Chaos Ruling Texas House
by Dr. Tony Magana
The Texas House of Representatives has become chaotic and disorganized in the final legislative week on the calendar despite several important issues remaining unresolved.
The heart attack of a key Republican Texas House member, Rep. Edmund Kuempel (R-Seguin), and a new markedly less authoritarian Speaker of the Texas State House, Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) has seen the Texas legislature slowed to a crawl in the last week of the allotted legislative calendar.
The Texas Democrats who are only in the minority now by one vote have been using parliamentary maneuvers including “chubbing” which is the maximizing of discussion time on small non-controversial bills to oppose the passage of new Texas Voter ID legislation.
Although the new ID proffer is heavily favored in polls of Texas voters , Democrats contend the measure would discriminate against the elderly and the disadvantaged. Proponents point to the fact that the new requirement matches those set by the Supreme Court in a recent ruling about a similar rule in Indiana while opponents say the absence of real evidence of widespread voter fraud indicates there is no need for the law. See why we support it.
In the meantime important legislation dealing with reducing veteran’s taxes, controlling tuition costs for higher education, windstorm insurance reform, making changes to unemployment insurance that will qualify Texas for stimulus funds, and other things is being held up. Unless Governor Rick Perry calls for a special session when time run outs on June 1st, there is a chance that many bills that would have otherwise received support will simply die.
Now of course members of both parties are pointing fingers to each other as to primary blame for the near halt in legislative activity. The leader of the House Democratic Caucus, Rep. Jim Dunnam (D-Waco) was quoted by Austin Statesman as saying “I don’t see it as any level of obstructing…. We are fighting for the rights of the people that live in our districts to vote.”. The new Speaker Republican Joe Straus rebuts in the same article “Local and Consent Calendars has been, until this moment, a matter of trust among members, and that trust has been abused here “
For three terms the Speaker of the House was Tom Craddick (R-Midland) who many accused of wielding too much power and influence. The new Speaker promised to bring a change of noninterference into the ”ways” of the House and to let the legislative process proceed naturally without interference. Some Republicans have been demuring that the new Speaker has not engaged enough in acting as intermediary between the conflicting sides and other Representatives complain he has allowed Democrats to to act as temporary Presiding Speaker during heated sessions. Some have also objected that he has not temporarily suspended the rules to change the order of bills to be considered in which so far he has refrained.
Those familiar with Texas politics can remember previous contentious fights of similar or even greater intensity then the current one. Politics is always about compromise because anytime you get 150 members together in the Texas House there can be expected to be some disagreement. What is important for both sides is to make clear first what their positions are and also relatively where that position falls with respect to priority. If those Democrats who feel that Voter ID is so important that they can forgo windstorm insurance or veteran’s benefits they should so state. Similarly such statements of clarity should be also made on the Republican side of the aisle. No side will be able to get everything they want passed.
The election of a clearly less powerful Speaker of the House and the near parity between the Democrats and Republicans has demonstrably changed how business is done at the State House. Texas Insider reports that in committee meetings this week conventional party leaders and chairmen seemed to have less influence on their colleagues and even has this quote anonymously from a Representative “Nobody knows what’s going on and nobody’s in charge.”
When this session is over the likely outcome will be that some very good legislation was never acted upon which could have benefited Texans. Texas voters will look at the record of the members of both parties and decide if they were really acting in the interests of their constituencies with the right priorities or rather were they just trying to play games of oneupmanship. Controversy and debate can make for good government but a great government uses this to forge compromises which will best serve the interests of all.
Thanks for reading Contempo Magazine blog which discusses issues for McAllen, the Rio Grande Valley, and America from a conservative Hispanic point of view. Tony Magaña grew up in McAllen Texas, attended Texas A&M University, served as an officer in Army Reserve, and holds a doctorate from Harvard University. The co-founder of Contempo Magazine has participated in Valley business for over 20 years. He is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and also writes for the American Daily Review. Follow him on twitter http://twitter.com/contempomagazin
