Texas senators stepped into the first partisan fight of the new session, with Republicans trying to cut out an exception to rules that govern how many senators it takes to consider legislation.
UPDATE: Senators voted 18-13 in favor of the exception: Voter ID legislation won't require the two-thirds vote required for other issues. And Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, was the lone Republican voting against the change in the rule.
The upper chamber has a rule barring consideration of bills that are objectionable to more than a third of the senators. And with 12 Democrats among the 31 senators, there are enough votes to block consideration of partisan bills.
Republicans, led by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, want to pass a Voter ID bill — one that requires voters to show a photo identification before they're allowed to vote. Republicans say that's a security measure against voter fraud. Democrats say it suppresses votes disproportionately, hurting their side more than the GOP side. And the only way to bring the legislation to the floor — with the Democrats in opposition — is to change the rules.
The debate echoed the arguments over redistricting that sent 11 Democratic senators packing to New Mexico several years ago, where they denied the Senate a quorum by leaving the state. That incident — like a previous one that saw House Democrats decamping to Ardmore, Oklahoma — ignited a call within the GOP for an end to the two-thirds rule. Voter ID is the issue of the day; redistricting — up for consideration every decade — will be the issue in its place in two years.
The Senate spent its first two days in Austin working on that battle, with Republicans — Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, suggesting the two-thirds rule should have an exception for partisan issues in general and, as the battle went on, for the Voter ID bill in particular. Every preliminary vote along the way had the same result: 19 Republicans to 12 Democrats.
Senators did much of the negotiating and debate — as is their custom — behind closed doors (thus the headline above). They came out at one point and actually did some debating in public. With Republicans proposing an exception for Voter ID, the Democrats proposed several amendments, forcing Republicans to vote against amendments that would have substituted the Voter ID exception with other issues, like insurance reform, higher veterans benefits, job programs, public school finance, college tuition rollbacks, and the Children's Health Insurance Program.
They disappeared again for several hours, emerging with a proposal to send the Voter ID bill to a Committee of the Whole — that's the whole Senate at once — so that everyone can debate there before the bill comes to the floor. But it could come to the floor with a simple majority vote — and without the two-thirds support required for other legislation.
Carona told senators he favors the Voter ID bill, but didn't want to change the Senate rules. He was the lone Republican voting against the change.
Williams argued that this is a one-time thing on "an issue of bipartisan concern" that won't necessarily lead to other exceptions. But Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, is hoping this is the first step in undoing the two-thirds rule. He has argued for years that it's undemocratic and that the Senate should do away with it or at least lower it to 60 percent. Either option would give the Republican majority a final say in any partisan issues before the Senate. Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, said the Voter ID episode will lead to more exceptions and said senators were drawing a road map for outside partisans and political consultants who want to pressure the Senate to vote on other "emotional issues."
So why the first day? Because you can change the rules on the first day with a simple majority. Wait until later in the session, and you have to have a two-thirds vote to bring it up. The Democrats can't block it now, but could do so later.
While they were debating, a court in Georgia said [1] that state's voter ID bill is legal.