The first day of the 89th Legislative Session had bus loads of people swarming the Texas Capitol with shirts, stickers, and buttons that said, “Ban Democrat Chairs.” It was a message to the Texas House that the citizens were fed up with voting in a Republican majority in all three branches of Texas government, but still not passing Republican priority bills. Apparently the message needed to be more clear. The newly passed House rules, rammed through with the “nuclear option” allowing no chance for amendment or debate, are not what the citizens of Texas wanted.
The Democrats will not technically chair committees, but their power to control the Texas House has actually increased.
Republicans will hold all committee chair positions, but that rule does not apply to the expanded sub-committees. Also, all Vice-Chairs must be Democrats and those Vice-Chairs will not only have more power, but they will be given $4000 per month for their offices.
What does this mean for election integrity legislation? It could, and most likely will, result in more legislation meant to secure our elections dying in the House Elections Committee. To be clear, in the past dozens of crucial election integrity bills died each session with a Republican Chair and Democrat Vice-Chair. That part won’t change, but the power of that Vice-Chair will.
It was already going to be difficult with a Speaker beholden to the Democrats appointing a Chairman beholden to the Speaker. Now, the Republican Chair will have to work even more closely with his Democrat Vice-Chair who will have the power to designate invited witnesses, prioritize bills to be heard by the committee, and request impact statements.
In previous sessions the majority of bills being heard would be the ones election integrity advocates would support, the good bills. There would be a few bad bills sprinkled in, but not the really bad bills like same-day registration or universal mail-in ballots. Now we may have to witness countless hours spent debating online registration and voting by email. The Elections Committee may hear bills on eliminating Voter ID and expanding early voting. Worse yet, there is nothing in the rules preventing the Speaker from giving the Democrats a majority in the committee.
This move definitely puts election integrity activists on defense. They will have to fight against the bad legislation moving through the House. There is another option, though. They could opt-out of the House and focus their attention on the Senate. With Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s appointments to the Senate State Affairs Committee he has created the perfect environment for defeating the bad legislation and passing the good. Remember, House bills can die in the Senate just as easily. This session could see a lot more drama than usual between the two chambers.
Don’t be fooled by the Republicans, who voted for the Speaker, when they declare victory by banning Democrat Chairs. Stay involved, stay informed.