The Texas Senate Debate: Rules Debate

by: Phillip Martin

Wed Jan 14, 2009 at 00:36 PM CST

The text of the resolution.

I'll be liveblogging this...it's intense.

This was at the 1:20:50 mark of the video.

Senator West: Is this more important than dealing with tuition deregulation?

Senator Williams: Senator West, I believe that it is.

6:57pm - SR 14, Senator Williams' resolution, passed 18-13. Republican State Senator John Carona was the only Republican to cross party lines. The Senate just decided to shoot itself in the head on the second day of session. Go figure.

6:50pm - Senator Williams, in his closing, says that he has not made any direct threats against any Senators. He then went on to accuse others of being purely political. Yeah. It's voter ID. Let's dial down the hypocrisy. He also still is claiming historical precedent, though what he doesn't recognize is that most of those issues -- as Senator Ellis found out in his exchange earlier today -- ended in unanimous or near unanimous votes in the Senate body.

6:45pm - Senator John Whitmire is speaking. He spoke honestly -- that the Republicans in the Senate have shown the lobbyists and the grassroots fringe Republicans that yes, the Senate will cave on hot-button issues. And he rightfully called out that the voter ID legislation is a non problem, but instead a built up issue for those who are terrified of undocumented workers voting -- even though, as Senator Whitmire explained, they won't vote again.

Senator Whitmire said it best: Republican Senators are no longer powerful. The fringe, radical right are.

6:31pm - The Dallas Morning News has already editorialized against Dewhurst:

Here's what could upend the session. Dewhurst is considering higher office, most likely Kay Bailey Hutchison's Senate seat, and may think he must court hard-core conservatives, starting now.

So which Dewhurst will lead the Senate? The moderate conservative who has tried to rein in his party from becoming extreme on issues like budget cuts? Or the Dewhurst who's trying to win over staunch conservatives for another office?

So far, we don't like what we see. The Senate started its first debate yesterday with conservatives attempting to win an exception to the traditional rule that requires senators to line up two-thirds of the body before introducing a particular piece of legislation. In this case, dropping the two-thirds vote would clear the way for the Senate to consider incendiary, unnecessary legislation that would require voters to present a photo ID before casting a vote.

This set the wrong tone for the launch of the usually bipartisan Senate. The two-thirds rule has forced legislators to line up support from the other side of the aisle. When you start making exceptions, who knows where it will lead? Dewhurst doesn't make the rules, but we had hoped he could have stopped the Senate from even going down this partisan path. 

6:15pm - Senator John Carona, Republican, is standing up to speak against the rule change. He announced that he was told that his legislative portfolio might be threatened and he could be challenged in the primary for standing up.

6:00pm - Senator Zaffirini says it honest: Dan Patrick and the SREC are the real winners today. She goes after the SREC, saying that if the SREC wanted to run for Senate, they should raise their money and do what they want to do. Her speech, along with Senator Watson's, were my favorite speeches so far.

5:50pm - Senator Dan Patrick stood up and gave a speech. Basically, he got to crow, because he won. Dewhurst proved that he was terrified of Patrick, that the fringe grassroot Republicans will always dictate the direction of their governance.

5:43pm - "I believe that this will be the full and final victory of politics over policy on this issue." -- Senator Watson

5:40pm - From the Legislative Reference Library section on the Texas Senate:

Though it has been set aside on rare occasions, this practice -- known as the "two-thirds rule" -- has been an honored tradition in the Senate. Among other things, it is generally acknowledged that the Senate's two-thirds rule fosters civility, a willingness to compromise, and a spirit of bipartisanship. 

And when you lose the rule, you get what you see today -- a lost civility, a lost willingness to compromise, and a lost spirit of bipartisanship.

5:38pm - And we're back. Dewhurst decided that the rules of the 80th Legislature and the Constitution gave him the power to be the presiding officer, so we're back on board. Senator Kirk Watson is giving a great speech -- I'll try and get a copy later today and reprint it whole.

5:13pm - An interesting report from the Statesman:

New word: The decision on Sen. Eliot Shapleigh’s point of order to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst’s authority as presiding officer is that Dewhurst might prevail.

Instead of take Dewhurst out, and embarrass both him and the Senate, senators just recessed to meet behind closed doors to see if they can either convince Shapleigh to withdraw his challenge or convince Republicans to withdraw their resolution to change the Senate rules.

It’s that resolution that triggered the big floor fight today.

Nothing has been announced, but several senators confirmed the initial ruling on the point of order.

4:30pm - No more amendments; we've been standing at east while Dewhurst figures out how to rule on a parliamentary inquiry.

3:30pm - Senator West offers an amendment to put re-regulating tuition to the forefront of the discussion. The amendment was tabled 19-12, on straight party lines.

3:28pm -  Van de Putte amendment is tabled 19-12, on straight party lines.

