Texas Legislative Issues 2025
With a healthy $24 billion budget surplus, Texas legislators have many decisions ahead. What are their priorities during the 89th Legislature in 2025? With Educational Savings Accounts dominating the legislative session, what do Texans think about other pressing policy issues such as immigration, gambling, marijuana, abortion and election reform? Are there any areas of partisan agreement in today’s polarized political environment? To answer these questions and more, the Hobby School of Public Affairs conducted a survey between January 13-20, 2025, in English and Spanish, with Texans via a YouGov panel. Representative of the adult population, the analysis population of 1,200, with a margin of error of +/- 2.83%, was matched to a sampling frame on gender, race/ethnicity, age, education, income and region.
The results of this survey will be presented in six separate reports. The report series begins with an examination of Texans’ top priorities for using the state’s $24 billion budget surplus and their positions on Education Savings Account (ESA) and sales tax exemption legislation. The remaining five reports analyze Texans’ opinions on proposed legislation in the policy areas of abortion, elections, gambling, gun control and marijuana, as well as assess their attitudes on immigration and border security, the 2024 presidential election and the 2026 Republican U.S. Senate primary.
Report One. Budget Priorities and Education Savings Accounts
Budget Priorities: Texans were asked to identify their top three priorities for using the state’s current $24 billion dollar budget surplus, with at least one-fifth listing the proposals below among their top three.
- 50% want to prioritize property tax relief for residential homeowners.
- 40% want to prioritize pay raises for public school teachers.
- 34% want to prioritize expanding access to Medicaid.
- 31% want to prioritize investment in public school buildings and infrastructure.
- 30% want to prioritize more investment in the Texas Energy Fund.
- 27% want to prioritize investment in water infrastructure projects.
- 25% want to prioritize the creation of a Rural Hospital Fund.
- 21% want to prioritize saving at least $7 billion of the surplus.
Education Savings Accounts: 67% of Texans support Education Savings Account (ESA) legislation that would benefit all parents, with 31% strongly supporting this legislative proposal.
72% of Texans support Education Savings Account (ESA) legislation that would only benefit low-income parents, with 41% strongly supporting this legislative proposal.
Border Security: 40% of Texans want the Texas state government to spend more during the next two years on border security than the state has spent on average during the previous four years, while 25% want it to spend less and 35% want it to spend the same amount.
Tax Exemptions: 89% of Texans support legislation which would exempt school textbooks costing less than $100 from the state sales tax, with 58% strongly supporting this bill.
85% of Texans support legislation which would temporarily exempt HVAC systems for single-family homes from the state sales tax, with 43% strongly supporting this bill.
77% of Texans support legislation which would exempt pet food from the state sales tax, with 40% strongly supporting this bill.
75% of Texans support legislation which would exempt firearm safety equipment from the state sales tax, with 41% strongly supporting this bill.
Read Report One to learn more about where Texans stand on these proposed budget items and legislative proposals, including differences of opinion when considering gender, race/ethnicity, age, income, education and partisanship.
Media Release January 28, 2025
Report Two. Immigration and Border Security
Opportunities: 64% of Texans believe there should be a way for undocumented immigrants to stay in the U.S. legally if certain requirements are met, while 36% of Texans believe that undocumented immigrants should not be legally allowed to stay.
69% of Texans support creating more opportunities for legal immigration.
72% of Texans support legally admitting more high-skilled immigrants.
Deportations: 87% of Texans support increasing targeted deportations of undocumented immigrants with criminal convictions.
72% of Texans support increasing targeted deportations of undocumented immigrants whose asylum bids were denied, but who are still in the U.S.
60% of Texans support the mass deportation of a majority of undocumented immigrants who are living in the country illegally.
Border Wall: 67% of Texans support substantially expanding the wall and other barriers along the border.
Asylum: 73% of Texans support limiting the number of immigrants who can claim asylum.
79% of Texans support the U.S. government increasing the number of immigration judges so that asylum applications can be decided more quickly.
Dreamers: 73% of Texans support an exception to allow undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children (i.e., Dreamers) to legally stay and work in the U.S.
56% of Texans support, and 44% oppose, repealing the 2001 “Texas Dream Act” under which undocumented immigrants are eligible for in-state tuition at Texas public colleges & universities.
