Dan Patrick Ally Files Border Security Bill
that's Doomed to Fail in Special Session #1
Extraordinary Session #1
Capitol Inside
June 1, 2023
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick appeared to be playing mind games with fellow Republicans in the state power triad on Wednesday when a high-ranking Texas Senate ally filed a border security that's destined for certain failure in the Legislature's first special session of 2023 with the House no longer in business.
GOP State Senator Brian Birdwell of Granbury submitted Senate Bill 8 for consideration during the session that got under way officially on Monday night and ended less than 24 hours later in the House when Speaker Dade Phelan adjourned the chamber sine die for the second time in that span of time.
SB 8 is a condensed version of two border reinforcement bills that Governor Greg Abbott and Phelan had touted as major priorities in the regular session before both died in the House. The proposal takes key elements of a House bill that died in a conference committee that GOP State Rep. Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City and Birdwell led as the chief sponsors during the regular session's final week.
Texas Senate members filed nine bills on Tuesday on the first full day of the initial special session before they were aware that the House would bolt in the early evening hours after votes to approve property tax relief and human smuggling bills that Abbott had ordered in the call. Phelan refused to let the House consider a tax bill that the Senate approved several hours earlier on the grounds that it went outside the governor's call. Abbott added insult to injury when he endorsed the House's tax bill and Phelan's determination that invalidated the Senate proposal in the lower chamber.
But Birdwell - the Senate Border Security Committee chairman - filed SB 8 knowing that it would have no chance for success in the current special session without the House around. The surfacing of SB 8 in the current special session sparked speculation inside the Austin beltway on the possibility that Patrick could have the Senate pass a myriad of bills that have been Abbott and Phelan priorities or red meat for the base when it reconvenes on Friday in a show of spite for the House. Patrick could then blame the House and the governor for the first special session's ultimate failure.
Patrick is outraged by the power play that left the upper chamber stuck in a special session that will continue until the Senate tosses in the towel and adjourns. But Patrick may decide the smarter move would be to take his medicine and do what it takes to get a second special session off the ground as quickly as possible instead of turning the current gathering into a publicity stunt for retribution's sake by having the Senate take votes that won't really count in the absence of the House.
Patrick contended on Wednesday that the House could return to Austin to get the current special session back on track. The lieutenant governor chided Abbott and Phelan for failing to understand the difference between branches of government and failing to realize that the House property tax bill would never become law without the Senate's stamp of approval. Patrick would be ignoring his own warnings if he has the Senate waste time on legislation that's doomed to die when the Republicans could take their medicine and try to move the fight to a second special session where they could have impact that's real.
The cost of a Patrick surrender would be painful for the Republicans in the Capitol's east wing. Before a second special sesion can take place, Patrick and the Senate Republicans have to make a choice on a vote for a House bill that would save Texas taxpayers almost $17 billion or a vote or inaction that buries it for the purpose of moving on to a new battlefield that isn't just for show.
But Patrick said last night that the Senate would approve a bill without a homestead exemption increase that's been the centerpiece proposal in the east wing all year. The blood will be on the Senate's hands despite the Republicans' denial - and there appears to be no way around that at this point in the wake of the House's historic mauevering with the governor's complicity and help.
more to come ... |
