AUSTIN (KXAN) — On Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Special Session No. 2, calling lawmakers back to the Texas Capitol “to provide lasting property tax cuts for Texans,” according to a press release.

The special session begins at 3 p.m. Tuesday. The Texas House and Senate approved separate property tax plans but didn’t come to an agreement during the first special session.

“Unless and until the House and Senate agree on a different proposal to provide property tax cuts, I will continue to call for lasting property tax cuts through rate reductions and working toward eliminating the school property tax in Texas. Special sessions will continue to focus on only property tax cuts until property tax cut legislation reaches my desk,” Abbott wrote in the release.

Earlier Tuesday, Speaker of the House Dade Phelan sent out a memo to members telling members to plan to convene Wednesday at 11 a.m. in anticipation of being called back immediately.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Tuesday the upcoming special session “is a renewed opportunity for the Texas Senate and House to deliver vital property tax relief as quickly as possible.”

“The Texas Senate will continue to fight for homeowners, and we look forward to working with the House to pass property tax relief legislation in the coming weeks,” Patrick said in the statement.

On the first day of the first special session, the House passed Abbott’s preferred property tax and border security bills — the other and less talked about item on the session’s agenda — leaving the Senate with only two options: take it or leave it.

In the following 30 days, Patrick stood firmly on the Senate’s promise to Texans to raise the homestead exemption — the amount of a home’s value that taxpayers can write-off from their tax bill.

The House bill would use $12.3 billion of available Texas dollars to reduce property taxes, by “compression.” It was the language Abbott specifically used in his call for a special session, and would in essence give more money to school districts on the agreement that districts lower property tax rates.

Last week, senators unanimously passed the most expensive property tax relief package yet. Bettencourt’s Senate Bill 26 would spend more than $18 billion of the state’s budget surplus on three different mechanisms aimed at lowering property tax bills, adding another $400 million to the previous plans.

“The Senate will continue to support cutting the tax rate through compression. We will insist upon a homestead exemption, giving homeowners a $1,250 to $1,450 annual tax cut as opposed to receiving only $740 without a homestead exemption. We will pass the same bill that we passed to the House last week that cuts school property taxes for the average homeowner by nearly 43%, almost double the tax cut one would receive with only compression,” Patrick said in a statement.

Abbott’s statement on special session

We achieved a great deal during the 88th Legislative Session that I have signed into law, including laws to provide more than $5.1 billion for border security, hold rogue district attorneys accountable, and add $1.4 billion to make schools safer, but the job is not done,” said Governor Abbott. “I am bringing the Texas Legislature back for Special Session #2 to provide lasting property tax cuts for Texans. During the five-month regular session, the Texas House and Texas Senate both agreed on cutting school district property tax rates, while the House wanted to add appraisal caps and the Senate advocated for increased homestead exemptions. The Special Session #1 agenda was limited to the only solution that both chambers agreed on—school property tax rate cuts. After yet another month without the House and Senate sending a bill to my desk to cut property taxes, I am once again putting the agreed upon school district property tax rate cuts on the special session agenda. Unless and until the House and Senate agree on a different proposal to provide property tax cuts, I will continue to call for lasting property tax cuts through rate reductions and working toward eliminating the school property tax in Texas. Special sessions will continue to focus on only property tax cuts until property tax cut legislation reaches my desk.

-Gov. Greg Abbott

Abbott’s property tax cut plan is backed by 40 homeowner, consumer, and business organizations across the state, as well as leading tax police groups Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, Americans for Tax Reform and Texas Public Policy Foundation, the release said.