Special session ends with thud; redistricting




 

 

Two big things happened Tuesday, Aug. 15.

One was the 30-day special session of the Texas Legislature faded on day 29, when House Speaker Joe Straus abruptly adjourned the House a day early. More about that later.

The other big thing was that a threejudge federal court in San Antonio ruled that two Texas congressional districts are unconstitutional, because they were drawn with intentional discrimination against minorities.

The judges told Texas Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton to notify them by Friday whether the Legislature would re-draw the lines, or leave it to the judges – in which case hearings would begin Sept. 5 to draw the lines.

The districts are the 27th, represented by Republican Blake Farenthold, stretching from Corpus Christi to Bastrop County, east of Austin; and the 35th, represented by Democrat Lloyd Doggett, from Austin to San Antonio.

The court ruled Farenthold’s district had been redistricted to destroy its ability to elect a Hispanic, and Doggett’s had been packed with Hispanics, trying to elect a Hispanic, but make it harder for Hispanics to win in adjoining districts.

Paxton Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule the decision. He also told the lower court Gov. Greg Abbott didn’t want to call a special session to redistrict, because of lack of time before campaign filing for 2018 elections begins in November.

Abbott – who as attorney general before Paxton had defended the districts – also said he didn’t want to waive the state’s ability to appeal a decision “with which it vigorously disagrees,” Paxton’s filing said.

Paxton asked the lower court to delay enforcing its order until the Supreme Court indicates what it will do with the appeal.

Now, about the special session’s end:

You could say it ended with a thud, because the House decided to turn out the lights and declare the party over a day early.

Or, since Straus and the House left hanging bills to crimp the ability of local governments to raise property taxes, and killed one to dictate which bathrooms transgender people must use, it could be called exciting.

It excited Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and Gov. Abbott, who were surprised.

The House took no action on Patrick’s transgender potty police bill, which Straus had opposed. And the House left the Senate with a take-it-or-leave-it version of the property tax bill, weaker than what Patrick, and Abbott, had wanted.

Patrick decided the Senate should ignore the weaker version, rather than pass it. He adjourned the Senate Tuesday evening, a few hours after the House.

At an angry press conference minutes later, at 9:15 p.m., Patrick, flanked by several of the Senate Republicans he dominates, blasted fellow Republican Straus.

Abbott, who hadn’t endorsed Patrick’s transgender potty patrol bill until late in the regular legislative session, did put it on his special session agenda.

In a show of what he hoped was strength or leadership, Gov. Abbott said the day before the special session began that he was keeping a list of who his legislative supporters were. Some legislators thought that threat was ridiculous.

The day after the special session adjourned, Abbott told a Lubbock radio interviewer that he’d be involved in legislative races next year – including, possibly, Straus’s try for re-election as speaker.

“If we are going to ensure that Texas remains the model for governance in the United States of America we must always be passing laws that constrain spending, that reduce regulation. It’s those two pieces, along with cutting taxes, that attract and expand the Texas economic environment,” Abbott said.

“We’ve got to make sure we have the current speaker support those principles or we’ve got to get the votes in the House to make sure we get those principles passed,” he said.

This is not without its perils. If Abbott gets involved in legislative elections, and it doesn’t work, he would look weaker.

On the potty bill, Abbott, and Patrick, risk backlash from some usual Republican supporters.

The Texas business community, including several huge corporations, got increasingly involved in opposing the legislation, fearing transgender discrimination would bring economic boycotts.

Had the bill passed, the risk for Abbott was that the normally Republican-leaning business community could decide their interests lie more with responsible, service-providing lawmakers than discriminatory tax-cutting ideologues.

Also, local government leaders resent the state trying to hamper their ability to raise property taxes for services like schools and police, while state lawmakers shirk their funding responsibilities. The locals consider it a damaging unfunded mandate – a sham that impairs public services, so state lawmakers can boast of being tax-cutters.

In the long run, Abbott may owe Straus a vote of thanks for dumping those bills. He may have saved Abbott from himself.

Contact McNeely at davemcneely111@gmail.com or (512) 458-2963.


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