House Conservatives Kill Democratic Calendar Items

A band of the Texas House’s most conservative lawmakers on Friday united to kill the vast majority of bills on the chamber’s Local and Consent Calendar, according to the Quorum Report.

The calendar includes non-emergency bills and resolutions that are, per the House website, “local or noncontroversial,” as decided by the calendar’s namesake House committee, in the interest of speeding up the chamber’s business. 

Most of the bills that the 15 representatives killed were Democratic legislation — intended as retaliation against Democrats in the House who this week stalled the passage of an uncontroversial constitutional amendment, the Republican representatives explained in a statement.

Lawmakers signing that statement included Reps. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian and Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park.

The aforementioned Democratic resistance was itself aimed at sending a message to House Republicans after the majority last week approved a historic private school voucher bill with little debate or consideration of the dozens of amendments proposed by the minority.

The right-wing Republicans who voted against the bills on Friday are seeking to pressure the chamber’s leaders into prioritizing more policies with the backing of the Republican Party of Texas, according to the Quorum Report.