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Ed. note: This is a lengthy post, we know, but worth the extended read.
For those that like parliamentary theater, last night's House debate was one of a kind -- and one where the House Democrats, led by the ever relentless and powerful Rep. Senfronia Thompson, came close to defeating one of the worst bills of the session.
Yesterday, the Texas House was scheduled to take up HB 3678 by Rep. Charlie Howard (R-Sugar Land). The bill is supposed to ensure that school districts cannot infringe on a student's religious freedom of expression. From the bill analysis: C.S.H.B. 3678 codifies these court decisions and the constitutional ways a student, or groups of students, may express their faith at school and at school sponsored events. Proponents of the bill argue that too often a student's right to free speech -- namely, religious expression during class time or at school sponsored events -- are limited by the school district. In reality, this bill is a result of the Bill O'Reilly "War on Christmas" fight (Source), which makes mountains out of molehills. Rep. Howard and others stated on the House floor that students are being told they can't say "Christmas" in school, and the state should step in and clarify for school districts exactly what is allowed and not allowed in schools.
[Interesting side note: The landmark 'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' student free-speech case is scheduled to be heard before the Supreme Court. Source.]
After no more than a couple hours of debate, Rep. Warren Chisum decided that, after a couple amendments, he'd heard enough from House Democrats protesting the bill and moved to limit debate on all House amendments. That's right, Rep. Warren Chisum and 25 of his House colleagues decided it was best to limit the debate on a free speech bill.
Ultimately, the motion to limit amendments failed. Rep. Thompson demanded, and successfully won the right, to have the names read from the front mike, and the bill was "courteously" postponed until Monday. But not until Rep. Thompson had a showdown with Speaker Craddick though -- and won.
The larger question, though, is why try to limit the debate on free speech in the first place? Was it because Rep. Chisum believed everyone had made up their mind and the House was wasting time on a bill everyone already knew how they would vote on (as he stated on the House floor)? Or was it because he was scared the bill would be defeated?
We believe the latter. Here's our evidence:
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