Governor Vows to Make All Lawmakers Pay
for Disappearing House Democrats on SB 7
Capitol Inside
May 31, 2021
Governor Greg Abbott threatened on Monday to punish the entire Texas Legislature for the power play that House Democrats pulled off last night when they bolted from the chamber and disappeared into the darkness to block a vote on a radioactive elections bill.
The Republican governor revealed his specific plans for retribution with a vow to veto the section of the new state budget that earmarks $410 million for spending on the legislative branch.
"I will veto Article 10 of the budget passed by the legislature," Abbott tweeted about 15 minutes before the House adjourned at 1:28 p.m. "Article 10 funds the legislative branch. No pay for those who abandon their responsibilities. Stay tuned."
While the governor could be bluffing, he has three weeks to weigh the consequences of the vengeance veto that could be problematical in terms of actually failing to pay legislators whose salaries are constitutionally set. But Abbott does appear to have the power to use his red pen to cut off funding for House and Senate staffs, overhead and support agencies like the Legislative Budget Board and the Texas Legislative Council that drafts the legislation that members sponsor.
Abbott pledged late Sunday night to expand the special remap session call to include the so-called election integrity measure and a bail reform plan that died without a final vote in the House as well.
Abbott and conservatives are venting shock and outrage at the Democrats disappearing act that left the House Republicans without the quorum that they needed for one last vote on the elections measure in Senate Bill 7. The walkout became evident shortly after 9: 30 p.m. on Sunday when the House voted 79-35 for a resolution that would have beefed up the measure with an array of significant new restrictions that hadn't been approved on the floors this year.
But 30 Democrats and one Republican were listed as absent for the vote on the motion to go out of the bounds of the original legislation. The Democrats who'd been leading the floor fight against SB 7 were shown as voting against the resolution to rubber stamp the conference committee additions that hadn't been debated or vetted. GOP State Rep. Lyle Larson of San Antonio was the only majority party member to side with the Democrats who were still on the floor for the vote on the last-minute expanson of the plan that would restrict voting significantly in Texas.
GOP Speaker Dade Phelan declined to "put a call" on the House that would have locked the doors to prevent a second wave of Democrats from disappearing through exits at the front and back of the chamber. Democrats devoured another full hour with points of order that Phelan overruled after relatively long deliberations in the context of rapidly diminishing time.
An 86-0 vote on a separate but related motion at 10:30 p.m. confirmed that the House lacked the quorum that it needed for the final vote on SB 7.
more to come ... |
