*DING* *DING* *DING* We have a winner!chasfm11 wrote:Actually, I think it says a lot about Joe Strauss and the Democrats who keep him in power. My prediction, when he retained the Speaker's chair, is that there would be a pittance of Conservative legislation passed in this session in spite of the Republican majorities.S_3 wrote:You fell for the old red herring trick. Republicans have a 63% majority in the Texas House of Representatives and a 61% majority in the Texas Senate. Last session they had 67% of the House and the same 61% majority in the Senate. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor are both Republicans and were last session.AEA wrote:I doubt that you will find any established person on this Forum that disagrees with the principle of it.
It looks to me (so far) that the chances of it passing this time are a bit better than last session. Going from "NONE" last session to "SLIM" this session.
And the reason that I believe this is because there are two many Democrats in Texas,....... and more coming everyday.
If it's important to the Republicans, they can pass it. If they don't pass it, that says something too.
I know that the parking lot bill made it through the 2011 session. So did the expansion to watercraft, if I remember correctly. I don't expect to see Campus carry or Charles' bill to eliminate most of the restrictions on CHL carry. And it will stay that way as long as Strass is in power.
Having majority support in each chamber of the Texas Legislature is only the first small step toward passing a bill. Between the executive and legislative branches of the Texas government, there are six individuals who can single-handedly kill a bill. On top of that, there are a multitude of ways for key and even not-so-key legislators to stall a bill. Remember, the Texas Legislature meets for 140 days every other year--it doesn't take much stalling to kill a bill.
If Speaker Straus doesn't want a bill to pass, he doesn't need to exert the official powers of the Office of the Speaker in order to kill it. He can simply ask the chair of the committee that hears the bill and the chair of the Calendars committee (both of whom he appoints) to each stall the bill for a few weeks. In the end, neither of the committee chairs is solely responsible for the death of the bill (the chair of the committee that heard it can claim that he gave it to Calendars in plenty of time for them to put it on the calendar, and the chair of Calendars can claim that he received it too late to place it high enough on the Calendar), and to the public, Straus looks like the "hands-off" Speaker he claims to be.
Even relatively powerless members of the legislature can stall a bill. Senators can formally "tag" a bill in committee, requiring that they receive advance written notice before a hearing. Representatives on the Calendars committee can informally "tag" a bill, resulting in the bill being sent to the bottom of the list of bills to be considered by the committee. Representatives on the floor can search a bill for even the smallest typos and, if one is found, use it as the basis for a "point of order" to send the bill back to committee (or, in some cases, kill the bill altogether). If the bill makes it to the floor and there is no valid point of order to be raised, opponents in the House can work together to slow down all legislation via "chubbing" (as they did in 2009, to block voter ID) to ensure that time runs out before the bill is reached. Opponents in the Senate can launch a good ol' fashioned filibuster (as Wendy Davis did at the end of the 2011 session).
The short and long of it is that passing a bill is difficult. Passing a controversial bill is EXTREMELY difficult. Anyone who thinks that majority support is the deciding factor does not understand the Texas Legislature.