House members may face $500-a-day fine for future walkouts
The Texas House Democrats who bolted for roughly six weeks to stop the Legislature from passing new laws would have racked up about $20,000 each in fines under a rule change proposed to stop such quorum breaks in the future.
The rule, debated Saturday in a committee meeting, would not be applied retroactively, but it would add a $500 fine in the future for each day that a member skips a session without an excuse, leaving the House without the 100 members it needs to vote on bills. The rule also would allow the House to conduct some business even in the absence of a quorum. Committees and subcommittees could still meet and receive legislation, and the chamber could still receive messages from the governor and Senate.
“This rule is designed to keep members in their chairs. To stay, to talk, to debate, to not leave. But if they do leave, there are consequences associated with that,” said Rep. Drew Darby, a San Angelo Republican who is carrying the resolution.
There have only been a handful of quorum breaks in modern Texas politics, though the Democrats used walkouts in May and July to freeze the GOPcontrolled Legislature.
Fines could be paid out of personal accounts or campaign accounts, and Darby noted that members could also use the $221 per diem they can collect when the governor calls them to Austin for a legislative session.
The new rules wouldn’t have stopped the Democrats from breaking quorum anyway, said Rep. Erin Zwiener, a Driftwood Democrat, among those who left for Washington.
“It took 57 members to break quorum, but it took every single one of us to create an environment where that seemed like the right thing to do,” Zwiener said. “As I’m looking at this, I see a lot of stick and very little carrot.”
During their quorum break, House Democrats spent thousands of dollars chartering private flights out of Austin and putting their members up in hotels in Washington. Former El Paso Congressman Beto O’Rourke, who is considering running for governor in 2022, alone raised more than $600,000 to help them with expenses.
The change would last until House members return to Austin in 2023, at which point the Legislature would adopt new operating rules.
“Folks who left, I do not question their motive and their effort to represent the constituents they have. That is their duty and they operate under their duty as they perceive it,” Darby said, adding that what they did was in line with the rules at the time. Now it’s time to change those rules so it won’t happen again, he said.
Democrats on the committee said that rather than punishing members, more should be done to respect the rights of the minority party in the chamber and repair relationships so they don’t feel like their only viable option is to skip town.
To that end, the Saturday morning hearing amounted to a group therapy session for the chamber.
Members of the Administration Committee repeatedly described the hearing as a “family discussion,” saying it was “healthy” and it offered “catharsis.” Rep. Rafael Anchía, a Dallas Democrat, said the two parties in the Texas House are in a marriage, he said, “not in a church, but under the dome.”
Anchía said he has served nine terms and this year’s session has been the most “extreme” of any he’s been a part of. And quorum breaks are rare historically, he said, only happening in Texas five times in history.
In the spring, Republicans asked for trouble by first making 20 pages of last-minute changes to a hard-fought elections bill, and were preparing to cut off debate on the matter when the Democrats walked out for the first time, Anchía said.
“You know that if you abuse your partner, they are bouncing. They are out, regardless of if you think you’re abusing them or not. If they feel abused, they’re going to leave,” he said. “And there’s always that dance you have to do with your partner.”
The punitive nature of the rule change would only contribute to tensions between the two parties, Anchía said.
“The quorum break was a symptom of something far, far deeper in this House. And it’s something we should take a moment to reflect on before we try to fix this tactically. It’s a fundamental problem,” Anchía said. “I view this as hastening the next quorum break. Not inhibiting.”