Texas lawmakers on July 1 reported to their respective Capitol chambers for the opening of a second 30-day special session of the 83rd Texas Legislature. The House and the Senate scheduled floor action for July 9.
Gov. Perry, on June 26, invited them to take a second opportunity to craft and pass legislation relating to:
• Regulation of abortion procedures, providers, and facilities;
• Funding of transportation infrastructure projects; and
• Establishing a mandatory sentence of life with parole for a capital felony committed by a 17-year-old offender.
Those items were on the call for the first special session that ended on June 25. Senate Democrats opposed to the abortion-regulating bill outflanked a Republican majority by skillful use of parliamentary procedure. Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, exercised the option to filibuster the abortion bill on the final day of the special session. While the filibuster stopped the bill from final passage, other bills on the calendar became ineligible for further consideration at the stroke of midnight.
On June 26, Gov. Perry called another special session to have the same matters addressed. On opening day, Democratic caucus leaders suggested that because of constitutional concerns and the high level of interest in the subject, regional hearings should be held before abortion-regulating legislation votes are called. Answers came. Such decisions are at the discretion of committee chairs. The chairs in this case, Rep. Byron Cook, House State Affairs, and Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, Senate Health and Human Services, chose to conduct their committees’ hearings at the Capitol.
On July 2, more than 3,000 citizens registered to testify on, for or against HB 2, the abortion bill, but only a small percentage of them were allowed to testify before the bill was called to a vote. The House State Affairs Committee approved HB 2 on a vote of 8 to 3.
Also on July 2, the Senate Finance Committee tentatively approved Senate Joint Resolution 1, a proposed constitutional amendment relating to the transfer of certain general revenue to the state highway fund and the economic stabilization fund and to authorize the payment for principal and interest on certain highway improvement bonds. And, the Senate Criminal Justice Committee tentatively approved SB 2, legislation relating to the punishment for a capital felony committed by an individual under 18 years of age. The bill is the same as SB 23 in the previous special session, requiring 40 years of time served before parole eligibility.
Ed Sterling works for the Texas Press Association and follows the Legislature for the organization.
