(C) Texas Tribune This story was originally published by Texas Tribune and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Blast - May 6, 2025 [1] ['The Texas Tribune'] Date: 2025-05 6 days until the House committee report soft deadline 9 days until the House bill deadline 27 days until sine die Abbott is scheduled to have a roundtable and a press conference on bail at the Texas Public Policy Foundation headquarters tomorrow afternoon. Rep. Gene Wu , D-Houston and chair of the House Democratic Caucus, also said Tuesday that he anticipated a “reasonable” agreement lacking the “most extreme” proposals. The movement toward an agreement came even after Gov. Greg Abbott complicated negotiations last week by calling for Senate Joint Resolution 5 to go even further by automatically denying bail for certain violent offenses. Whether that makes it into the final agreement remains to be seen, though Huffman and Smithee both expressed support for it. Smithee added that the ongoing discussions centered on defining which offenses would qualify for automatic denial of bail. Sen. Joan Huffman , R-Houston and the longtime sponsor of bail-related legislation in the upper chamber, said Monday that she was “optimistic” that one of the measures would “soon advance to the House floor for a record vote.” “We’re close to an agreement,” House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee Chair John Smithee , R-Amarillo, told the Tribune today, adding that he was hopeful the package could move through his panel this week with less than a month of session left. “We’ve made a lot of progress. We’ve narrowed a lot of the issues down.” The lead negotiators on the bail package expressed optimism this week about reaching an agreement that could win enough support for passage in the Texas House — a development that makes Republicans look closer than ever to putting a constitutional amendment before voters to tighten the state’s bail laws and keep more defendants behind bars pretrial. The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one . ZONING BILL GETS DRAGGED INTO GAMBLING TURF WAR Legalizing casinos and sports betting has been a nonstarter in the Senate, and the effort has stalled in the House so far. But now, the gambling debate is bleeding into legislation to give local governments more leeway over zoning changes. A couple weeks ago, the Senate passed Senate Bill 844, which would update the state’s Jim Crow-era rezoning protest process by raising the number of nearby property owners who must complain and let city councils approve the redevelopment by a simple majority rather than a three-fourths vote, depending on the circumstances. The stated goal is to prevent a small group of property owners from killing affordable housing developments. The bill passed the Senate with a floor amendment by far-right Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, which would subject gambling-related developments to the old system, in which only 20% of nearby property owners can trigger a three-fourths council vote. The Senate adopted that amendment unanimously. Although the House Land and Resource Management Committee moved the Senate version on to the House Calendars Committee this morning, Rep. Angelia Orr, R-Itasca, moved forward with her own version, House Bill 24, which does not contain the gambling crackdown. The measure passed 83-56. Rep. Andy Hopper, a freshman from Decatur who is part of the anti-gambling, anti-leadership wing of the Republican caucus, tried to add Hall’s language to the House bill. However, Rep. Charlie Geren, the Fort Worth Republican who is carrying the legislation to legalize casinos and sports betting, successfully spiked the Hopper/Hall amendment on a technicality. Speaking against the bill, Hopper said he’s not against development, rezoning and reducing regulation. “What I am against is allowing Las Vegas Sands and the casino lobby to control this Texas House,” he continued. Soon after, Orr declined to answer questions from Rep. Nate Schatzline, another anti-leadership and anti-gambling Republican from Fort Worth, and called for a vote. Rejecting questions is a rare move in the House, where most members entertain questions from the opposition. Anti-gambling members appeared to start raising questions about the true intent of the bill around the time the Monty Bennett-funded Dallas Express ran an article last month alleging a connection between an Irving City Council casino rezoning vote, Texas Sands PAC and the bill. In addition to the fact that the first Irving rezoning hearing took place the same day HB 24 was filed and Texas Sand PAC’s donations to numerous members, The Dallas Express hinged the association on attorney Cliff P. Riley’s opinion that the bill is aimed at the University of Dallas and others that may try to stop casino construction. They also quoted Riley as saying the law gives “great protection to nearby property owners.” [END] --- [1] Url: https://thetexastribune.beehiiv.com/p/the-blast-may-6-2025-ce70bdf712f1c867 Published and (C) by Texas Tribune Content appears here under this condition or license: Used with Permission: https://www.texastribune.org/republishing-guidelines/. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/texastribune/