allow lawmakers<\/a> to be fined $500 for each day they miss while the House is in session, if the absence was \u201cfor the purpose of impeding the action of the House.\u201d That provision also makes them liable for costs incurred by the House sergeant-at-arms in trying to force their attendance. <\/p>\nThe final bill for most Democrats who broke quorum landed at $8,354 each\u2014\u00a0exceeding the annual $7,200 salary lawmakers receive as members of the Texas House. The fine includes $6,000 for their absence over 12 days and $2,354 in expenses sustained by the Department of Public Safety in trying to secure their presence, such as by dropping in on lawmakers\u2019 homes across the state and trailing Democrats for a day after they returned to the Capitol.<\/p>\n
The House Administration Committee tallied that 53 Democrats would be responsible for $421,890 in sum. The panel, made up of six Republicans and five Democrats, approved the fines on a party-line vote.<\/p>\n
Democrats on Friday pushed to reduce or strike the penalties entirely, arguing that walkouts were a constitutionally sanctioned legislative tool of the minority party and framing the fines as a partisan and draconian response.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe power to compel attendance is not the power to punish dissent,\u201d said Rep. Armando Martinez, D-Weslaco, a member of the administration committee who did not participate in the walkout. \u201cNor is it to distort the Constitution\u2019s design and convert a protected structural safeguard into a sanctioned offense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Committee Vice Chair Sheryl Cole, D-Austin, offered five motions to cut down the penalties, each of which were defeated 6 to 5 by the panel\u2019s Republican majority. She first moved to scratch out all penalties \u201con the ground that the committee has not accorded those members the due process required.\u201d<\/p>\n
Democrats had demanded Republicans produce itemized receipts and records supporting the reported sum borne by law enforcement. They emerged from the closed-door portion of the hearing arguing that the accounting process behind the fines was inconsistent, lacking transparency and riddled with errors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no certain number, because you\u2019ve given us uncertain evidence and there\u2019s uncertain documentation,\u201d state Rep. Cassandra Garcia Hernandez told The Texas Tribune after testifying to the committee. \u201cThe lack of due process was really frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said that despite asking for receipts supporting the fines in August, Democrats did not receive any records until a few days ago, when the panel\u2019s Republicans provided a 300-page packet of records from DPS and the House sergeant-in-arms that Democrats complained was difficult to evaluate without more time. Garcia Hernandez and other Democrats also said DPS leaders admitted at the hearing there were possible errors in the accounting and acknowledged records showing inconsistent documentation by officers of their efforts to round up lawmakers.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecords provided by DPS don\u2019t even show that they were legitimately trying to secure absent members during the relevant time period,\u201d Cole said at the hearing. \u201cNone of the documents are tied to efforts to track down specific members, so we have no way of knowing what was expended on which members.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some Democrats saw their penalties reduced or struck before Friday\u2019s hearing after successfully arguing that their absences from the Capitol during the walkout should count as excused. Rep. Salman Bhojani, D-Euless, was in Pakistan for half of the quorum break attending to a sick family member and saw his fine cut, and Rep. Claudia Ordaz, D-El Paso, saw her penalties struck entirely as she was undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment.<\/p>\n
The maximum penalty was ultimately $1,000 less than the original total House Republicans had quoted Democrats in August. House Administration Chair Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, said he dropped two Sundays from the $500-a-day tally because the House was not in session.<\/p>\n
Beyond their due process arguments, Democrats lamented that Republicans\u2019 pursuit of the penalties would contribute to a more partisan and divided political environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only is [our politics] more divisive, but it\u2019s becoming also more vindictive,\u201d said Rep. Vince Perez, D-El Paso, in describing his testimony to the committee. \u201cDemocrats, at the end of the day, lost this battle. We put up a fight and we came back and we lost, and we went on to other business. And I asked the committee: Really, what does it serve to continue to impose these or be rigid about these financial penalties when Democrats have already lost this issue?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Joe Moody, an El Paso Democrat on the administration panel, condemned the partisan rhetoric from Republicans, some of whom have argued for maximizing the punishment to deter future walkouts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe members whose fines that we\u2019ve considered today are colleagues and friends,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re not political ideas, and they broke quorum because they believed it was the right way to stand up for their districts. Some of the rhetoric around this has been incredibly over the top, which makes zero sense for tactics as old as politics itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
House rules prohibit lawmakers from paying the fines using campaign funds, meaning Democrats will have to pay them out of pocket. Before the hearing Friday, a spokesperson for House Democrats\u2019 campaign arm said their read of state law was that lawmakers could use their campaign cash to reimburse themselves for the fine. A spokesperson for the campaign group said it was raising money to support every Democrat\u2019s reelection, adding, \u201cWhat they choose to do within the bounds of applicable law when the campaign committee makes campaign disbursements is up to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the hearing, Rep. James Talarico of Austin, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate and a member of the Texas House Administration Committee, blasted out a fundraising email from his Senate campaign, saying, \u201cthere is something deeply wrong in this state if the majority party is trying to punish representatives for speaking up for their constituents.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is why we have to take back Texas,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd when we do, my promise to you is that I will always fight for the people \u2014 regardless of the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before the committee approved the penalties, some Democratic lawmakers were noncommittal about paying them, with Perez and Garcia Hernandez saying they would evaluate their options in the coming days. Rep. Jolanda Jones of Houston said she was \u201cnot going to concede or pay anything illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lawmakers who refuse to pay the fine could see their office budget slashed by 30%, according to House rules.<\/p>\n
Some House Republicans, meanwhile, signaled an appetite to increase the fines and punishments for walkouts even further when the Legislature meets again for the 2027 session.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re obviously not getting the message across with the current rules,\u201d Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville, said. \u201cThe penalties need to be higher. We\u2019ll find a number that bothers people enough to come and do their job.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Renzo Downey contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas House Democrats who staged a walkout in August over a new congressional map gerrymandered in favor of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2830,27,29,1862,293,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-244307","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-redistricting","9":"tag-texas","10":"tag-texas-headlines","11":"tag-texas-house-of-representatives","12":"tag-texas-legislature","13":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}