Texas Tribune (Texas)
By Aman Batheja
May 19, 2015
In
January, the Texas Senate upended nearly 70 years of tradition on how
it brings legislation to the floor for debate. Whereas it used to take
the support of two-thirds
of the senators present to bring up a measure, it now takes only
three-fifths.
The
move was more than an administrative adjustment. In a body split
between 20 Republicans and 11 Democrats, the change in the threshold
meant Republicans could bring
up a bill and pass it without the support of any Democrats.
Supporters,
including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who had pushed for the change for
years, framed it as allowing Republican senators to implement the will
of the voters. To
critics, the shift was nothing less than a rejection of the Senate’s
guiding principle, that finding consensus is the best path to writing
good laws.
“By
forcing this rule change, the majority is escalating partisanship to a
new level,” state Sen. José Rodríguez, D-El Paso, said at the time.
“They are so concerned with
getting an agenda accomplished and making good on campaign promises
that they are willing to burn down the institutions and the traditions
that made the Texas Senate one of the greatest deliberative bodies in
the country.”
Four
months, later, the full impact of the first legislative session without
the two-thirds rule has come into focus. Out of more than 700 bills
voted out of the Senate
so far, roughly 30 bills have moved forward with fewer than 21
senators, the threshold required under the two-thirds rule. Most of
those measures were passed over the opposition of Democrats.
“The
19-vote rule has allowed Republicans, the majority party, to pass
legislation that has been blocked for many years,” Patrick said in a
statement. “At the same time
nearly 95% of legislation has passed with bi-partisan support."
The
rule works by placing what is called a “blocker bill” at the beginning
of the Senate’s daily calendar, where it sits for the rest of the
session. No other bill can
be passed unless enough senators agree to "suspend the regular order of
business" and skip over the blocker. With three-fifths of the Senate
now required to move legislation forward, 19 senators must agree to move
forward if all members are present.
While
not quite creating the conservative steamroller that Democrats had
feared, the rule change has unblocked several of Patrick’s priority
bills and moved them forward
on party-line votes including:
Open
carry — Senate Bill 17, from state Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls,
would allow concealed weapons permit holders to carry holstered handguns
openly. The bill passed
the Senate in March on a 20-11 vote. A similar measure passed the
House. Both chambers are now working out differences to get a measure to
Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.
Campus
carry — Senate Bill 11, from state Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury,
requiring public colleges and universities to allow concealed handguns
on campus, passed the
Senate two days later on a 20-10 vote. The measure has failed to gain
traction in the House.
Moving
the public integrity unit — Senate Bill 10, from state Sen. Joan
Huffman, R-Houston, would move the state’s public integrity unit from
the Travis County district
attorney’s office to the Texas Rangers. Some Republicans have said the
unit has had partisan motives for its prosecutions. The measure passed
20-11. The House has passed a similar measure, and backers are working
on a compromise version.
A-F
grading for schools — Senate Bill 6, authored by state Sen. Larry
Taylor, R-Friendswood, would have the state grade schools on an
A-through-F scale, largely reflecting
student academic performance on standardized tests. The measure passed
20-10. Language from Taylor’s bill was folded into a bill that recently
passed the House.
State
Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said that the rule change has
moved bills that are “partisan and socially divisive” but agreed with
Patrick that most bills
have been unaffected.
“The
majority of bills are not partisan, and most of those votes are based
on public policy, based on merit and negotiations taking place among the
various stakeholders
and the senators,” Hinojosa said.
Yet
the rule change has had a broader effect on the Senate as a whole,
reducing the interest of Republicans to work on bills to build a broader
coalition of support, argued
state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin.
“As a result of it, the idea that it’s a deliberative body really is not true anymore,” Watson said.
State
Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, warned against reading too much into which
bills have moved forward this session on 19 or 20 votes. Some might have
still managed to
pass under the two-thirds rule.
“You
don’t know how hard the sponsor of that bill would have worked to turn
votes,” Eltife said. “If the rule was 21 and I was stuck at 19, I’m
going to work my tail off
to find two more and turn them.”
Even
with the rule change, some measures championed by Patrick and other
Republicans have still hit a brick wall. Two high-profile immigration
proposals — one to repeal
in-state tuition rates for undocumented immigrants and another to
institute a so-called sanctuary cities ban that would stop cities from
limiting the immigration enforcement powers of local law enforcement —
remain in limbo because of opposition from Republicans
including Eltife and Kel Seliger of Amarillo. Some school voucher
measures championed by Patrick have also failed to come to the floor
because of resistance from some rural Republicans.
Seliger
said the inability of those bills to move forward shows that the impact
of the rule change hasn’t been as dramatic as many predicted.
“Has
it made a difference? Yes. Has it made a huge difference? No, I don’t
think it has this session,” Seliger said. “It still doesn’t do
everything that everyone wanted
who wanted to have it reduced.”
Ironically,
even Democrats have passed a few bills out of the Senate this session
with the support of just 19 or 20 senators. One such bill, Senate Bill
1032 from Watson,
would make it easier for some state employees to work from home and
have more flexible work hours. Watson said the bill would improve
employee retention and reduce rush hour traffic. While some Republicans
worried that the policy would be abused, eight Republicans
joined the chamber’s 11 Democrats to bring it up for debate last month.
It passed and is now moving through the House.
“That is a bill that in previous sessions, for whatever reason, would have died, and so be it,” Watson said.
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