AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- Work continued on the floor of the Texas Senate Tuesday afternoon, as members voted to approve their version of an election integrity bill - even as the House sat idle with more than a third of its members out of the state.
Senators voted 18-4 to approve Senate Bill 1, sending the bill to the House for its consideration - likely the final step the elections legislation will take in a special session that's been all but derailed by House Democrats fleeing the state Monday in order to break quorum in the lower chamber.
Eight Senate Democrats joined their House colleagues in the nation's capital, with a ninth expected to arrive Tuesday evening. Despite the departures, the Senate was able to maintain its quorum and conduct business.
Like the members of the House Democratic Caucus, Senate Democrats say they'll spend their time putting pressure on members of Congress to pass federal legislation to protect voting rights.
"Rather than continuing to fruitlessly debate Republicans who refuse to legislate in good faith, Texas Senate Democrats decided to take matters into their own hands in order to secure the voting rights of Texans — especially voters of colors, seniors and those with disabilities — and work with our partners at the federal level to pass voting rights legislation that would rein in discriminatory voter suppression laws and unfair redistricting practices,” the nine senators who left Austin said in a joint statement.
Senate Bill 1, like its House counterpart and the similar Senate Bill 7 that failed to pass in the regular session, aims to ban drive-through and 24-hour early voting options, enhances access for partisan poll watchers, and blocks local election officials from sending out unsolicited applications for mail-in ballots.
Two controversial proposals that were included during the regular session - a restriction on Sunday early voting hours, and making it easier for judges to overturn elections - were removed from both bills this time around.
Also on the floor Tuesday, Senators voted 22-0 to approve another GOP priority item in Senate Bill 6, which aims to change the state's bail laws. The proposal would, for the most part, prevent defendants who have been deemed as dangerous from being released on personal bonds.
Until a quorum can be reached in the House, no progress will be made on the bills, with the clock set to run out on the 30-day special session on August 6.