Day One of Texas Bill Filing: Medicaid and Voucher Repeal on One Side, English and Kids' Social Media on the Other
By midday Monday, TLO listed hundreds of filings for 2027. Democrats filed on Medicaid and vouchers; Republicans on English, social media and emergency powers. Both parties filed against data-center tax breaks.
The first bills of the 2027 Texas Legislature hit the clerks' desks Monday, and the stack already shows two very different visions for a state now under divided government. Democrats filed to expand Medicaid, repeal the school voucher program and audit border spending. Republicans filed to make English the official language, keep children under 16 off social media and take emergency business-closure power from the governor. On data center tax breaks, members of both parties filed the same bill.
The Texas Tribune reported about 340 bills were filed in the first two hours Monday. By midday, the "Today's Filed Bills" reports on Texas Legislature Online listed 415 House measures and 110 Senate measures for the 90th Legislature. Those counts were rising as more filings posted. The session opens Jan. 12 with Democrats running the House, Republicans holding the Senate and Democrat Gina Hinojosa taking over as governor.
A filed bill is a proposal, not a law. Here is what several notable bills would do, based on filed text where available and on official captions where the full text was not yet readable. We explained the filing process itself in Texas Bill Filing Opens Monday for the 90th Legislature. Here Is How to Read What Lawmakers File.
Medicaid expansion leads the Democratic stack
Rep. John Bucy, D-Austin, filed House Bill 101, and Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, filed the companion Senate Bill 31. The filed text directs the Health and Human Services Commission to provide Medicaid to individuals who apply and for whom federal matching funds are available under the Affordable Care Act. Both bills would take effect Jan. 1, 2028, only if voters approve a related constitutional amendment; without that approval, the acts have no effect. Zaffirini also filed SJR 6, a proposed constitutional amendment on Medicaid expansion.
The Tribune reported that expansion under the Affordable Care Act would send the state up to $10 billion a year and cover an additional 1 million Texans, and that Republicans have long blocked expansion as wasteful. Bucy acknowledged Senate pushback. "We do think there's going to be a lot of room to find compromise," he said.
Vouchers, the border and the minimum wage
Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, filed SB 106, and Bucy filed HB 164. Both carry captions relating to repealing the education savings account program, the voucher law Republicans passed in 2025. Their captions are the basis for that description here.
Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, filed HB 257, which would require an external efficiency audit of Operation Lone Star and other border security programs in 2028 and every second year after. The comptroller would select and contract with an auditor independent of the Department of Public Safety and of entities that receive or spend money under those programs. Menéndez's SB 99 and Martinez Fischer's HB 123, by their captions, relate to repealing laws requiring agreements between certain sheriffs and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At least three House bills, including HB 110, HB 132 and HB 246, relate to the minimum wage by caption.
Data center tax breaks draw both parties
One of the day's clearest overlaps came from opposite sides of the aisle. Rep. Carrie Isaac, R-Wimberley, filed HB 408, and Martinez Fischer filed HB 167. Their captions match on repealing sales and use tax exemptions for property used in certain data centers and large data center projects. The filed text of HB 408 would repeal those exemption statutes, leave already certified centers able to keep their exemptions until their periods expire, and treat pending certification applications as denied. Zaffirini filed a broader data-center package, including SB 32, whose caption relates to a Public Utility Commission permit for construction of a large computational load site.
Republican bills on English, kids and emergency power
Rep. Mike Olcott, R-Aledo, filed HB 305 to designate English as Texas' official language. Under the filed text, covered state agencies, the Legislature and state courts would not be required to publish materials in another language. Unofficial translations would have to be made without cost to the state, labeled unofficial and nonbinding, and explain how to get the official English version.
Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, filed HB 212. To the extent federal law allows, it would bar people younger than 16 from using a social media platform. Platforms would have to use a commercially reasonable method to verify age before accepting an account holder, delete personal information used for that verification immediately after, and delete a minor's account within 10 days of a verified parent's request. The new rules would apply to platform access on or after Jan. 1, 2028.
Rep. Shelby Slawson, R-Stephenville, filed HB 311. During a declared disaster or emergency, only the Legislature could restrict or impair business operations by category or region. Renewing most disaster declarations past 30 days when lawmakers are not in session would require the governor to call a special session, with an exception for renewals based solely on fire, flood, wind, storm, wave action, drought or extreme heat. The bill would also limit the governor's power to suspend Election Code provisions on early voting by mail and on procedures for accepting voters, including voter identification. It would take effect Jan. 1, 2029, only if voters approve a related constitutional amendment. Rep. Brian Harrison has also called for limits on emergency power, as we reported in Brian Harrison Wants a Special Session to Limit Governor Emergency Powers Before Hinojosa Takes Office.
Rep. Janis Holt, R-Silsbee, filed HB 242. Current law protects certain religious organizations and clergy; the filed text would also cover any individual who declines to solemnize a marriage or provide related services, accommodations, facilities, goods or privileges when doing so would violate a sincerely held religious belief. Such a refusal could not be the basis for a civil suit or for state or local criminal or other action that withholds benefits or privileges, including tax exemptions, contracts, grants or licenses.
Isaac also filed HB 332. When general revenue in a state fiscal biennium exceeds 104% of the previous biennium's total, the excess would be allocated to the property tax relief fund. That money could be appropriated only to the Texas Education Agency to reduce school district maintenance and operations taxes through the state compression percentage. It would apply beginning with the biennium that starts Sept. 1, 2029.
What to watch
Most of these bills will never reach a governor's desk. None will reach a committee before January. Bills that pass a Democratic House must still clear a Republican Senate, and Senate bills face a Democratic governor's veto pen.
First Thessalonians 5:21 says, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." Texans should read the text, not just the caption, and hold every author to what the bill actually says.
