State Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, lost their fight to stop an amendment to the Senate rules Wednesday after a bitter fight.
The rule change, SR14, was proposed by Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands.
Under the old rules, 2/3rds of Senators, (21) must agree to debate an issue. As such, a minority 11 senators can effectively filibuster a bill. Williams’ resolution proposed to suspend the 2/3rds rule when the Senate comes to discuss Voter ID legislation.
The rule change essentially means that the issue of a voter ID bill can now be passed in the Senate by 16 votes, instead of the required 21 votes for every other issue.
Watch the Democrats speaking to the press after the vote here
Watch the full debate here (part 1) and here (part 2)
The debate kicked off at 11a.m., yesterday morning, before the Senate recessed after only nine minutes. Senators then retired to broker a deal in private. No deal was forthcoming and so a little after 12 p.m., the battle hit the floor of the upper chamber.
The Democrats immediately went on the offensive, before Williams had even proposed his resolution. State Sen. Shapleigh asked Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst what rules the Senate was currently operating under: that is, what rules were in operation while the Senate discussed amendments to the rules.
The argument was circular but clever: if the Senate was going to debate the rules, what rules will govern that debate?
Shapleigh’s idea was to get Dewhurst to admit that the rules of the 80th legislature were still operative. If so, then the Democrats could filibuster. If they weren't operative, then what was keeping the Democrats from breaking quorum? Dewhurst fudged the issue beautifully insisting that the 80th’s rules were a “guide.” Shapleigh was overruled.
Williams proceeded to read the resolution and a fierce debate ensued.
State Sen. Van de Putte, D-Bexar, called her fellow senators to put aside partisan issues saying that SR14 was "the first step in the opposite direction."
A long exchange between Sen. Williams and Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, ensued. West argued that the rule change represented a “dramatic abandonment” of tradition. West also argued that issues like CHIP and tuition regulation were more important to Texans but would be harder to pass than a Voter ID bill, which was not important to Texans.
Democrats next tried to amend the resolution to death. The amendments proposed to make other issues like CHIP, Veteran’s affairs, tuition regulation and foreclosure legislation simple majority votes as well. Each amendment went down 19-12 along party lines.
Shapleigh then called another point of order claiming that Dewhurst had no authority over Senate proceedings because that authority was granted by the rules of the 80th session. This again put Dewhurst in a pickle: if the rules were in operation, and not just a "guide", Democrats could filibuster. If the rules were not in operation then on what grounds was Dewhurst there presiding over proceedings?
A confused Dewhurst adjourned the Senate. Senators once more tried to broker a deal behind closed doors. After two rounds of wheeler-dealing, the game was up – Dewhurst again poo-pooed Shaplegh’s P.O.O.
After closing remarks, a vote would be taken.
During those closing remarks, Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Travis County, called the resolution a "corruption of historic rules" that meant the Senate was “giving up the best part of itself” and creating a "special class" of bills. Watson's point was later re-affirmed by Sen. Ken Whitmire, D-Harris County, who described the rule change as “a chipping away of what makes this body so special."
"All this special class of bills includes are partisan bills aimed, frankly, at maintaining power," said Watson. Sen. West said that this would not be the last time the 2/3rds rule would be suspended.
"I see a special order coming for redistricting," speculated West.
But Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Harris County, disagreed. He called the day a “great day for the Senate” and commended the Democrats for debating the issue respectfully. For Patrick, who wanted to change things up further and adopt a 3/5th rules for all matters, called Williams’ resolution a “great compromise.”
Democrats were having none of it. Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-Hidalgo County, called the entire day a “waste of time” while Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Webb County, said she was both “embarrassed” and “ashamed” by the Senate’s behavior. Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Harris, in an emotional speech, lamented that the Texas Senate was behaving like the Texas House had done in 2007. Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Harris warned Republicans that “what goes around comes around,” and that changing Texas Demographics could mean Republicans finding themselves on the wrong side of a 2/3rds rule suspension in the future.
Williams maintained in his closing remarks that the suspension would ultimately protect the 2/3rds rule and that there was “ample historic precedent that my opponents on this issue have chosen to ignore."
When it came to a vote, Williams resolution passed 18-13 – along party lines with one dissenting Republican, Sen. John Corona, R-Dallas.
Corona, stressing he was in favor of a Voter ID Bill, believed that the day and the issue had “deteriorated” into partisanship and that the resolution would remove future incentives to bi-partisan co-operation. He implored his fellow Senators to, "stop the partisan gamesmanship. Deal with the issues of importance."
The Senate adjourned until Monday.
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Watch the Democrats speaking to the press after the vote here
