you don't want to miss that conversation. we do, in fact, want to begin with breaking news out of the state of texas. public hearings on republicans' latest efforts to overhaul the state's election procedures are underway. voters are flooding today's proceedings with their own testimonies after the house and senate unveiled their sweeping plans to limit voting access this week. both bills set to be debated over the coming days during the legislature's special session, largely resembling republicans' first attempt to pass a restrictive voting act back in may, which failed, of course, after democrats staged a last-minute walkout. the governor then vowing for the special legislative session, which is where we find ourselves now. want to bring in nbc's priscilla thompson at the texas state capital and nbc's jane forest to walk us through stuff. priscilla, i want to start with you. kind of give us the a-b-cs this