By J. Lyn Carl, GalleryWatch.com
Austin, TX –
A day late and a dollar short...
Make that FOUR days late for the Texas House.
Among the legislation that came over from the House to the Senate today was HCR 17. Adopted last week by the House, the resolution grants the House permission to adjourn for more than three days, from Aug. 11 to Aug. 16.
Er...uh...Aug. 11? Wasn't that last Thursday? And isn't Aug. 16 tomorrow?
And the Senate is seeing this resolution for the first time TODAY?
Don't think that didn't raise some eyebrows in the Senate.
The State Constitution provides that neither house of the legislature may adjourn for more than three days without the consent of the other chamber.
Hmmmmm...
The House adopted its HCR but didn't send it to the Senate until four days later. And adjourned without Senate passage of the resolution.
Not the first time the House has thumbed its nose at the Senate this session.
"What is the outcome if we don't pass this resolution, since the time frame has already run?" Sen. John Whitmire (D-Houston) asked Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. "Usually you ask permission before you go ahead and take off three days. Do they have to go back and work some extra days or do they have to work nights? Can probation be a consideration?"
Whitmire's comments were tongue-in-cheek. Sen. Leticia Van de Putte's (D-San Antonio) were not. "If the House is adjourned until 2 tomorrow, can you tell the senators how this affects our ability to pass school finance legislation?" she asked Dewhurst. She wondered aloud if the House were to send the Senate a tax bill Tuesday or Wednesday, "Procedurally what it the feasibility of the Senate being able to act on a tax bill before Friday?" By law, the 30-day special session cannot extend past Friday.
Dewhurst said if a bill were out of committee by midnight Tuesday and the House passed it on second or third reading by tomorrow, the body would still have to suspend the Constitutional Rule, which would require a four-fifths vote of those present.
"Procedurally," he said, "it would be very difficult for us to receive and be able to act on a tax bill at this time."
In response to a question by Sen. Mario Gallegos (D-Houston) regarding layout notice, Dewhurst said if either an education reform or tax bill were to be received from the House, "under Senate Rules that bill would have to lay out for 24 hours." He noted, however, that a two-thirds vote in the Senate could suspend the 24-hour layout rule.
Any way you cut it, once again things are not looking good for passage of the session's premier legislation - public school reform and property tax relief.