House Democrats are threatening to kill all constitutional amendments for the rest of session unless the House votes to put school vouchers before voters in November. They appear to have the numbers to make good on that special session-inducing threat.
More than 50 House Democrats have signed on to that plan, according to at least four Democrats and Capitol staffers briefed on the tally, enough to handcuff the Legislature on constitutional amendments. The move comes as Gov. Greg Abbott is attempting to squash any changes to his top legislative priority, Senate Bill 2, including a bill amendment that would have voters weigh in on the proposed education savings account program.
Blocking constitutional amendments is one of the last bits of leverage Texas Democrats have left after House Republicans this session undid the decades-long tradition of giving the minority party committee chairmanships. Killing vouchers is Democrats’ top legislative priority, and Democrats say they are prepared to pull all the stops to thwart the measure and others they oppose.
Constitutional amendments require at least 100 votes from the House’s 150 members to pass the chamber before going before Texas voters. With 62 Democrats in the House, Republicans need at least 12 Democrats to make any constitutional amendment happen.
Several top Republican and bipartisan priorities hinge on the passage of constitutional amendments. One of those priorities would allow judges to deny bail for certain violent level offenses. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has threatened to force a special session if the Legislature fails to pass that measure.
Already, proposed constitutional amendments appear to be at a bit of a standstill in the House, and Democrats claim responsibility. The House has not adopted any constitutional amendment proposals since the start of the month, when the House adopted its proposals to lower property taxes on businesses (House Joint Resolution 1) and ban taxes on financial transactions (House Joint Resolution 4).
Yesterday, House Joint Resolution 5 author Rep. Stan Lambert, — a Republican from Abilene who so happens to oppose vouchers — postponed that resolution addressing funding for the Texas State Technical College system till next week. The House will go through another test today, when the chamber is supposed to take up previously postponed measures banning “death taxes” (House Joint Resolution 2) and capital gains taxes (House Joint Resolution 6).
All proposed constitutional amendments must earn voters’ support in November to take effect. If Democrats get their way, the education savings account program would similarly appear on the November ballot.
Democrats have been searching for a Republican to carry the ballot measure amendment to SB 2 when the House takes up the measure tomorrow. Quorum Report first reported the existence of the amendment yesterday, as well as Abbott’s attempts to keep Republicans in line.
I’d like to see Dems continue to stand firm against that bullshit bail measure, and it would be fine by me if they sunk HJRs 2 and 6 as well, but forcing a popular vote on vouchers as a price for whatever level of support they give those resolutions is a reasonable goal. Naturally, Greg Abbott is throwing a fit.
According to reporting by Scott Braddock at Quorum Report, GOP sources say Abbott has told lawmakers that putting the issue on the ballot would be unconstitutional — even though there’s precedent for statewide votes on similar matters. In the past, Texans voted on horse racing and a proposal by then-Gov. Mark White to gain appointment power over the State Board of Education, neither of which were constitutional amendments.
Braddock reports that some lawmakers believe there may be as many as 80 to 85 votes — from both Republicans and Democrats — in favor of the ballot proposal. The governor, however, is said to be calling members into his office and threatening to veto unrelated bills if they offer or support amendments to his voucher legislation on the House floor.
“For Republican lawmakers who have long been on the record against school vouchers in any form, Abbott has not renewed threats to veto unrelated legislation if all they do is vote ‘no’ on final passage,” Braddock wrote. “But even among those members, Abbott could decimate their legislative agendas with blanket vetoes of all their bills if any of them were to lead the charge to amend the voucher legislation on the floor this week.”
Frustrations are also mounting over transparency. Braddock reports that Public Education Committee Chair Brad Buckley told legislators they could pick up physical copies of school finance “runs” — spreadsheets detailing how districts would fare under the plan — at the Capitol between 7 and 9 p.m. Monday night. In previous sessions, such materials were distributed publicly online to allow school districts and lawmakers time to review and respond.
“Even some Republican members who support ‘school choice’ were grumbling about why the meeting was not broadcast online on the House website,” Braddock wrote, referring to a recent Public Education Committee meeting that passed both HB 2 and the voucher bills to the Calendars Committee.
Though technically not violating the state’s rules on transparency, the move drew condemnation from Democrats on the committee, who livestreamed their own recording of the meeting in response.
“If this is landmark legislation that we’re proud of, why aren’t we opening this up for all to see?” one frustrated GOP member told QR.
The Texas House GOP Caucus informed members in an email that Abbott will attend their meeting on Wednesday. Several lawmakers told QR that the governor has already begun one-on-one meetings to press his case and discourage changes to the legislation.
The minority has got to do what it’s got to do to exert influence. This is a situation where their influence isn’t subject to a future rules change or special session circumstances. This puts the Republicans in a tough spot, and that’s great. It’s exactly what you want to do to them.
Objectively, Abbott should give the Dems this relatively small win and then get his billionaire enablers to blanket the airwaves with pro-voucher propaganda and hope to win the vote in the fall. But it’s not guaranteed, even with a small electorate turning out, and I’m sure this just chaps his hide – the very idea, giving the Dems even a procedural win. Up to you, Greg. Do you accept the challenge or put even more of a squeeze on your supposed allies? We’ll know soon enough.