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Speaker Dade Phelan told House members that the House plans to wrap up its work for the fourth special session on Tuesday. This could doom several unfinished bills that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is pushing for passage.
The decision would increase funding for school safety, create a new school voucher program, and ensure new property tax cuts and teacher pension increases unless the House approves a last-minute bill. This means that there will be no time left for the current Congress to do so. It will not be delayed by electoral challenges.
Tuesday is the penultimate day lawmakers can meet before the constitutionally mandated 30-day deadline for a special session. In a memo to members on Saturday, Mr Phelan indicated that this would be the only day the meeting would be held next week. Congress has signaled that it will not take up major pending legislation, and will instead consider measures to celebrate and commemorate.
That means a small number of proposals are at stake. The most notable may be Senate Bill 6. It proposes adjusting the court schedule after a citizen or group files a lawsuit challenging the election results.
The Senate fast-tracked the drafting and approval of the bill Friday after six lawsuits were filed this week in Travis County challenging the results of the November election. In this election, voters approved a constitutional amendment that significantly lowers property taxes, gives retired teachers a modest pension increase, and invests billions of dollars in water infrastructure, broadband internet, state parks, and the power grid.
By law, challenges to constitutional elections cannot be brought to court within one month of filing, and no later than six months, unless requested by the elector. Many of the amendments passed last month are scheduled to take effect on January 1, but could be postponed if issues remain unresolved.
The Senate bill would adjust deadlines to avoid delays in implementing the measures.
Election disputes based on false claims about voting equipment are currently not on Gov. Greg Abbott's agenda for this legislative session. Mr. Abbott's aides said Friday that he would consider the bill if both chambers could agree on it.
Meanwhile, Senate Bill 5 concerns school safety and was called for by the governor. The bill, which passed the Senate unanimously, would allocate $800 million to school safety programs by 2025. On November 16, the House passed a similar bill with even more funding, but it has since stalled in a Senate committee.
Phelan criticized the Senate for not taking action on the House's school safety law. Phelan said the House version is “much stronger” than the Senate version in addressing school safety. He accused Patrick of moving forward with the Senate bill as a “completed political stunt.”
“With five days left in the session, the Senate has proposed an entirely new bill…Dan Patrick has taken to social media to pretend he cares about adequately funding school safety while blaming others for the consequences of his inaction. So that they can be blamed,” Phelan added. .
The Senate is scheduled to convene Tuesday morning, but could choose to approve the House bill.
Without further action on school safety bills in the House or Senate, public school officials complain that school districts do not have enough funding to comply with school safety mandates passed by Congress during this year's regular session. The session will end without any action being taken.
On Saturday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick expressed frustration that the House was not moving aggressively enough to pass the bill. “Nonsense” The House did not have enough time.
“If Dade Phelan wishes, he can reconvene the House at any time, or if necessary, suspend the House rules to pass these bills on Tuesday,” Patrick said. Told.
He added: “The House of Representatives should have sat on Friday, just like the Senate.”
The House remained calm for most of Friday. Some senators sometimes wandered around the chamber while the Senate was in session. However, the entire organization never came together to consider legislation.
Mr. Patrick, who has been feuding with Mr. Phelan for much of the year, urged voters to call the speaker's office this weekend or Monday and “leave a message to pass these important bills.”
The House's decision could be a death sentence for Mr. Abbott's top legislative priority, tuition assistance. But this isn't surprising, since last month Congress voted to eliminate vouchers from the massive education bill. Since then, the House has taken no further action on the issue.
Although school voucher bills are regularly passed in the Senate, 21 House Republicans have voted to block the bill in the House, meaning there is little path forward for school voucher programs in the current House. It shows. Since the vote, Mr. Abbott has followed through on this promise to launch preliminary challenges against anti-Republican lawmakers.
