April 12, 2007

House Buries Bill Amid Race-Fueled Debate
after Recalling First Vote in Favor of Measure

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

The Texas House reversed itself Thursday when more than 70 members switched their votes and helped bury a law enforcement bill that African-Americans in the chamber decried as a reincarnation of racial profiling in a measure that had been tentatively approved on a voice vote without formal opposition the previous day.

More than 90 House state representatives had voted to send House Bill 855 to the Senate before that decision was recalled as a result of confusion and a second vote taken on the legislation, which would have given law enforcement officers the power to charge people they'd arrested or detained with an additional offense for refusing to provide their names, addresses and dates of birth when the information had been requested.

But the House did a dramatic about-face when it killed the "failure to identify" bill on a 116-23 vote in the wake of impassioned pleas and angry protests from Houston State Reps. Harold Dutton, Sylvester Turner and Senfronia Thompson and other Democratic minority members who denounced the measure as a ticket to abuse and discrimination fueled by racism.

"Wow," a near-speechless bill sponsor, Republican State Rep. Dianne Delisi of Temple, exclaimed in a soft voice after she watched the debate on a "small bill" that was only 17 lines long and uncontested the day before explode into the House's second fight of the regular session rooted in racism of the past and its lingering vestiges on society today.

Delisi acknowledged that the debate had erupted into a referendum on racism - and she pointed out that she represents a Central Texas district in which more than 30 percent of the residents are African-American or Hispanic. But she continued to defend the bill as a tool that would help police protect law-abiding citizens by making it easier for them to identify possible terrorists, sex offenders and people suspected of crimes as the subjects of outstanding warrants.

Delisi said that similar laws had been enacted in 22 other states and deemed to be constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. She suggested that people who'd done nothing wrong would have no reason to conceal their identities if the information had been requested by police investigating a crime that had been reported in the general vicinity.

The House debate on the Delisi bill had been postponed twice this month before it got under way on Tuesday with a series of amendments that Dutton and State Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio offered and the sponsor accepted before delaying a vote until Wednesday. The measure was approved on second reading on voice vote after no House members requested a record vote.

But while dozens of House members withdrew their support for the measure and sided with Dutton and others who'd assailed the measure in fiery floor speeches, not all of the Democrats appeared to be swayed by warnings that the legislation would be a return to racial profiling that the Legislature outlawed six years ago. Two Hispanic Democrats - State Reps. Abel Herrero of Corpus Christi and Jose Menendez of San Antonio - was shown as votes for the bill on the unofficial tally. The tentative vote count also indicated that Democratic State Rep. Stephen Frost of Atlanta had also voted for the Delisi bill. Twenty Republicans including Delisi cast votes for the bill after opponents were granted a second shot at killing it.

The debate on HB 855 rekindled memories about a fight that broke out on the floor of the House three weeks ago over a bill dealing with the removal of monuments including statues of Confederate officials on state grounds. When that debate took on unexpected racial overtones, the Republican sponsor pulled it down and apologized for the unintended direction the discussion had taken on the House floor that day.