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Originally posted by Lefty Scaevola
Arong as usual. No such rule. Legislation passes the same way in a special as in a general. A special seesion does have different rules on what legislation may be introduced and some of the 'calendar' rules are differnt IIRC.
Arong as usual. No such rule. Legislation passes the same way in a special as in a general. A special seesion does have different rules on what legislation may be introduced and some of the 'calendar' rules are differnt IIRC.
This, however, was only the beginning of the redistricting fight in Austin. Republican Governor Rick Perry called for a “special session,” at which the House successfully passed the redistricting plan. But the matter got bogged down in bureaucratic channels in the Senate. After the first special session ended, Perry called a second special session, one in which the State Senate leadership decided to abandon parliamentary rules requiring a two-thirds vote on special session legislation and to opt instead for a simple majority vote on the new congressional plan. By now it was clear that the Republicans had thrown all rules and traditions out the window in their determination to achieve a partisan victory.
The first called session expired in a deadlock, as 12 of 31 Texas Senators(3) opposed the plan. Under Senate rules and tradition, a 2/3 vote is required to consider any bill on the floor of the Senate, giving 11 Senators the power to block a vote(4). The Republican Governor and Lieutenant Governor then determined they would do away with the 2/3 rule, and called another special session, forcing 11 Democratic Senators to break the quorum and leave the state.(5) These Senators have spent the past 22 days in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Democrats noted that former colleague Republican Sen. David Sibley of Waco and a coalition of Republican senators used the Senate's two-thirds rule in 2001 to block a congressional redistricting bill.
"Two years later, now that every single African-American and Hispanic member of the Texas Senate wants to use the same rules to stop consideration of the same issue, suddenly they want to change the same rules," the Democrats said.
"Two years later, now that every single African-American and Hispanic member of the Texas Senate wants to use the same rules to stop consideration of the same issue, suddenly they want to change the same rules," the Democrats said.
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