The fines were reduced by $1,000 per person to reflect two days when the House was not in session, lawmakers said. Some Democrats were also charged lower amounts because they did not participate in the full two-week walkout or their absences were partially excused due to personal matters, according to a spreadsheet given to committee members.<\/p>\n
How we got here<\/p>\n
State lawmakers began their mid-decade redistricting effort last summer at the request of President Donald Trump, who asked Texas<\/a> and other GOP-led states to redraw their congressional maps to help Republicans maintain a narrow majority in the U.S. House. All states are constitutionally required to redistrict every 10 years, after a census. Mid-decade redistricting is uncommon, but not unprecedented\u2014Texas lawmakers also redrew the state\u2019s congressional boundaries in 2003.<\/p>\n After Republicans unveiled their proposed map in late July, dozens of Democrats held a two-week walkout, decrying the redistricting plan as \u201cracially discriminatory\u201d while Republicans insisted it was drawn for political, not racial, purposes. In the Democrats\u2019 absence, the House did not reach the two-thirds majority, or quorum, needed to pass bills.<\/p>\n House Republicans voted to issue arrest warrants<\/a> for their quorum-breaking colleagues shortly after they left in early August; however, no members were actually arrested. Gov. Greg Abbott<\/a> and Attorney General Ken Paxton<\/a> asked the state Supreme Court to remove at least 13 Democrats from office, arguing the lawmakers had deliberately abandoned their seats in the quorum break. Those cases have since stalled in court.<\/p>\n Under House rules<\/a> enacted in 2023, members who break quorum can be fined $500 for each day they are absent, plus additional fees for the cost of \u201csecuring [their] attendance.\u201d Rep. Charlie Geren, a Fort Worth Republican who chairs the committee, sent letters<\/a> to the quorum breakers in late August and again in January, informing them that they each owed $9,354.25. That included $7,000 in daily fines and each Democrat\u2019s $2,354.25 share of the nearly $125,000 the state said it spent trying to bring them back to the capitol.<\/p>\n Geren told reporters the committee struck two Sundays when the House was not in session from the final bills, reducing the fines by $1,000. Democrats pushed for other costs reported by the state to be reduced, but those requests were denied.<\/p>\n Geren said new letters would be sent to the 52 members indicating the final charges, but did not specify when payments would be due.<\/p>\n Some Democratic lawmakers said the fines felt like political retribution for slowing the legislative process over the summer.<\/p>\n “What does it serve to continue to be rigid about these financial penalties when Democrats have already lost on this issue, and really, what are we going to achieve by imposing these financial penalties [on] members?” State Rep. Vince Perez, D-El Paso, asked. “What purpose does it serve, other than furthering this tone of divisiveness and conflict and almost vindictiveness?”<\/p>\n Zooming in<\/p>\n House rules prohibit the use of campaign funds to pay the fines, meaning members are expected to cover the costs themselves. Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu, D-Houston, contested that rule April 10, telling reporters that state law preempts it.<\/p>\n \u201c[House leadership] put that rule in place without thinking it through\u2014state law says any cost of a political process, a political cost of your office, can be reimbursed by campaign [funds],\u201d Wu said. \u201cState law trumps the House rules, period.\u201d<\/p>\n The Texas Election Code<\/a> states that if an elected official makes a political expenditure out-of-pocket and discloses it under state law, that expense can be reimbursed with campaign funds. Community Impact reached out to House leadership for their comments on this portion of state code, but did not receive a response before press time.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat [members] choose to do within the bounds of applicable law when the campaign committee makes campaign disbursements is up to them\u2014HDCC is not fundraising to pay the fines and is unable to pay the fines directly on behalf of members,\u201d a spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n House Democrats who attended the April 10 hearing said they were aware of the financial penalties going into the quorum break, noting that they felt it was necessary to leave the state to advocate for Texans who would be impacted by the new congressional map.<\/p>\n “My constituents made it clear to me that if there’s a quorum break, you’d better go. [They said], ‘We are going to be single issue voters\u2014if you don’t fight for our rights, we are not going to vote for you,'” Rep. Jolanda Jones, D-Houston, told reporters. “I did exactly what my constituents told me to do, because they are the people that elected me.”<\/p>\n Wu said he will pay his fines out-of-pocket, adding that he expects some Democrats \u201cpurely out of principle, will not pay it ever.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones said she will not pay the fines and plans to continue disputing the charges.<\/p>\n “I’m going to appeal this all the way up, as far as I have to appeal it, because I didn’t do anything wrong,” she said. “I literally did what elected officials are supposed to do.”<\/p>\n Members who do not make the payments could see their office operating budgets cut by 30%, per the House rules.<\/p>\n In September, House lawmakers voted to increase penalties<\/a> for future quorum violations, including stripping committee leadership positions, reducing members\u2019 legislative seniority and imposing steeper fines. Those penalties were not retroactively applied to the August walkout.<\/p>\n More details<\/p>\n The eleven-member House panel<\/a> that approved the financial penalties includes five Democrats: Reps. Sheryl Cole, D-Austin; Armando Martinez, D-Weslaco; Joe Moody, D-El Paso; Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City; and James Talarico, D-Austin. Cole, Reynolds and Talarico participated in the August quorum break, while Martinez and Moody remained in Austin.<\/p>\n Cole argued that members were also being over-charged by the state. The Texas Department of Public Safety said it spent nearly $125,000 during the two-week quorum break, which includes trying to track down missing Democrats and, once they returned to Austin, serving as their around-the-clock police escorts<\/a> until the congressional map was approved.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing in the House rules makes members liable for costs incurred solely by DPS or any other agency,\u201d Cole said in closing remarks shared before the committee voted on the fines.<\/p>\n No Republican committee members made closing statements or spoke with reporters April 10.<\/p>\n Jones, who is also an attorney, said she felt the committee violated her constitutional rights and \u201cwithheld [evidence] until the last minute.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI would lose my license\u2014I would be sanctioned by the bar if I pulled off some crap like what happened in here,\u201d she told reporters.<\/p>\n One more thing<\/p>\n After Texas legislators approved the congressional map in August, several civil rights groups sued the state over the new boundaries. An El Paso federal court blocked the map in November, but its ruling was overturned<\/a> three days later by the U.S. Supreme Court, which later ruled that Texas could use the new congressional boundaries<\/a> in this year\u2019s elections.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/communityimpact.com\/uploads\/images\/2026\/04\/10\/419389.jpeg\")
State Rep. Gene Wu, a Houston Democrat who chairs his party’s caucus, speaks with reporters near the beginning of a closed-door House Administration Committee hearing April 10 in Austin. (Hannah Norton\/Community Impact)The Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee, the caucus\u2019 fundraising arm, said it is raising money for incumbent legislators\u2019 reelection campaigns and is not directly involved in paying the fines.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/communityimpact.com\/uploads\/images\/2026\/04\/10\/419390.JPG\")
From left, State Reps. James Talarico, D-Austin; Ken King, R-Canadian; and Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, greet one another at the dais before an April 10 House Administration Committee hearing. (Hannah Norton\/Community Impact)Cole, an attorney, contended that the fines should not be imposed because the Democrats were not afforded due process, including \u201cadvance notice of what is being threatened and a meaningful opportunity to defend oneself.\u201d<\/p>\n