As searches continue for flood victims, Gov. Greg Abbott said he's shifting the focus of an upcoming legislative session to proposals for making the state more prepared for natural disasters.
"We're going to address every aspect of this storm to make sure we have in place the systems that are needed to prevent deadly flooding events like this in the future," said Abbott Tuesday at a press conference in hard-hit Kerr County.
The governor officially released his proclamation for the July 21 special session on Wednesday and included four specific flood-related items.
Abbott is asking that lawmakers look into legislation that will, "improve early warning systems and other preparedness infrastructure in flood-prone areas throughout Texas."
"We want to make sure that when we end that session, we end it by making sure these communities are better, more resilient and have the resources that they need," Abbott said Tuesday.
In the regular session this spring, lawmakers failed to pass a bill that would have provided more money for communications and warning systems in natural disasters. Now, Texas lawmakers seem ready to take up Abbott's call.
"The Texas House will be organized. We will be ready," said House Speaker Dustin Burrows, a Lubbock Republican, earlier this week. "We stand willing and able to listen to the community and experts to do all that we can."
Texas lawmakers look to make state ready for future floods
State legislators are also being asked for proposals to strengthen emergency communications, provide relief funding for storm response and recovery, and streamline rules and regulations to speed preparation and recovery from natural disasters.
With the flood on every Texans' mind right now, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has already proposed an idea he believes could help.
'Had we had sirens along this area up and down — the same type of sirens that they have in Israel when there's an attack coming — that would have blown very loudly," said Patrick on Fox News on Monday. "It's possible that that would've saved some of these lives."
Patrick said he hopes to get those installed by next summer.
Texas wouldn't be alone in improving systems after a catastrophic event. For example, after a deadly flood in Tennessee lawmakers there set up a $5 million dollar loan fund that local governments could use for hazard mitigation projects.
Upmanu Lall, the Director of the Columbia Water Center at Columbia University in New York, notes sirens won't solve all the problems.
"Let's say the siren went off, would these people have evacuated? We don't know," Lall told The Texas Newsroom. "In Iowa, there are three or 400 flood warnings issued per week. I don't think most of these people are paying attention to those. And that's the problem."
Other countries have more extensive flood systems
But Lall said, when it comes to emergency preparedness and response systems, Texas lawmakers should look to other countries, specifically China.
"Given where we are today in the whole country, we run blind" said Lall. "China is installing sensors for rainfall, sensors for depth of water in the street, sensors for the depth of the water in sewer systems, and in the rivers." These systems, he said, are all communicating to central locations within a city, "so that you have an actual picture of what is going on and how…And then you can activate rescue measures, information measures, and so on."
Some Texas lawmakers, specifically Republican Rep. Drew Darby, who's been in office since 2007, told The Texas Newsroom there have been proposals in the past that would've already led to improved systems in the state.
"I have known about this, worked on it. It's just that sometimes — and tragically so — sometimes you don't have the legislative will…to see things through," said Darby. "Sometimes it takes a disaster like this to focus everyone upon a goal, a common goal. And a will to get that goal across the finish line.
Mid-decade redistricting
Outside of flood-focused issues, Gov. Abbott is also asking that lawmakers revise the state's congressional map.
In Wednesday's proclamation, the governor said it stems from concerns from the U.S. Department of Justice. But Dallas Democrat Rep. John Bryant believes it's really Abbott taking orders from the President.
"The real reason for this special session is the governor wants to do what Donald Trump has asked him to do," Bryant told the Texas Newsroom last week. "And that is — in the middle of the decade — to take up congressional redistricting and redraw the congressional lines so that the Republicans can win more seats."
Other Special Session Priorities
Abbott also wants the legislature to look into eliminating the STAAR test, further reducing property taxes and tweaking the state's abortion laws to further protect "unborn children and their mothers from the harms of abortion."
Perhaps most notably, what was previously considered the highest priority the governor wanted lawmakers to address in the special session — regulating consumable hemp containing THC — has now taken a backseat.
The debate from lawmakers around THC will likely still be just as controversial as the original THC ban Abbott vetoed last month, but the attention is now likely to shift to flood-related legislation and redistricting — with the latter issue likely having a large impact on whether Republicans can stay in control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Texas Newsroom is a public radio journalism collaboration that includes NPR, KERA in North Texas, Houston Public Media, KUT in Austin, Texas Public Radio in San Antonio and other stations across the state.