After day of jubilation, Texas’ lawmakers begin the jousting
Arguments focus on bathrooms, rules changes
AUSTIN — Texas lawmakers wasted no time Wednesday getting testy with each other, just a day after they happily convened for the biennial 140-day session to pass new laws.
Senate Democrats pushed a rules change that would have given them more clout, but the Republican majority quickly shot it down.
In the House, hourslong arguments over rules featured a spirited debate over who could use Capitol restrooms, an exchange that likely presages an upcoming fight over the Senate’s so-called bathroom bill.
The House spat began when Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, offered an amendment to a general “housekeeping” resolution that House lawmakers take up at the start of every session to establish their operating rules. The proposal would have allowed restrooms on the House side of the Capitol to be used only by “a person based on the person’s biological sex,” the one on their birth certificate.
Schaefer said the issue is a matter of personal privacy.
House Administration Committee Chairman Charlie Geren, a Fort Worth Republican who authored the rules resolution that typically passes without issue, immediately objected. He insisted that the amendment had nothing to with House operations and noted that policies governing statehouse restrooms are controlled by the State Preservation Board, of which he is a member.
House members haggled over the issue for 30 minutes, most of that over parliamentary issues that opponents of the amendment were using to try to derail its passage.
In the end, Geren withdrew his objection and Schaefer withdrew his amendment. The resolution then passed 145-0.
The spat made clear that sentiments run high on the issue among many House members and that the transgender bathroom issue likely faces tough sledding when it reaches the House this spring.
In Senate Bill 6 filed earlier this week, state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, wants to adopt the same policy about who can use restrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms in schools and government buildings. The measure has attracted much controversy, thanks to a North Carolina law that has triggered howls about discrimination from transgender advocates and state business leaders who said it has resulted in the cancellation of major sporting events, including championship playoff games, and has caused some companies to cancel development plans.
In Texas, a coalition of clout-wielding business groups have said any such measure that targets transgender and gay Texans could cost the state’s economy $8.5 billion a year and put up to 185,000 jobs at risk.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is championing the bill, has dismissed those claims as baseless and has said he thinks it easily will pass the legislature because a majority of Texans support it. It is expected to pass the Senate.
In the Senate, tensions were raised over the rules, after the Republican majority rejected a move to restore a provision that would have given Democrats more control over which bills come up for a vote.
By a party line vote of 20-11, the Senate declined to restore the so-called “twothirds rule” that required 21 senators to agree to debate a bill before it could be considered by the full chamber. Instead, they stuck with a rule championed two years ago by Patrick that requires just 19.
The Senate currently has 20 Republicans and 11 Democrats.
Sen. Royce West, DDallas, on Wednesday proposed restoring the two-thirds rule to give all senators a voice in what bills will be considered, rather than having just the majority control the flow of legislation.
Sen. Kelly Hancock, RNorth Richland Hills, who heads the Senate committee that oversees the rules, said the new rule has prevented a few senators from blocking consideration of bills that a majority support.
“Nothing in these (current) rules prevents a member from representing their district.” Hancock said, noting that senators who want to block consideration of a bill still can speak against it during debate. “It doesn’t mean you get to win. It allows you to have a voice.”
Sen. Jose Rodriguez, D-El Paso, who chairs the Senate Democratic Caucus, insisted that the two-thirds rule allowed minorities more of a voice that they no longer have.
“That knife cuts both ways,” Hancock shot back, adding that, Rodriguez and other Democrats used the rule change two years ago to get bills passed that otherwise might not have reached the Senate floor.