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AUSTIN, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – Political blame game in Austin intensifies after the dramatic end of the Texas regular legislative session when House Democrats walked out, preventing passage of some priority bills for Republicans.
One of the bills that died was SB 7, the Election Integrity Bill.
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Sunday evening, after the House failed to reach a quorum, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick appeared before the Senate and criticized the House.
On Monday afternoon, Patrick told CBS 11 News that House Speaker Dade Phelan R-Beaumont had failed to keep his legislative schedule on track. “I am responsible for the calendar in the Senate and the Speaker is responsible for the calendar in the House. And when again, when you take Friday and Saturday off, like he did last week, and let the members go home, that means they’ve wasted a lot of time on the clock.
On Thursday, Phelan said Patrick was wrong. “Not a single bill was languishing in the House because we weren’t here those two days. It is therefore categorically false.
Phelan said the House passed his version of the bill on May 17, two weeks before the end of the session, but the Senate chose to form a conference committee and did not prepare it until two days before the session. end of the session.
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Phelan said: “There were flaws throughout. We found over 12 points of order. They realized that we had to revise the bill. We finally found this conference bill in our room at 4:40 pm Saturday. The rule is that you cannot pick it up for up to 24 hours after you drop it off. So we got it late. We found it at 4:41 p.m. on Saturday. This means he was not eligible until 4:41 p.m. Sunday, last day to study the invoices. So the reason it was on that Sunday schedule is not the House’s fault. “
A new provision in the conference committee report was that early voting on Sunday could not begin until 1 p.m., and Democrats said it was aimed at what African-American voters are calling “Souls to the Polls,” an effort for people to go and vote after attending Sunday church. services.
Phelan said it was a mistake. “The House members were told it would be 11 am. So when we got back it was 1 pm, and it was too late to fix that.”
The president said House members are already working on an election integrity bill to prepare whenever Gov. Greg Abbott calls lawmakers back for a special session.
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FULL INTERVIEW WITH DADE PHELAN:
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