When deadly winter storms ravaged the state in February and power outages plunged more than 4 million people into cold and darkness, Gov. Greg Abbott had already set his priorities for the Legislature and the 140-day legislative session was a month old.
Lawmakers were tackling issues related to the coronavirus pandemic, navigating a budget shortfall and pursuing conservative priorities such as expanding abortion restrictions, limiting transgender athletes and eliminating gun permits.
But after the lights came back on, legislators had a new mission: Make drastic changes to the state’s power supply system and electric grid to prevent crises, while also avoiding the mistakes of legislatures past, which failed to take meaningful action after similar winter weather and blackouts.