Rookie Reps Close to AG Team with Dems
to Soften Bill that's TLR and Patrick Priority
Capitol Inside
May 27, 2025
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick suffered a rare setback on Monday night when the Texas House watered down a measure that the Senate president and Governor Greg Abbott vigorously supported as the number one priority for the powerful group Texans for Lawsuit Reform in the regular session that ends a week from now.
After Senate Republicans warned that Patrick expects to get everything he wants on issues that remained unresolved in the session's stretch, the House ignored the admonition when it tacked an amendment that TLR fiercely opposed to a bill that would limit the damages for medical expenses in lawsuits.
The House gave the altered version of Senate Bill 30 a tentative nod on a vote of 94-52 after approving the amendment that weakened the proposal considerably on a 72-70 tally that featured 17 Republicans siding with Democrats in a move that Attorney General Ken Paxton reportedly supported behind the scenes as TLR's top nemesis here.
The vote on the revision that the House speaker pro tem - Democratic State Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso - served up represented a major victory for the Texas Trial Lawyers Association in an ongoing war with tort reform advocates that the attorneys have been losing since the GOP seized control of the House in 2003.
After winning preliminary approval for SB 30 last night, Republican State Rep. Greg Bonnen of Friendswood asked the House to postpone a final vote on the legislation that was scheduled for today in a move that put it off until Wednesday.
The trial lawyers had already managed to kill a separate but related measure that was designed to restrict the civil liability for truckers and other commercial vehicle operators in highway crashes for which they are deemed to be responsible. The proposal in question - Senate Bill 39 - died without a vote in the Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence Committee in the House after landing there on April 29.
TLR lobbied heavily for SB 30 and SB 39 in an alliance with the Texas Trucking Association and the Texas Food and Fuel Association. Both bills were ranked among the Senate's leading priorities that Patrick determined at the outset of the regular session. Abbott's staff worked the floor during the debate last night on SB 30 but failed to keep the Moody amendment off the measure.
Bonnen could have delayed a final vote on SB 30 today to give Patrick, the governor and TLR time to try muster support for a bid to remove the Moody amendment from the legislation a third-reading tally. But that could be wishful thinking at this point when considering that amendments need two-thirds support on third reading after requiring a simple majority on the initial vote.
TTLA President Jack Walker declared a victory in the fight against SB 30 based on the developments in the House last night.
"What started as a damage cap bill that fundamentally threatened justice for countless Texans is now largely limited to disclosures," Walker said in a statement that he post on X. "This result sends a clear message that Texans of all walks of life support the fundamental value of accountability embodied in our civil justice system."
Conservative freshmen Republicans accounted for 11 votes for the Moody amendment as lawmakers who Paxton recruited to run against GOP representatives who'd voted to impeach him during the regular session in 2023.
The rookies who turned against Abbott, Patrick and TLR on the proposed revision to SB 30 were State Reps. Janis Holt of Silsbee, Andy Hopper of Decatur, Marc LaHood of San Antonio, Mitch Little of Lewisville, Brent Money of Greenville, Mike Olcott of Aledo, Katrina Pierson of Rockwall, Keresa Richardson of McKinney and Wes Virdell of Brady.
The list of GOP members who backed the Moody amendment included State Reps. Drew Darby of San Angelo, Mark Dorazio of San Antonio, Tom Oliverson of Cypress and Tony Tinderholt of Arlington. Former Speaker Dade Phelan, who the attorney general views as a major enemy as the impeachment engineer two years ago, proved to be an ally on the Moody amendment when he voted to stick it on SB 30.
Paxton, who's challenging U.S. Senator John Cornyn at the top of the Texas ticket in 2026, hadn't taken a position publicly on SB 30. But Austin trial lawyer Adam Loewy identified the attorney general as an ally in the fight against proposals that TLR was pushing.
"BIG SHOUTOUT to @KenPaxtonTX who told me in February he would help kill these @lawsuitreform bills," Loewy said in a post on X that appeared to have been deleted on Tuesday.
more to come ...
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