(C) Texas Tribune
This story was originally published by Texas Tribune and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



The Blast - May 29, 2025 [1]

['The Texas Tribune']

Date: 2025-05 

The bill graveyard, and how they come back to life

THE SENATE RUNS OUT OF DAYS

Like many good coaches before him, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick appeared to fall victim to clock management issues this week — in a move that could cost his allies a few conservative House bills.

The problems began in the early hours on Wednesday morning when the Senate was taking up House Bill 229, the bill to strictly define a man and a woman based on reproductive organs. After initially passing the bill on second reading, Patrick adjourned the Senate and promptly reconvened for a new legislative day. Patrick was trying to bypass a rule that requires a new legislative day before the Senate could give final passage to HB 229 and other contentious bills.

The only problem was it was already past midnight. Patrick had just burned his one opportunity to adjourn and reconvene for Wednesday, locking senators into the final legislative day where they were allowed to pass bills.

“He ran out of days,” one parliamentary expert put it.

Wednesday was the 135th day of session. Per Senate Rule 7.25, it now takes a four-fifths vote of members present to pass any bill, not just to expedite one. That means any remotely partisan bill is dead.

But as we saw today, things that aren’t contested are still alive. That’s how the Senate today unanimously passed HB 20, the bill creating a dual enrollment program for high school upperclassmen seeking vocational training, and HB 2594, which aims to make it easier to bring charges in the theft of digital assets, like cryptocurrency. Ultimately, Republicans and Democrats agreed to vote out a few more bipartisan bills carried by members of both parties.

Partisan bills, like HB 3225, are a different story. That measure would require public libraries — not public school libraries, but the local libraries — to remove sexually explicit books from kids sections. Good luck finding enough Democrats to pass that one.

HB 3225 is a “top” priority of the Texas GOP Chair Abraham George. Bill author Daniel Alders, a Republican representative from Tyler, blamed the hold on Democrats, while the Senate sponsor, Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, took the blame.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://thetexastribune.beehiiv.com/p/the-blast-may-29-2025-96f33e5d6d2c7bea

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/