Critics take aim at House speaker
GOP group seeks to rewrite rules on electing post
AUSTIN — Some conservative Republicans are again trying to lay the groundwork to oust House Speaker Joe Straus, who they accused on Friday of blocking some of Gov. Greg Abbott’s top priorities during the special session.
The San Antonio Republican has been able to overcome previous attempts by conservative groups to unseat him over the years. In 2015, he defeated thenRep. Scott Turner by a 12819 margin among House members to earn his fifth term as leader of the House.
Regardless, the newly formed Texas Freedom Caucus is taking the first steps to rewrite rules for how speakers are chosen to give them a better shot at getting a more conservative leader than what they believe Straus is. On Friday they held a conference call with supporters outlining their plan to force a meeting on a rule change that would require future House speakers to first get nominated from the Republicans in the House before Democrats get a chance to vote.
“A Republican Speaker of the House should first win the confidence of a majority of his or her fellow Republicans,” said a letter from the Texas Freedom Caucus released this week.
To be sure, Straus is the only candidate to so far announce he is running for speaker when the Legislature next votes on a leader in 2019. Straus’ critics have not said who they might put up as a candidate to chal-
lenge him yet.
During the conference call on Friday, the group was reminded that Straus won his first term as speaker in 2009 thanks to a coalition of Democrats and Republicans when the GOP held a slim majority.
The call also served as a chance for the group to vent about bills — like the bathroom bill — that they think are being intentionally blocked by Straus and House leadership.
“They are blocking a lot of the governor’s priorities,” said state Rep. Matt Shaheen, R-Plano.
While most of the governor’s priorities bills have passed the Senate, hardly any have cleared the House. One of those stalled in the House is the bathroom bill, which would require people to use the bathroom of the gender that is listed on their birth certificates or driver’s licenses.
But Straus pushed back against the criticism that he is blocking legislation and said bills are moving.
“The Texas House had a very productive week voting on school finance, property-tax reform, retired teachers’ health care and education for students with special needs,” Straus said in a statement to the Chronicle. “All of those issues are on Governor Abbott’s agenda for the special session and are important to the Texas House.”