It’ll pass. Not a doubt in my mind.
Blocked!
The Dems walked and there was no quorum. Gov. Abbott sputtered helplessly.
I just spotted this article on Yahoo and came here to post it too. Note, Gov. Abbott may not be so helpless, and the law may not be dead. Abbott vowed to call the legislature into special session to finish the job. (Could the Dems block it by walking out on that too?)
Here’s the Yahoo link, in case you find the AP link paywalled:
Another, more extensive article at WaPo: Mentions that there were a number of other bills in progress as well, including some that had bipartisan support, that also got left behind as a result of this.
This is an important win, although a qualified one.
Constitutionally, the Texas Legislature meets from January-May every even numbered year in their “regular session,” and midnight yesterday was the House deadline for final approval of bills. By letting the bill come down to the literal last minute, Republicans opened themselves up to this maneuver. If they had moved the bill earlier in the session they could have held more Democrat’s bills hostage to get them to show up. Our Republican Lt. Governor (who presides over the Senate) is blasting the Republican Speaker right now because of this. It is glorious.
But, as @Senegoid notes, the Governor can call the legislature back anytime he wants for thirty days in a “special session.” We already knew this was going to happen, because there were a couple of items that the Legislature had not addressed during the regular session – specifically redistricting and how to spend federal stimulus funds. During the special session, the Governor gets to decide what’s on the “call” – i.e. the issues that the Legislature may consider during the special session. Undoubtedly Abbott will add “voting reform” to the call.
Could Democrats boycott again? They could. Famously back in the early-aughts, Texas Democrats fled the state when Republicans tried to enact a mid-decennial redistricting. It took three special sessions before Democrats gave up and showed up in Austin. They could do the same again, although Republicans will have some powerful carrots and sticks to entice them back with the federal money and the threat to redistrict them out of existence.
In this case “our” doesn’t include Republican voters. Which is the problem.
I forget which state it was 10-ish years ago where the boycotting legislators decamped to an adjacent state and their Governor tried to send the state police to the other state to arrest them for “dereliction of their legislative duties”.
But I don’t think any of us need to resort to guessing to know which party were the fleeing legislators vs which party tried to arrest them.
That’s the case from Texas that I mentioned in my post above.
My apologies. D’oh!!
It’s hard to keep up with all the Texas legislature insanities.
I kinda think “legislature” is excess verbiage in your post. But otherwise I agree completely. 
Well, there are a few Democrats. But I know what you mean.
This happened in Wisconsin to delay Act 10 which basically stripped teachers of collective bargaining rights. 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 - Wikipedia
Brian
The best that Democrats can hope for is to inspire massive public protest against Republicans, but that almost never happens in response to voting laws or gerrymandering. That’s why Republicans keep getting more and more aggressively authoritarian. They know that the chances are, there won’t be much resistance. And they’re probably right.
Shit is getting real down here in Texas – Governor Abbott has threatened to veto the entire budget for the state legislature for the next two years over the Democratic walkout. Ignoring the point that this punishes the House Republicans who stood with him just as much as the Democrats (and the Senate, who passed the bill), there’s no more egregious break with democracy than denying a branch of government it’s basic ability to function. This wouldn’t just cut off legislator’s salaries – it would cut off their ability to hire staff, serve their constituents, conduct oversight, and do the basic work of legislating.
Anyone who doesn’t believe that violence is inevitable, is a child. When you remove democracy, you remove the capacity of a society to resolve political differences through negotiation. It’s almost guaranteed that there is going to be a major civil conflict within the next 3-5 years.
Yeah, but they got to prevent black people from voting. Priorities, OK?
I posted this earlier today in the Stupid Republican idea thread:
The irony is that Texas has long been considered a “weak governor” state. The governor doesn’t have direct authority over state agencies, and the Lt. Governor has usually been considered the more powerful figure in state politics.
Greg Abbott (building on a foundation laid by Rick Perry) has turned this dynamic on its head. He’s successfully seeded state agencies with loyalists willing to do his bidding. He’s directed agencies to submit rules to his office before they’re published, something he has no legal authority to require. He has enormously expanded his emergency powers, even pre-COVID. He’s expanded his line-item veto authority to allow him to essentially rewrite the budget. And he’s done all of this with nary a peep out of the Legislature.
If he gets away with this, then Texas is a gubernatorial dictatorship with a sham legislature that’s only allowed to function if it stays in the governor’s good graces.
Only if the population allows it, tho.
A bunch will support it and even more won’t oppose it. Will there be enough opposition willing to make the effort?
This is how minority control happens.