Texas House adopts rules

At the beginning of each session of the Texas House and Senate, each chamber establishes the rules that will govern how bills will be considered that session. Generally these closely mirror the rules that have evolved in each chamber over time, but occasionally they are modified. The House rules for the 83rd session were recently passed and minor changes were made, not the changes some were hoping for though. As stated in a post below, many of these changes were driven by David Simpson, a Tea Party Republican who has trying to limit the Speaker's power. According to news coverage, his plans backfired, and the Speaker may be actually more powerful than he was previously.

Here's a summary of news coverage of the changes:

- Houston Chronicle : A legislative weapon frequently used by Democrats to delay bills was crippled during the House rules debate Monday. Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, proposed to weaken “point of order” rules, which can return a bill to committees on the basis of an error in the proposed law’s language, including typographical errors in witness affirmation forms, committee minutes and bill analyses.

- The Texas Tribune also discusses the change to the point of order rule: The Texas House's Democratic minority was dealt a blow Monday when the House passed an amendment to the chamber's rules to limit legislators' ability to derail a bill based on clerical errors. Calling "points of order” on such errors is a strategy lawmakers have often used to block measures they oppose.

. . . The vote was 92-56, with only three Republicans joining Democrats against the amendment — Elkins and Reps. David Simpson, R-Longview, and Jim Keffer, R-Eastland.

Some Tea Party lawmakers — led by Simpson, who also challenged the speaker for his leadership position — hoped to punch holes in Speaker Joe Straus' power by reforming some House rules but came away with several tabled or withdrawn amendments.

Simpson proposed initiatives to increase openness, including making conference committees public and adding the exact times for House proceedings, but the first was tabled and the second failed.

But other transparency measures were approved. Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, authored amendments that would allow Texans to submit video testimony on bills, to publish testimony and presentations by state agencies to the public, to quantify the cost and benefit of legislation by a range estimate by the Legislative Budget Board and to add fiscal notes to bills to demonstrate their economic impact.

- The Dallas Morning News: It took 6 hours, a debate about whether God wants lawmakers to have clock-stopping ability and discussion of 33 amendments, but the House did finally finalize their rules of procedure.

In all, the rules will provide a more open look at bills and their costs. The caption that describes each bill will have to say if it raises fees or taxes. The committee witness lists will go electronic, meaning people waiting to testify can see where they are in the order (and feel free to use the restrooms without fear of losing their chance to speak.) Documents provided to the committees and bills that undergo a complete committee substitute will go online so the public and other members can see what’s being discussed. If the Legislative Budget Board can’t quite figure out what the fiscal impact of a bill will be, instead of saying “can’t be determined,” they’ve been instructed to give us a ballpark figure. Public video testimony (under three minutes) is now acceptable.

What didn’t happen is any marked change in the Speaker’s powers. Efforts failed that would have given him less discretion in appointments and given more deference to committee assignments based on seniority. So did efforts to circumvent committee rules and force bills to the floor.

- The Austin American Statesman describes how the Speaker may have emerged as the most powerful of the Big Three in Austin:

Of the Big Three — the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker — Straus is the only one without a recent and humbling loss.

Gov. Rick Perry suffered a crushing defeat in the Republican primary for president last year, and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst was throttled by now-Sen. Ted Cruz in the 2012 race for U.S. Senate.

Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, credited Straus’ proven ability over two legislative sessions to be fair to House members.

“The speaker is exceptional in working with members,” said Hunter, an ally of the speaker. “What you’ve seen within the last week is he has a strong, diverse support base.”

And from the Fort Worth Star Telegram:

The speaker has the ability to hold up legislation indefinitely in committee, and Tea Party-backed lawmakers lost their attempt to stop that. Democrats also lost most of their efforts to keep rules that would allow them some power to block bills.

State Rep. Van Taylor, R-Plano, proposed automatically expelling convicted felons from the House, forcing committee chairmen to hold hearings on popular bills and forbidding rewriting a bill so much that it was fundamentally different from when it was first proposed. All were shot down.

. . . State Rep. Bill Zedler, R-Arlington, proposed a rule change that if more than half of lawmakers co-author a bill, it does not have to go through the normal committee process, an important demand by Tea Party-aligned lawmakers. Veteran lawmakers from both parties argued against the bill, saying it bypassed the public lawmaking process. The vote rejecting the rule change was 137-11.

Another proposed rule change would have required any bill to cite the portion of the Texas Constitution that authorizes the action. State Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, proposed the measure in his first speech on the House floor but saw it shot down on a voice vote.