A stalemate ordered by Democrats in the Texas House over constitutional amendments has come to an end, marking the conclusion to the party’s attempt to influence one of this legislative session’s most controversial bills.
More than 50 Texas House Democrats had vowed earlier this month to prevent the passage of any proposed constitutional amendments in the chamber. Their hope was to force Republicans to amend Senate Bill 2 — the state’s since-passed school voucher proposal — so it would go before Texas voters in November before becoming law.
Republicans in the Texas House, however, didn't give in. The legislation passed out of the House in mid-April. Last week, the Senate approved the House’s changes, sending SB 2 to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk. While the strategy didn’t work on the bill creating Education Savings Accounts, Democrats in the House tell The Texas Newsroom that doesn’t mean all constitutional amendments before the chamber will now fly through.
Rep. Ron Reynolds (D-Missouri City) told the Texas Newsroom on Tuesday that, “members are now voting their districts.”
Why could the strategy have worked?
While Texas House Democrats didn’t get what they wanted in this instance, the strategy to prevent any amendment proposals from passing is one of the few strategies the minority party has in their tool box. The reason? Constitutional amendments are one of the few types of proposals in the Texas Legislature that require a supermajority of the chamber voting yes. That’s 100 members — or two-thirds of the 150-member body.
Democrats make up 62 of the 150 seats, while Republicans hold 88 in the House. As long as the minority party votes in unison, it could prevent all constitutional amendments from passing.
For now, “There is no longer a concerted effort to white light, or prevent the constitutional amendments,” Rep. Reynolds said.
What amendment proposals broke the blockade?
Besides requiring a supermajority to pass in the Legislature, proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution must then also be approved by Texas voters.
One of the amendment proposals that passed the House on Monday has to do with hardening the state’s electric grid.
Sherri Greenberg is with University of Texas at Austin’s LBJ School of Public affairs and previously served a decade in the Texas House.
“I think what you are seeing is that at some point all politics is local,” Greenberg told the Texas Newsroom regarding the electric grid amendment. Another would allow the Legislature to exempt property taxes for surviving spouses of a military veteran who died while serving. Something Greenberg said is popular, and not necessarily something Democrats would want to be on the record voting against.
“The question would be: Are there any other things that Democrats are trying to get that they’re trying to hold out on these?” Greenberg said.
As far as the Texas Democrats this session, it seems like the fight wasn’t worth the risk now that the school voucher bill has passed both chambers.
