Senators Seek Seat at Pandemic Table
with Plan that May Be Veto Pen Fodder

Capitol Inside
April 13, 2021

The Texas Senate voted on Tuesday to give the Legislature a role in the regulation of pandemics and other major disasters after spending the past year on the sidelines with Governor Greg Abbott calling all of the shots in the state response.

The Senate approved a package of legislation that would force the Texas governor to summon lawmakers into special session within 30 days after the declaration of a disaster or emergency that affects half of the state's population or more.

Sponsored by GOP State Senator Brian Birdwell of Granbury, the plan that cleared the upper chamber on a 30-1 vote would give the Legislature the ability to renew and extend the gubernatorial decree or to terminate it in the special session that its imposition would eventually trigger.

The proposal revolves on a proposed constitutional amendment in Senate Joint Resolution 45 that would give voters the final call on the inclusion of elected representatives and senators in the decision-making process in the current and future pandemics.

But the package includes the framework for the SJR with Senate Bill 1025, which Governor Greg Abbott has the power to veto if it makes it to his desk before the regular session ends on May 31.

The House version of the pandemic power-sharing proposal has been pending in the State Affairs Committee for more than a month with its fate uncertain.

Senators didn't use the debate on the Birdwell plan as a firing ground for criticism of Abbott's performance during the coronavirus crisis like conservative activists and some legislators have done with orders that he's served up as the exclusive commander of the Texas response.

Abbott has been portrayed as a tyrant on the hard right where Republican Party of Texas Chairman Allen West has been his loudest critic since his election to the partisan leadership position in July. Democrats have contended that the governor's orders on COVID-19 have been too lax - accusing him last year of shaping his pandemic direction to keep Donald Trump pacified.

Birdwell said that he believes Abbott has operated within the restraints of current law with his management of the covid contagion.

The Senate measures wouldn't apply to events like riots, revolts or terroristic acts.

more to come ...