All 18 Republican State Senators voted on Wednesday to amend a rule that will prevent the Democrats from blocking any of their bills. It used to take the approval of 19 of the 31 members of the Texas Senate for any bill to make to the floor for a debate. Now that Republicans are down to 18 members, they’ve lowered that threshold to 18. The Republican Senators passed the rule change 18-13, along strict party lines.
Republican State Senator Bryan Hughes authored the rules resolution and the new amendment. During the Senate debate Hughes said, “It will not guarantee every Republican bill passes, but it will make it easier (for Republicans); make it harder (for Democrats) to block legislation that has strong support.”
Texas Democrats unsuccessfully argued against the move. “It just seems to me that we’re watering down what has been a very deliberate body (Texas Senate) by making this change,” said Senator Jose Menendez. Senator Carol Alvarado said the change “is chipping away at the tradition of this institution.” Senator John Whitmire, the most tenured member of the Texas Senate called it a sad day for the chamber.
Lt. Governor Dan Patrick called for the move months ago after San Antonio Democrat Roland Gutierrez defeated Republican Pete Flores in November in the District 19 election, giving the Democrats the 13 seats they needed to block bills under the previous rule. “We can’t do anything you want us to do if we don’t change the rule,” Patrick told members of a conservative think-tank earlier in the day. “Conservative bills will be blocked, gun bills, life bills tax bills will be blocked. So we have to do it.”
The Texas Democratic Party released the following statement:
“After losing a seat in the Texas Senate, Dan Patrick and Texas Republicans again changed the rules of government to benefit themselves. The Texas Senate was once a deliberative body with a Texas tradition of bipartisanship and the requirement for a ⅔ majority to bring a bill to the floor for debate. This created consensus and conversation across all of the people’s elected officials. When the rule no longer served Republicans purposes, they changed it, and now after Republicans lost a Texas Senate seat to Democrats, they are changing the rules again. This is wrong, and Texans everywhere should be outraged.”
