Texas House Republicans flex their might after Democrats threaten legislative priorities

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Partisan rancor in the Texas House of Representatives threatened to boil over on Friday when a group of hardline Republicans killed a seemingly uncontroversial bill brought by a Democratic House member.

Five members raised their hands in objection to a bill from Democratic Rep. Erin Zwiener of Driftwood on white tail deer population management, declaring they would kill all Democrat bills on the local and consent calendar. Zwiener's bill was the first from a Democrat on the calendar today. The move prompted Democrats to respond in kind, creating a stand-off of mutually assured destruction that ended with the House pulling all but two bills off the remainder of the calendar.

Local and consent calendars typically feature uncontested and local legislation, including bills that fund local parks or water districts. The move threatens to take a traditionally low-key aspect of the House’s work and turn it into a partisan battleground with just 38 days left in the legislative session.

One Republican expressed frustration.

“We got a lot of bills still to be heard,” Rep. Stan Gerdes, R-Smithville, told The Texas Tribune. “And we ain't got that much time on that. So, we need to cut the games and get back to work.”

Others were exultant.

“Conservatives are done allowing dems to run the Texas House,” Rep. Andy Hopper, R-Decatur, posted on X, with a photo of five representatives who raised objections to the bill. “Today patriots are standing together to declare that if Texas GOP priorities aren't to be prioritized or passed, that local & consent will no longer be mindlessly passed.”

The photo showed Republican Reps. Briscoe Cain of Deer Park, Mitch Little of Lewisville, Nate Schatzline of Fort Worth, Tony Tinderholt of Arlington and Steve Toth of The Woodlands raising their hands in objection.

Although Democrats have long been a minority of the Texas House, they have had some influence on the edges of issues. They managed to stop some Republican budget measures and are blocking constitutional amendments.

The Republican hardliners’ stated goals are twofold. They want Democratic Rep. Mary González of Clint to publicly apologize for quietly slipping in an amendment to the House budget that killed several conservative-backed budget amendments. Secondly, the hardliners want Democrats to end their blocks on the passage of constitutional amendments.

“The Democrat Caucus, with the exception of a few, has prevented constitutional amendments from passing, some of which would have benefitted mentally handicapped individuals,” according to vote reasoning signed by at least 15 Republicans. “Mary Gonzalez’s bills will continue to die because, in addition to the aforementioned reason, she lied with her amendment to the amendment on the budget.”

González declined to comment.

It takes 100 members to pass a constitutional amendment in the House, meaning at least 12 Democrats need to play along with the Republican majority. Although most of the Democratic caucus helped elect Dustin Burrows as speaker, most Democrats have withheld their votes on constitutional amendments for the past three weeks in an attempt to extract concessions from House leadership.

On Tuesday, House leadership put House Joint Resolution 72 to a vote, testing Democrats’ resolve with a sympathetic and bipartisan measure about creating a homestead exemption for the residences of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It failed to gain the two-third majority needed for passage.

The two bills that were salvaged from the local and consent calendar wreckage were HB 155, from Rep. Richard Peña Raymond, D-Laredo. Raymond was one of a few Democrat who voted in support of HJR 72.

The second bill from Austin Rep. Sheryl Cole honored a fallen police officer. Cole had been absent in recent weeks.

Hardline Republicans articulated their reasons. However, they’re concerned more broadly about the pacing of conservative priorities.

The uproar from the far right comes as the grassroots have increased their criticism that the House has not passed any of its legislative priorities. On Wednesday, Texas GOP Chairman Abraham George posted a video on social media chiding the House for not yet passing any of the party’s eight legislative priorities while the Senate has made more progress.

After the House adjourned, Representative Shatzline said House leadership reassured his group of hardline conservatives that leadership is dedicated to passing Texas GOP priorities this session.

“There was no details given, and we want details or we’re going to go through with our plan,” he said. “I hope that it's the most conservative session we've ever had. And the ball's in their court.”

After the bills were removed from the local and consent calendar, the House paused to let the local and consent calendars committee meet. The committee voted to send everything in their committee to the main calendars’ committee, the first step before sending these bills back to the House floor for potential approval.

Kayla Guo contributed to this report.

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