The clock is ticking in the Texas Parliament as tensions between the House and Senate leaders and Governor Greg Abbott appear to be rising.
Parliamentarians must submit an invoice to Abbott’s desk by May 31, but the House and Senate have expressed dissatisfaction with the opposite House on the last day of the regular session.
The vice-governor requested Abbott for a special session after three of Lieutenant Dan Patrick’s Supreme Bills failed in the House of Representatives on Tuesday. Abbott replied with the analogy of sports. “Some people are trying to finish the game before the time clock runs out,” he said in a statement that didn’t mention Patrick directly, but called on the House and Senate to cooperate in the finals. day to day.
“There is still time left for the House and Senate to work together to enact important conservative legislation on my desk,” Abbott said. “Members of both rooms must spend every minute of each day to accomplish their mission.”
Abbott was asked about Patrick’s call for a special session during his visit to Fort Worth on Thursday.
“It’s pretty stupid because only one person has the authority to call a special session and everyone knows it’s the governor,” Abbott said. “Only I have that ability, and only I exercise that authority.”
R-Beaumont, a spokesperson for Dade Phelan, declined to comment on Abbott’s remarks at the press conference and the call for a special session. The interview request left in Patrick’s office was not immediately returned, but Patrick responded to Abbott’s press conference in an interview with KDFW Channel 4.
“It’s not stupid to ask the governor for a special session. He said this week,” Well, two teams that can get together in the next few days. ” The rules say these bills were dead in the house on Tuesday, “said Patrick, according to a tweet from one of the station’s reporters. “The only way we can pass them is to request a special session because they can’t be resurrected.”
Call for a special session
Due to the deadline on the final day, tensions between the two rooms have recently become apparent. Each passage creates another hurdle on the way the bill becomes a law.
After spending hours discussing the Senate bill on Tuesday, Watch hit midnight in the House before Patrick’s three priorities were heard. One bans transgender student athletes from joining teams that match their gender identity, the other bans some local governments from contracting with lobbyists, and the third. Addresses “Social Media Censorship”.
On Wednesday night’s floor, Patrick accused the house of taking no action.
“They weren’t here on Friday and Saturday, so I killed your important bill last night, and all house members and chairs need to hear it clearly,” Patrick said.
The statement was made last week after the House of Representatives took a two-day break to pressure the Senate to move forward with some of the priority bills.
“There are either two chambers or no chambers,” Republican Rep. Jeff Leach tweeted at the time. “If the Texas Senate wants to kill or submit a bill sent by the House of Representatives, they can expect the same in return.”
North Texas lawmaker Jeff Cason, Republican Bedford, joined Patrick at his special session request. His list of wishes: “Prohibition of lobbying taxpayers, school choices for all, protection of monuments, protection of young children from gender changes, and true religious freedom.”
In a Twitter post, he said, “I’m very disappointed with Democrats in Texas and Republicans for not confronting their radical left-wing agenda that will bring social and economic ruin to our great state. I’m doing it. “
Can Texas be forced into a special session?
The Senate postponed early Thursday morning without passing Senate Bill 1600, a sunset safety net bill that extends the sunset days of some state agencies. Sunset review is the process of assessing the need for an agency to exist.
Without the bill passing The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement will be abolished on September 1stA move that could force a special session, according to the Texas Tribune. The state legislature is already expected to return to a special session in the fall to address constituency changes and the allocation of federal COVID-19 bailout dollars.
Patrick claimed in an interview with KDFW that he was not trying to force a special session. Another bill on the sunset review schedule will be processed by the meeting committee.
Mark Jones, a professor of political science at Rice University, said Abbott had the option of having a special session forced. He pointed out 2019 that the Legislature postponed the Texas Plumbing Review Board without extending it. Many feared pipes were worried that licenses and regulations would be lost without a special session, but Abbott issued an executive order to restore Hurricane Harvey to the board through administrative measures. Was avoided because it was cited as a reason to keep it intact.
“Abbott has room to move in small steps,” Jones said.
A special session is not desirable for the governor, as Jones said that in the end someone’s priority would be excluded from the conversation.
“That’s a problem, you can never please all your supporters,” he said.
When a special session was called, Abbott revealed at a Fort Worth press conference that one issue would be addressed at a time and set on the agenda.
“If someone tries to force this, it’s not like the past with 40 items in a special session,” Abbott said. “Go to one item. At a time. One item is placed on the agenda. We won’t move to another until they hand over that item.”
Asked if he was concerned that Texas might not consider the state’s leadership to be unified, Abbott said, “This is something that always happens at the end of a session.” Returned to the common language of sports analogy.
“It’s like the last two minutes of a football or basketball game,” he said. “All actions are taken here. What I know is that if state legislature leaders stop fighting each other and start working together, we get all of this across the finish line. It means that you can do it. “