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House Speaker Dade Phelan, the Senate tied their hands in the House by getting them revised legislation so late in the game.
DALLAS After the electoral reform bill – Senate Bill 7 – failed in the Texas House following the Democratic walkout, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, leader of the Senate, said the time allotted to the House had expired because it was poorly managed.
House Speaker Dade Phelan said he had not spoken to Patrick since his comment. But Phelan said he strongly disagreed with the lieutenant governor. In fact, the president said the Senate tied their hands in the House by sending them the revised legislation so late in the game, which meant the House could not consider the bill before the deadline.
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It contained many errors. The elections committee found 10 to 12 points of order there, which kills the bill. So we had to rephrase it completely, President Phelan said on Inside Texas Politics. It wasn’t Houses’ fault. Say the time is up? No. Managing the clock was not a problem in the House.
At least one of these mistakes has become a national topic of discussion over the past few days.
SB 7, among other things, reportedly delayed early voting on Sundays until 1 p.m., which critics say specifically attacked African-American voting efforts known as Souls to the Polls, when black voters voted before or after church.
But in recent days, Republicans have said the time change was a typo and the time should have been 11 a.m.
The speaker said it was not uncommon for errors to occur in invoices. He said that in this particular bill equal has also been misspelled a few times. The Republican said they will have plenty of time to correct any typos, errors or omissions when they meet at a scheduled special session.
RELATED: Texas Lawmakers To Discuss Election Bills And Bail Reform In Special Session, Gov. Abbott Says
He also doesn’t think there will be any lingering animosity between the two sides, claiming that we are moving past these issues fairly quickly. But he admits his biggest concern isn’t necessarily the Democratic walkout itself, but the other legislation the movement sacrificed.
There were health care reform bills, criminal justice reform bills, a major mental health bill also on the schedule which was not passed, “he said. Said Phelan. “And unfortunately, I don’t think it’s going to be on the Special Sessions, so we’ve lost those Opportunities.
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