Thread: TX Voter ID showdown looms in Austin this weekend

Voter ID showdown looms in Austin this weekend

Months of contentious debate could come to a head tomorrow with a looming legislative showdown at the Statehouse in Austin over the controversial voter ID bill, SB 362. Speaker of the House Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) has scheduled the bill for debate on Saturday. The bill would require Texas citizens to show a photo ID or two forms of non-photo ID in order to vote.

The House Calendar Committee voted 7-5 to schedule the bill, with all seven Republicans voting for, and all five Democrats voting against. But whether the debate and vote will take place is a question mark. Democrats have talked about not showing up and thereby denying the House a quorum, the minimum number of members required for conducting the business of the group. The Dems would have to leave the state through Tuesday to pull off such a strategy though, since that’s the deadline to pass Senate bills on second reading.

The Texas Democratic Party is asking supporters to call Straus’ Capitol office to voice their opposition to the “unnecessary, partisan legislation.â€

I canNOT believe we don't already automatically require ID to vote. It is amazing to me that local governments actually have to pass new laws requiring ID to vote. Not only do we have to pass such laws, they often DON'T pass. Lawmakers DON'T pass them!! Just when I think I'm beyond being shocked anymore....!!!

Live Stream from the House
http://www.house.state.tx.us/media/welcome.php

Several bills will be discussed today.

I'm hearing that a large crowd has formed at the capitol today.

Dixie

Have to show our ID for various purposes.

One of our most precious rights is the right to vote which should be protected as much as possible.

Just last week my youngest son was going with me to vote and he asked if he needed his ID. I said at one time we did but not anymore. He said 'Really?' He wondered how they knew he was who he said he was. Common sense eh?

Good luck Texas! Your state has a lot more common sense than Mexifornia.

Senators move to save bills as House Democrats stall
Standoff on voter ID delays other measures.
By Jason Embry, W. Gardner Selby
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, May 24, 2009

State senators moved Saturday to save dozens of proposals that otherwise risked dying in the Texas House, which remained deadlocked over whether to consider legislation boosting voter identification requirements.

House Democrats continued to delay the voter ID measure by asking extensive questions about bills that would typically fly through the House without debate. But the tactic also threatened to kill stacks of other bills that the House is scheduled to take up after the ID measure.

The House must consider bills that started in the Senate by midnight Tuesday. Seeing that many proposals would not come up before then at the current pace, senators looked to keep their ideas alive by attaching them to bills that aren't in peril.

"I am sick to my stomach when I see the type of deliberate slowdown that's taking place in the House," said Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas. Carona said he was searching for legislation to which he could attach a major bill giving authorities more tools to fight transnational drug gangs.

Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, attached one of his key priorities — a bill requiring backseat passengers to wear seat belts — to a House proposal related to children in passenger vans.

A broad range of bills is scheduled to come up after voter ID, including major proposals related to air quality, insurance reform and transportation funding. The standoff also delayed action on major bills scheduled before voter ID, such as proposals to reform electric cooperatives and change the law granting automatic admission to state universities for Texas students who finish in the top 10 percent of their high school class.

House Democrats sought to frame the debate Saturday as a choice between voter ID and some of the proposals that the House is scheduled to take up after it. They tried to force the House to vote on a measure related to windstorm insurance, but Republicans kept them from getting the two-thirds majority needed to move it up on the House schedule.

Republicans said allowing a group of members — in this case, the Democrats — to go outside the normal process of scheduling bills would set the wrong precedent.

The standoff is the first true battle between Republicans and Democrats since January, when members elected Republican House Speaker Joe Straus to lead the chamber. Some questioned whether Straus was playing a visible enough role.

Speaker Pro Tempore Craig Eiland, D-Galveston, presided over the floor proceedings for much of Friday and Saturday, as he typically does when the House is considering noncontroversial local bills. But Rep. Beverly Woolley, R-Houston, said Straus should have been at the helm.

"Ultimately, you have to have one leader and one captain of the ship," Woolley said. "There are too many strong personalities here who will go out and do their own thing without regard to the rest of the body.

"I like Joe," she said. "I like him a lot. He's in a very difficult situation."

House Republican Caucus Chairman Larry Taylor said he did not blame Straus for the impasse.

Straus said Saturday that he was encouraging lawmakers from each party to meet in small groups, noting that the House is closely divided between 75 Republicans and 74 Democrats. (A 76th Republican, Edmund Kuempel of Seguin, has been out of the House for more than a week after a major heart attack.)

"The members have to make these decisions," Straus said. "They can't be dictated to under these circumstances. And it's not my intention to do that. And I am encouraging people to work through it. That's been working all session."

The ID proposal, Senate Bill 362, would require voters to present a photo ID or two documents indicating their identity before voting. It's been hailed by Republicans as a step against fraud but questioned by Democrats as a move to deter some voters from turning out.

The legislative session, which will come to a close June 1, is in many ways ending the way it began. Despite vocal protests from Democrats, Senate Republicans on the second day of the session carved out a rare exception in their parliamentary rules to make it almost impossible for Democrats to block a bill on voter ID.

The issue is critical to many Republican activists, and Gov. Rick Perry, who is facing a tough GOP primary challenge from U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, could call lawmakers in for a special session to tackle it. Perry told the Houston Chronicle on Saturday, "I think it's way premature to be talking about a special session."

jembry@statesman.com

wgselby@statesman.com

Additional material from American-Statesman staff writer Mike Ward.

http://www.news-journal.com/news/conten ... 4lege.html

Highlights Sunday from the Texas Legislature
The Associated Press
Posted: 05/24/2009 05:09:22 PM MDT


AUSTIN, Texas—The Texas House is stalling again.
Shortly after the House convened Sunday afternoon, Democrats began their third consecutive day of stall tactics in an attempt to block partisan voter ID legislation.

The Democrats, using a tactic known as chubbing, began asking questions from the chamber's back microphone in an attempt to draw out proceedings. The longer they delay, the more legislation will not survive a Tuesday deadline.

But unlike the last two days, Democrats moved from a crawl to a walk by limiting their chubbing to Democratic bills. Bills sponsored by Republicans were allowed to proceed more quickly.

The voter ID bill that sparked the conflict would require voters to furnish more identification before being allowed to cast a ballot at election time.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_12442807