Texas politics
House challenge may be change
Dave MCNEELY

A parliamentary fight is usually less interesting than a radio broadcast of a chess match. But an exception occurred Tuesday in the Texas House of Representatives.

The Texas Constitution was amended in 1930, to say that no committees can pass out bills in the first 30 days of the biennial session, and no bills can be considered on the floor of the House or Senate for the first 60 days.

There are two exceptions. The governor can declare a measure to be an emergency, which allows immediate consideration. Or, the constitution says, "either House may otherwise determine its order of business by an affirmative vote of four-fifths of its membership" to allow committee and floor action.

The 31 senators routinely bring up bills one at a time, by asking their colleagues to vote to suspend "all necessary rules." If at least 25 members agree, it happens.

The House, however, since 1931 has passed a resolution simply suspending the limitations entirely. Proponents argue that the session is limited to 140 days, with literally thousands of bills and resolutions to be considered. It is folly to wait 30 days for committees to pass bills, and 60 days to begin floor consideration.

But that's exactly what a group of Democrats in the House sought to do Tuesday. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Jim Dunnam of Waco said requiring a four-fifths vote to bring bills to the floor one at a time insured that no bill would be considered early in the session without the support of a supermajority. He and other opponents of the blanket suspension of the 60-day rule said that would encourage legislators to reach across division lines to craft compromises on important matters.

Rep. Mike Villareal, D-San Antonio, said, "We are a divided House," and need the rule to protect those in the minority.

Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, a leading proponent for suspending the rule, said in 1930, when transportation and communication were much slower, the slowdown made sense, so citizens could have time to know what measures their legislators were considering.

But now, with bills and legislative sessions on-line, and speedy air travel, the caution is unnecessary, only producing a logjam. And, failure to suspend so the House can work full tilt will leave the Senate and the governor in the driver's seat on legislation, Chisum argued.

"You know who's going to get hurt on this," Chisum warned. He said a new legislator might have come to Austin with passage of a water district in his home area as his chief legislative goal might find himself lucky to see his bill pass at the very end of the session, if at all.

Dunnam, who acknowledged he had voted to suspend the rule in all but one of his five previous regular sessions, said the House can be an equal player with the Senate, using the same rules. Besides, he said, in the last four regular sessions, fewer than a dozen bills each session reached the House floor before the 60th day, and most had been declared emergencies.

When Billy Clayton was in his last term as speaker in 1981 was the first time the House failed to suspend the 60-day rule. Rep. John Bryant, D-Dallas, convinced 34 of his colleagues to vote against suspension. Clayton's team had 100 votes, but that was 20 short of four-fifths in the 150-member House.

However, some of Clayton's backers said they actually liked the slowdown, because too many bills passed anyway.

In 1983, new House Speaker Gib Lewis decided to keep the four-fifths rule. He said a poll of members showed four-fifths of them actually liked the rule.

In 1985, the House reverted to suspending the rule, and has done so since - until Tuesday. The opponents to suspension mustered 34 of the 69 House Democrats, to 108 for those who wanted to suspend.

And so now, House committees must wait until Feb. 7 to start voting out bills, and until March 11, the House can consider only those bills deemed emergencies or that get at least 120 votes to suspend the rule.

We'll see whether, for the first time in 24 years, it makes any difference.

Reach McNeely at dmcneely@austin. rr.com or (512) 323-0248.