REPUBLICANS GET QUORUM; WORST OF GOP AGENDA BLUNTED

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

It is expected that enough of the 52 Democrats who left a month ago to prevent a quorum in the Legislature that would rubber stamp Gov. Greg Abbott's and Republicans' legislative agenda that included voter suppression and other right-wing conservative measures will return to the floor of the house late today (Thursday).

Today, with the return of Harris County (Houston) state representatives to Austin, the quorum was reached. Three Houston-area House Democrats – Garnet Coleman, Ana Hernandez and Armando Walle – returned to the chamber on Thursday evening. More than 55 House Democrats, including Walle and Hernandez, fled to Washington, D.C., in July to deny the Republican-controlled House the quorum needed to vote on the bill during a special session called by Abbott.

For months, Texas Republicans have tried to pass measures that would prohibit 24-hour polling sites, ban drive-through voting and give partisan poll watchers more access. 

One version of the bill that was just hours from reaching Abbott’s desk in May also would have banned Sunday morning early voting – when many Black churchgoers go to the polls – and made it easier for a judge to overturn an election. 

Democrats’ first walkout wound up permanently scuttled those two provisions, but Republicans have kept intact other contested measures.

But according to some of the house representatives who left – like Alex Dominguez (D-Brownsville) –  intense negotiations with Texas House Republicans have been ongoing since they left the state and have resulted in toning down some of the most offensive measures advocated by the Republican hard liners.

"Enough of the Democrats in the House will be back today, but not all of us," said Dominguez. "Most of the the rest of us will be on the floor Monday when the session resumes."

In the case of Dominguez, his return will be to attend an Appropriations Committee meeting to deal with the disbursement of federal funds. Dominguez is one of four Hispanic representatives on the 27-member committee.

But while Abbott may be able to continue the second special session to consider the legislation, Dominguez said that backroom negotiations with the Republican House majority has resulted in modifications to the more offensive measures in the Abbott and Republican agenda.

"Many of these bills will be sent to the different committees in the Texas House where we will have a chance to remove some of the most offensive aspects that would restrict the voting rights of voters of color and poor minorities," he said. 

"Once we get back on the floor the arrest warrants will be recalled. Our Republican colleagues know that unless we come to some understanding on the bills there's nothing to stop us from breaking quorum again." 

But the time spent in Washington was not for naught, he said. Besides forcing Republicans to negotiate on the Abbott agenda, there was also an opportunity to establish links with national Democrats who are trying to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act which, once passed, will make some of the Texas restrictive laws illegal.

While in Washington, Dominguez and the other quorum breakers met with Vice President Kamala Harris and White House staffers Natalie Montelongo and Emmy Ruiz, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Senator Al Padilla, who is leading the efforts to form a strategy for adoption of an exception to the filibuster

Congressman Fil Vela is coordinating an effort in the U.S. House which led to the introduction of an updated John Lewis Voting Rights Act. The Texas Democrats are given credit for bringing voting rights back into focus. The JLVRA will be heard and voted on Monday, August 23, as a result. 

The ties forged as a result of the quorum-breaking trip to Washington resulted in establishing connections with Congressman G.K. Butterfield, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Elections, Congressman Jamie Raskin, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill and her staff to garner support for the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, Congressman Joaquin Castro, Andy Levin, Pennsylvania Lt. Governor John Fetterman to coordinate voting rights efforts across the U.S.

Other House members and major players who were briefed by the Texas legislators were Michigan Representative Mari Manoogian, national groups including the AFL-CIO, Center for American Progress, Mi Familia Vota, SEIU, and Democracy for America who are collaborating to coordinate a national push to secure the freedom to vote. 

As HDC General Counsel, Dominguez led the drafting and filing of the lawsuit against Abbott's unconstitutional veto of Article X, planned and managed a national voting rights conference bringing activists, elected officials, and civic groups together to protect voting rights across the US, and joined a conversation with Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill and national foreign policy experts on the international implications of the voting rights fight in the U.S.

Dominguez led a meeting with the Congressional Progressive Staff Association about the quorum break and voting rights and gave more than 40 national, state, and local interviews advancing the discussion and education on voting rights as well as appearing on Fox News, MSNBC, NPR, KRGV, KVEO, Telemundo, NewsNation, and over a dozen more news outlets to explain the Texas representatives reasons to break the quorum as well as t print media like the Associated Press, Reuters, Fox News, the Hill, Newsweek, and a variety of other print outlets.