It’s legislating by hostage-taking
Now we’re talking about legislating by hostage-taking, as in keeping legislators in special session after special session if that’s what it takes to get them to do what Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, claiming to speak for the people of Texas, wants them to do.
Patrick, president of the Texas Senate, is unhappy that the Texas House has not acted on Senate-passed bills on property tax relief and on who can use which bathrooms and locker rooms in government buildings.
The property tax bill is scheduled for House debate Thursday. It might not come out in a form that pleases Patrick. The so-called bathroom bill is stalled in the House where Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, opposes it as a “contrived” answer to a “manufactured” problem.
House speakers, whose authority derives from the fact that they’re elected by House colleagues, wield sufficient clout to block stuff. Straus has acknowledged the bathroom bill might win approval if it got to the House floor. But he doesn’t like it and he’s using his political power to keep it from getting there. That’s between him and the people who elect him.
Years ago, I heard an inspiring speech by former Gov. John Connally about the tragedy of unused political power.
With the May 29 end of the 140-day legislative session approaching, Patrick on Wednesday invited the Capitol press corps to a 10:30 a.m. event at which he would “discuss end of session issues.” The event was in the Senate Press Conference Room.
We looked forward to discussing the end-of-session issues with Patrick.
He looked forward to discussing the end-of-session issues at us, not with us.
Straus and Patrick are in a not-unusual end-ofsession tiff over the passage of bills important to one chamber or the other. As usual, there are mustpass measures pending as deadlines approach. Failure to pass any or all of those could mean a special session.
“Here’s the bottom line,” Patrick told us. “I want to avoid a special session but I’m prepared to go into one if the House does not pass a strong version of Senate Bill 2, property tax relief desperately wanted by the people of this state, and if the House does not pass SB 6 or amend another bill with the language concerning Texas privacy. Again, the people have spoken clearly. The votes are there. The votes are there. The bill shouldn’t be blocked or another bill should be amended.”
Special sessions are called by the governor and can last up to 30 days. Topics are limited to those delineated by the governor. And — the pivotal point here — there’s no limit on how many special sessions can be called.
A governor can keep lawmakers in Austin until the cows come home from wherever it is that cows wander off to. Gov. Greg Abbott supports SB6, the Patrick-backed measure concerning transgender Texans’ use of bathrooms and locker rooms in government buildings.
“If we must go to a special session, I will respectfully ask the governor to add both of these bills, plus other legislation he has voiced support for, in that special session call,” Patrick said. “If property tax relief and privacy do not pass in that special and they’re blocked again, I will ask the governor to call us back again and again and again.”
“Look,” Patrick added moments later, “people don’t care how many sessions it takes for us to get home.”
The phrase that lingered in the air was “again and again and again,” a notso-subtle threat to seek to keep lawmakers in town until they make the laws Patrick wants made.
Straus responded with a 500-word statement issued by his office. About 430 of the words dealt with specific legislation. The others responded to Patrick’s threat about special sessions.
“(Lt.) Governor Patrick’s threat to force a special session unless he gets everything his way is regrettable, and I hope that he reconsiders,” Straus said. “The best way to end this session is to reach consensus on as many issues as we can. Nobody is going to get everything they want.”
As always, Patrick was confident and provocative about what he wants, leaving many questions hanging, including some about the threats he’s employing to win approval for the measures in question.
Too bad he chose to ignore the questions as he turned to his right and walked out of the Senate Press Conference Room.
Straus followed up his written statement by taking questions from journalists behind the House chamber. He talked of working respectfully with the Senate in the session’s crucial closing days.
I asked Straus about Patrick’s call for special sessions “again and again and again” if needed to pass the misnomered bathroom bill.
“I believe more in consensus than in demands or threats,” Straus said. “My experience in the House is the House doesn’t take to threats terribly well.”