Texas Legislature latest: Countdown until end of session is on
Final week to pass bills for Texas Legislature
The session ends on June 2nd so the clock is ticking. FOX 7 Austin's Rudy Koski has more on what are called the washing days, when some bills are cleaned up and others get hung up to dry.
AUSTIN, Texas - With only a week to go until the end of the regular session, the countdown is on for the Texas Legislature.
House Speaker Dustin Burrows issued a warning before Monday’s final hard press started. Voting would go until midnight with another late push on Tuesday.
Big picture view:
Political analysts Mark Jones and Brain Smith gave their impressions of the political end game that’s being played.
"It is all coffee and cigarette this week, because everything has to be through the legislature process, through all the channels and done by next Monday," said Smith.
Jones anticipates the 48-hour period to be frantic.
"And at the end of the day, Democrats now can see light at the tunnel," said Jones.
The light for Democrats, is not a green light. Monday, House Democrats hit the brakes at times. During the day they engaged in debate by asking multiple questions and many of the questions seemed to be raised only as a way to burn time.
This tactic, called chubbing, was even used on a bipartisan bill that encourages movie making in Texas.
"So every minute that Democrats waste chubbing on bills like the motion picture bill, which is going to pass, which they actually, virtually all, support is less time for bills that are on the calendar on Tuesday, or potentially even some bills that run the Monday calendar, but very low down on the list," said Jones.
The stalling effort was used a few weeks ago with earlier deadlines.
Issues still at play
Dig deeper:
Several issues are still at play here and some recently saw votes.
Abortion
House Republicans have pushed through several abortion bills.
They include clarifying when doctors can perform the procedure to save the life of the mother, and a bill banning the use of tax dollars to pay for out-of-state trips for abortions.
SB 2880, which bans the sale of abortion-inducing medication, moved out of a House committee on Saturday but has not yet been posted for a floor debate in the full House.
Lottery
There was a vote that brought about a political death and resurrection.
The Texas Lottery Commission was abolished with the games moved to a new agency.
State Rep. Gene Wu (D-Houston) in questioning state Rep. Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth) noted the switch over would start September 1st. State Rep. Chris Turner (D-Plano) reminded House members the action will save a game that helps veterans.
"While it's a relatively small aspect of the lottery overall, the impact that the veterans scratch-off ticket has is immense for the men and women who have served our state," said Turner.
Bail Reform
Legislative survivors included two hard-line bail reform measures.
Debate on a bill to deny bail for undocumented immigrants was moved to Tuesday. A no-bail resolution for repeat offenders with violent crimes failed to gain the necessary 100 votes. It could get a second chance on Tuesday.
Libraries
Another critical 2nd Reading vote was on SB13. It would create school library advisory councils to make recommendations on books.
The committees would consist of parents, educators, and local community members.
What's next:
The latter part of the week will be focused on finalizing deals involving several big bills that are in conference committee. That process could carry over into next Monday.
The Source: Information in this report comes from reporting/interviews by FOX 7 Austin's chief political reporter Rudy Koski.