House Bill 708 Would Require the Legislature to Renew a Texas Disaster Declaration After 30 Days
House Bill 708, filed Nov. 9 by Rep. Brian Harrison, would amend the Disaster Act so a declaration could not last more than 30 days unless the Legislature renewed it by law.
Rep. Brian Harrison has filed a bill for the 90th Legislature that would change who may keep a Texas disaster declaration in force after 30 days, and would tighten other emergency authorities in Chapter 418 of the Government Code. House Bill 708, introduced under the caption "relating to the authority of the legislature, courts, the governor, and other state and local officials regarding declared states of disaster," is still only a filed draft. Its official history lists a single last action, "H Filed" on Nov. 9, 2026. The official House membership directory lists Harrison as the member for House District 10.
Dock Line earlier reported Harrison's Nov. 4 request that Gov. Greg Abbott call a special session to limit emergency powers before Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa takes office. That earlier report discussed Harrison's 2023 House Bill 911, which did not pass. House Bill 708 is a new filing for the 90th Legislature. This story is confined to the introduced text of that bill and to the Legislature's bill record.
The sharpest change is in Section 3 of the bill, which would amend Section 418.014(c) of the Government Code. As rewritten, "a state of disaster may not continue for more than 30 days unless renewed by the legislature by law." In the introduced draft, that sentence replaces the word "governor" with "the legislature by law." The same section would still allow the Legislature to terminate a state of disaster at any time and would require the governor, on that termination, to issue an executive order ending it. The governor "may not declare a new state of disaster based on the same or a substantially similar finding as a prior state of disaster that the legislature terminated or refused to renew."
Section 2 would rewrite Section 418.012, which governs executive orders, proclamations, and regulations under the chapter. The introduced text would strike the sentence, shown in the draft as existing law, that "Executive orders, proclamations, and regulations have the force and effect of law." It would provide that, notwithstanding other law authorizing a state or local official to issue a disaster-related order, and "only to the extent allowed under the United States Constitution or Texas Constitution," only the governor may issue an order that "from the date the order is issued infringes in a nontrivial manner on a protected constitutional right." The bill lists, "including, but not limited to," the rights to travel, work, assemble, and speak; freedom of religious exercise; the right to contract without state interference; property rights; freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures; and "the freedom to purchase lawfully acquired firearms and ammunition."
An order of that kind would expire on the 30th day after the date the governor issues it, unless the governor or the Legislature by law terminates it earlier, or the Legislature by law extends it on or before the expiration date. If the Legislature is not convened in a regular or special session, the governor may convene it to consider the order, and "the members of the legislature may remotely vote to approve, extend, or terminate the order" by an electronic method authorized in each house's rules, or as the lieutenant governor or speaker specifies if the rules do not address electronic voting. The governor may not issue the same or a substantially similar order after it has expired unless the governor "determines significantly changed circumstances require issuance of the similar order" for a period not to exceed three days, or a longer period the Legislature approves by law.
Other sections would cut back the governor's authority to suspend statutes. The heading of Section 418.016 would become "Suspension of Certain Rules," striking "Laws and." The rewritten subsection (a) would allow the governor to suspend "the orders or rules of a state agency if strict compliance with the orders or rules would in any way prevent, hinder, or delay necessary action in coping with a disaster," and would strike the draft's present language about suspending "the provisions of any regulatory statute prescribing the procedures for conduct of state business." Similar deletions of "statute" or "law or" appear in amendments to the suspension list in Section 418.0155, to deadline waivers for political subdivisions in Section 418.016(e), and to temporary housing rules in Section 418.020(c). A conforming change in Section 418.042(c) would strike the phrase "that have the force and effect of law" from the provision on incorporating the state emergency management plan into division regulations or executive orders.
The bill would also add three new sections at the start of the chapter. Section 418.007 would allow a state or local official to issue "recommendations and nonbinding guidelines" and to coordinate public and private resources. Section 418.008 would require that an order issued under the chapter that "regulates and infringes on the rights of any private person" be "narrowly tailored to serve a compelling public health or safety purpose" and "limited in duration, applicability, and scope to reduce any infringement on individual liberty." Section 418.009 would give district and appellate courts of this state jurisdiction to hear challenges to a state or local disaster order and would direct those courts to expedite hearings "to the extent practicable." A court may invalidate or enjoin a disaster order, or its application, "that is not narrowly tailored to serve a compelling public health or safety purpose because of the order's inequality in application to or impact on groups, situations, or circumstances."
Section 10 says the changes would apply only to an order, proclamation, or regulation issued on or after the act's effective date. Under Section 11, the act would take effect immediately if it receives a two-thirds vote of all members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, of the Texas Constitution; otherwise it would take effect Sept. 1, 2027. This report does not treat the official statutes website as a source. Filing the bill in November does not place it on a calendar, and it would still have to be referred, heard, and passed before either effective-date clause would matter. It is also a different measure from the two other Nov. 9 House filings, HB 913 and HB 694, on where local boards may meet. "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help" (Psalm 146:3).
