Democrats within the Texas Home will now not be allowed to carry influential committee chair positions underneath new guidelines handed by the chamber on Thursday.
The change, which brings to an finish the Texas Home’s long-standing custom of getting members of the minority celebration maintain these necessary management roles, comes after years of complaints from the Republican Celebration of Texas.
Particularly, the rule states that, “If, on the time the speaker pronounces the membership of standing committees, the members of the home of 1 political celebration represent a majority of the membership of the home, the speaker shall designate a member of that celebration to function chair of every standing committee.”
Within the Texas Legislature, committee chair positions are key as a result of committees function the start line for any laws that someday hopes to land on the governor’s desk. Chairs play a pivotal function in influencing what proposals transfer ahead every session.
By shedding the power to chair any committees, the state’s Democrats — who haven’t been in energy in Texas for 30 years — have misplaced much more clout on the state Capitol.
Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, mentioned members who voted for the foundations had been “political cowards” who gave into stress from Republican advocates who’d lengthy been calling for the change. He additionally mentioned Republican lawmakers had been prioritizing scoring political factors over appearing in good religion.
Republican push to take away Democratic committee chairs
The transfer to do away with Democratic chairs has been occurring for years, and gained prominence through the state’s final legislative session in 2023.
That yr, former Home Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, acquired huge pushback from his personal celebration after appointing Democrats to the necessary management roles. (It is also a transfer that performed a component in Phelan now not holding the speaker job).
This yr, on the primary day of Texas’ legislative session, Republican activists stuffed the Capitol sporting crimson shirts emblazoned with “Ban Democratic Chairs!” in white block lettering.
Many left after day one upset that the Home voted in Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, because the chamber’s speaker. Mary Carr of Harris County instructed The Texas Newsroom she believed Burrows would let the opposition celebration management an excessive amount of of the lawmaking.
“It’s not going to be good. It’s not going to be a very good final result,” she mentioned.
This can be a growing story and shall be up to date. The Texas Newsroom’s Nina Banks contributed reporting to this story.
