Texas House Democrats could hold GOP priorities hostage to force statewide school vouchers vote

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House Democrats are threatening to kill all constitutional amendments for the rest of session unless the House votes to put school vouchers before voters in November. They appear to have the numbers to make good on that special session-inducing threat.

More than 50 House Democrats have signed on to that plan, according to at least four Democrats and Capitol staffers briefed on the tally, enough to handcuff the Legislature on constitutional amendments. The move comes as Gov. Greg Abbott is attempting to squash any changes to his top legislative priority, Senate Bill 2, including a bill amendment that would have voters weigh in on the proposed education savings account program.

Blocking constitutional amendments is one of the last bits of leverage Texas Democrats have left after House Republicans this session undid the decades-long tradition of giving the minority party committee chairmanships. Killing vouchers is Democrats’ top legislative priority, and Democrats say they are prepared to pull all the stops to thwart the measure and others they oppose.

Constitutional amendments require at least 100 votes from the House’s 150 members to pass the chamber before going before Texas voters. With 62 Democrats in the House, Republicans need at least 12 Democrats to make any constitutional amendment happen.

Several top Republican and bipartisan priorities hinge on the passage of constitutional amendments. One of those priorities would allow judges to deny bail for certain violent level offenses. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has threatened to force a special session if the Legislature fails to pass that measure.

Already, proposed constitutional amendments appear to be at a bit of a standstill in the House, and Democrats claim responsibility. The House has not adopted any constitutional amendment proposals since the start of the month, when the House adopted its proposals to lower property taxes on businesses (House Joint Resolution 1) and ban taxes on financial transactions (House Joint Resolution 4).

Yesterday, House Joint Resolution 5 author Rep. Stan Lambert, — a Republican from Abilene who so happens to oppose vouchers — postponed that resolution addressing funding for the Texas State Technical College system till next week. The House will go through another test today, when the chamber is supposed to take up previously postponed measures banning “death taxes” (House Joint Resolution 2) and capital gains taxes (House Joint Resolution 6).

All proposed constitutional amendments must earn voters’ support in November to take effect. If Democrats get their way, the education savings account program would similarly appear on the November ballot.

Democrats have been searching for a Republican to carry the ballot measure amendment to SB 2 when the House takes up the measure tomorrow. Quorum Report first reported the existence of the amendment yesterday, as well as Abbott’s attempts to keep Republicans in line.

Putting the voucher question to voters would add another hurdle for their backers.

Abbott has conveyed confidence that a majority of Texas voters support vouchers, and polling seems to bear that out. However, no voucher measure has survived the ballot in any other state, and such a measure would certainly attract an expensive campaign, a do or die moment for both sides of the issue.

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