(C) Texas Tribune This story was originally published by Texas Tribune and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Blast: “My name is Todd, not God.” [1] [] Date: 2025-01 And like that, the Texas House has a set of rules that bars Democrats from committee chairmanships. Yet, those who have pushed for that the longest say the rules give Democrats more power than ever. In the same pen stroke that House rules author Rep. Todd Hunter gave the House reformers their top priority, House Resolution 4 reserved vice chairmanships for the minority party. Furthermore, the rules allow the vice chair to request witnesses, request hearings on bills or topics and direct the preparation of an impact statement. The chair must make those requests happen. As some members on both sides read it, it could even give vice chairs the power to request a vote on particular bills. Picture this: Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston, files a bill to raise the age to buy semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21. That bill gets referred to, say, the State Affairs Committee, and Vice Chair Ana Hernandez, D-Houston, requests a hearing on that bill. Chair Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, is bound to hold that hearing. Next, Hernandez calls witnesses from Uvalde, El Paso, Allen and more. Suddenly, the House has given a megaphone to some of the loudest voices calling for one of Democrats’ top legislative priorities. Finally, Hernandez requests a vote on the bill, and Hunter has to grant it, putting Republicans on the record about the proposal. That’s a much simpler path than Democrats had to take last session to get a hearing and a vote on their raise the age bill. And Democrats are already halfway there. Johnson has filed House Bill 313 and Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso has filed House Bill 1556, both of which are nearly identical to last session’s raise the age bill. Reps. Vikki Goodwin of Austin, Penny Morales Shaw of Houston and Ron Reynolds of Missouri City have filed similar bills. Of course, the powers outlined in the House rules only matter as long as chairs and leadership decide to enforce it. Writing the power-sharing agreement into the rules was a significant deviation from the original plan. At first, the plan was to file the House rules as passed last year and let members amend a ban on Democrats as committee chairs into the rules. With the version Hunter filed this morning, leadership conceded that Democrats would lose that vote but threw them a bone. A big bone. Additionally, the ban on Democrats serving as committee chairs doesn’t apply to new standing subcommittees, of which there are several. Some from the reformer corner think the House is giving Democrats more power than they had last session. Republican state Reps. Brian Harrison of Midlothian and Nate Schatzline of Fort Worth, two members of the self-described “reform caucus,” told The Blast the move was a betrayal of Republican voters. “We just empowered the Democrats more than any other rules package in the history of the Texas Legislature,” Schatzline said. “Dustin Burrows, in two days, has made this chamber more liberal than Dade Phelan did in four years,” Harrison said, saying the House effectively overturned the results of the March primaries. Meanwhile, Phelan, the Beaumont Republican who gave up the speakership rather than steer the House through these unprecedented times, was in good spirits on the floor, including when he swung by the press box. “Do y’all know where the restroom is?” he asked reporters. Democrats are in a powerful position because they got Burrows elected speaker and that puts Burrows in a catch-22. He has to cater to Democrats to keep his coalition together through this session and next session, but the more he caters to Democrats, the more he aggravates the reform wing, who want Republicans to consolidate power in the House rather than intentionally share it. Not all Democrats feel like they won with the rules. Being a vice chair still isn’t equal to being a chair, and everything hinges on trust between chairs and their vice chairs. “We’re telling our members to temper your expectations,” House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu told The Blast. “This is a rebuke of Dan Patrick and Ken Paxton and those kinds of hyperpartisan type of politics,” he added. [END] --- [1] Url: https://mailchi.mp/texastribune.org/the-blast-my-name-is-todd-not-god Published and (C) by Texas Tribune Content appears here under this condition or license: Used with Permission: https://www.texastribune.org/republishing-guidelines/. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/texastribune/