. In a report released January, the TLC detailed how the agency, agency has, quote, cycled through 11 executive directors or acting executive directors in its first 16 years, end quote, and that the legislature has attempted on multiple occasions to pass a sunset bill to abolish the lottery. The January report came as a result of the legislature asking

the agency to begin an evaluation process of its operations for an upcoming sunset review, but, quote, the documentation remains incomplete. Adding further fuel to the fire was a growing concern over the use of lottery courier operations in Texas. First, it was a $203-95 million winner, whose prize was claimed by an overseas entity that had reportedly purchased tens of millions of $1 tickets. Then in February 2025, an $83.5 million winner was announced, which was again won using a lottery courier service. Last but not least, the state of Texas is suing a California-based tech

company after a catastrophic breach exposed sensitive data, such as bus stops and private medical information of over 880,000 teachers and students. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a suit against Power School on Wednesday, alleging that the company, quote, failed to implement even the most basic security features, including multi-factor authentication. adequate access controls, and proper data encryption, end quote, and thus by neglect allowed for the breach of information for hundreds of thousands of people. Power School is a platform for school districts across the country to manage various aspects of their employees and students' information, whether it be for enrollment purposes or just as a general school database. It markets

its software services as meeting the highest security standards and offering state-of-the-art protections for student and employee data. 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.