3:22pm - Senator Van de Putte offers an amendment to put schools first, to ensure that legislation is prioritized to increasing public school investments and resulting property tax relief into Williams' new special category.

3:21pm - Watson amendment is tabled 19-12, on straight party lines.

3:07pm - Senator Watson offers an amendment for full funding of the Children's Healht Insurance Program.

3:06pm - Lucio amendment is tabled 19-12, on straight party lines.

3:00pm - Senator Lucio offers a third amendment to, I believe, restore funding to the unemployment fund.

2:59pm - Uresti amendment is tabled 19-12, on straight party lines.

2:51pm - Senator Uresti offers a second ammendment to "prioritize improving benefits for our veterans instead of this issue."

2:50pm - Ellis amendment is tabled: 19-12, on straight party lines.

2:39pm - Senator Ellis offers the first issue priority amendment on "protect families through insurance rate regulation and foreclosure prevention." Senator Ellis argues that if we're going to break the 2/3 rule, then we need to do it to put families first.

2:29pm - Senator West has said that he will offer an amendment to this legislation, making tuition deregulation a special order. He will probably also do it for CHIP, utility relief, school finance, etc. If Republicans want to do this, then they are going to have to stomach the votes that show's what they are actually trying to do. And they aren't House members -- they spend their entire careers avoiding tough votes.

2:03pm - Senator Ellis asks the right question: "If you're worried about potential slight of hand, why would you act in this way?" Someone should just ask Dewhurst straight up: "what slight of hand do you have in mind?" 

Senator Williams thinks this won't set any precedent. It's also not a big deal. Yet it's such an important issue that it must take precedence over the blocker bill. Amazing.

1:52pm - This is a good debate...but I'm still trying to figure out if a "3/5 rule" is the procedural mechanism for moving voter ID into its starlight exceptional place or not. If anyone has an updated copy of the resolution, let us know.

1:35pm - Dewhurst got all hot under the collar because Senator Whitmire suggested that the leadership knew about the resolution long before he did. Dewhurst had to step in and correct Senator Whitmire, but he then admitted that Dewhurst knew about the resolution last Wednesday or Thursday.

Dewhurst can't duck this one; it's at his feet. He wants to run the Senate like Craddick ran the House, then he's got to man up and live with the consequences. Either be a leader and preserve the 2/3 rule, or be a leader and dump it for your ideology. He needs to stop acting like such a coward.

1:28pm - Here's where we are: Senator Williams wants to take the voter ID issue to the "committee of the whole" -- which just means the full body. This is how they are going to get around the 2/3 rule: through a mechanism that is used on non-controversial issues. Senator Whitmire is shooting down the historical examples Senator Williams is citing. 

1:18pm - Senator Williams just talked about how getting a consensus of 21 is so important...but we don't need that for voter identification. Such a hypocritical bunch of bull. It's incredible how badly they want this voter ID legislation. More than school finance. More than higher education. More than utility relief. More than any other issue. This is it. This is all they believe in.

1:17pm - The Senate isn't any kind of special chamber, as much as these folks want to believe. They just have the same sort of bickering and nonsense behind closed doors. At least the House believes in open government.

1:12pm - There's a stall as everyone tries to understand the rules. When Dewhurst overruled Senator Shapleigh earlier, part of his argument was, "this is how it is done." In other words -- that we just kind of wing it on the first day of rules, so why worry about it. And most Members are fine with just kind of winging it on the rules -- until you get tough and start shoving things through the process that are controversial.

In other words -- if Dewhurst wants to push this 3/5 rule for voter ID, then he's going to have to live with the consequences of a tick-for-tack rule process. He doesn't get to have his cake and eat it, too.

1:10pm - Senator Ogden rises to mumble through something about the rules of the Senate. They are terrible at this. If you're not watching live, go back and watch the tape, and you'll appreciate how important it was to have House members like Rep. Jim Dunnam that know how to talk about the rules. 

12:59pm - Senator Leticia Van de Putte rises for a personal privilege speech. She begins talking about how the Senate doesn't fight like the House because they are a body that negotiates, compromises, and practices diplomacy.

12:54pm - Senator Shapleigh is calling a point of order on the resolution, because the legislation does not have a committee that the resolution has been referred to. Dewhurst is trying to argue that it is not historical precedent to refer rules to committees (which is true). The point of order went down (of course). But dang -- this looks exactly like Craddick.

12:51pm -- Dewhurst tells Senator Gallegos, "I know why I'm here. If you don't know why you're here..." This is ugly, and reminds me tremendously of Tom Craddick.

12:45 pm. At the heart of the matter is whether or not Dewhurst and the Senate agree to dump the 2/3 rule for voter ID legislation. It's a pretty draconian beginning to the Senate session by Dewhurst...but this is how he's always been. He just now does not have Craddick to be the bad guy.