HB1706 Dead
By Karl-Thomas Musselman
In a move that will make Kuff happy, 11 of our 12 Democratic Senators signed a pre-emptive letter saying "no thanks" to the Republican's move to require more layers of red tape to our ability to cast votes in this state.
Latino's for Texas gives us the heads up...
Eleven Democrats sign letter to block voter picture ID bill
As the Texas House tries once again to pass HB1706 by Mary Denny, Senate Democrats have signed its death warrant.
The bill would require photo id or two aleternatives in combination with a voter registration card in order to vote. Democrats complain that the bill creates undue obstacles to voting for the elderly and students, among others. They also argue that this is part of a nationwide Republican effort to disenfranchise voters.
Senate Democrats have rendered the next several hours of House debate moot by signing a letter indicating that they will not vote to suspend the rules in order to bring up the bill. Senate requires 2/3s of the 31 members to vote to suspend before a bill can be heard.
I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Armbrister was the one who didn't sign it.
Posted by Karl-Thomas Musselman at May 3, 2005 05:20 PM
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Good morning, my job as the Senate Democratic Caucus advisor included, in this case, helping to facilitate the Senators' signatures on the blocking petition. One clarification: all the Senators who were asked to sign the petition did sign the petition. Senator Armbrister wasn't available to ask, as he was presiding over the Senate at the time that Chairwoman Van de Putte gathered the Senate Democrats to discuss it. So, no villians here. Have a great day!