Read Report Two to learn more about where Texans stand on these immigration issues, including differences of opinion when considering gender, race/ethnicity, age, income, education and partisanship.
Media Release January 30, 2025
Report Three. Gambling and Marijuana Legalization
Destination Resort Casinos: 73% of Texans support legalizing the construction and operation of destination resort casinos in Texas.
Online Sports Betting: 60% of Texans support legalizing online sports betting in Texas.
Sportsbooks: 56% of Texans support legalizing the operation of sportsbooks in the stadiums and arenas of professional sports teams in Texas.
Medical Marijuana: 79% of Texans support legislation which would legalize the sale and use of marijuana in Texas for a wide range of medical purposes with a doctor’s prescription.
Marijuana Decriminalization: 69% of Texans support legislation which would decriminalize the possession of marijuana for personal use in Texas by those 21 and older (making the penalty similar to a ticket for a minor traffic violation).
Recreational Marijuana: 62% of Texans support legislation which would legalize the sale and use of marijuana for recreational purposes in Texas by those 21 and older.
THC Ban: 55% of Texans support a proposed legislative ban on the currently unregulated sale of THC consumables in Texas by retail outlets taking advantage of a loophole in a 2019 agricultural law designed to boost the state’s industrial hemp industry.
Read Report Three to learn more about where Texans stand on the legalization of gambling and marijuana, including differences of opinion when considering gender, race/ethnicity, age, income, education and partisanship.
Media Release February 4, 2025
Report Four. Abortion & Gun Control
Abortion: 49% of Texans want the Texas Legislature to pass legislation to make it easier to obtain an abortion in Texas, 13% want legislation passed to make it harder, and 38% want to maintain the status quo under which abortion is only legal if the woman’s life is at risk.
23% of Texans believe that a woman should never be allowed to obtain an abortion without restrictions.
48% of Texans believe a woman should not be allowed to obtain an abortion without restrictions after 6 weeks of pregnancy.
71% of Texans believe a woman should not be allowed to obtain an abortion without restrictions after 12 weeks of pregnancy.
85% of Texans believe a woman should not be allowed to obtain an abortion without restrictions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
90% of Texans believe a woman should not be allowed to obtain an abortion without restrictions after 24 weeks of pregnancy.
84% of Texans support legalizing abortion in Texas if there exists a lethal fetal anomaly or diagnosis.
83% of Texans support legalizing abortion in Texas if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.
82% of Texans support legalizing abortion in Texas to preserve the woman’s physical health.
70% of Texans support legalizing abortion in Texas to preserve the woman’s mental health.
Gun Control: Texans are in support of nine legislative gun control reform proposals.
91% of Texans support requiring a criminal background check on all gun buyers at gun shows.
90% of Texans support a ban on the possession of a gun by anyone with a restraining order filed against them for stalking or domestic violence.
89% of Texans support requiring a criminal background check on all gun buyers (including those buying via private sales).
88% of Texans support allowing judges to take guns away from people shown to be a danger to themselves or to others.
85% of Texans support raising the age to purchase an AR-15 style assault rifle from 18 to 21.
83% of Texans support raising the age to purchase any firearm to 21.
82% of Texans support requiring a three-day mandatory waiting period between the purchase of a firearm and when a person can take possession of it.
70% of Texans support a ban on the sale of high-capacity magazines.
70% of Texans support a ban on the sale of AR-15 style assault rifles.
Read Report Four to learn more about where Texans stand on abortion and gun control, including differences of opinion when considering gender, race/ethnicity, age, income, education and partisanship.
Houston Chronicle Op-Ed February 6, 2025
Research Team
Co-Investigator Renée Cross, Senior Executive Director & Researcher, Hobby School of Public Affairs
Co-Investigator Mark P. Jones, James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy's Fellow in Political Science, Rice University; Senior Research Fellow, Hobby School of Public Affairs
Maria P. Perez Argüelles, Research Associate, Hobby School of Public Affairs
Savannah Sipole, Research Associate, Hobby School of Public Affairs
Communications Team
Diana Benitez, Program Manager, Web & Graphic Design, Hobby School of Public Affairs
Victoria Cordova, Director of Communications & Marketing, Hobby School of Public Affairs
Jeannie Kever, Communications Consultant
Celeste Zamora, Communications Manager, Hobby School of Public Affairs