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The Texas Tribune
The Texas Tribune
National
Patrick Svitek

Effort to ban Democratic chairs fails in Texas House, but rule passes to penalize future quorum-breakers

State Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, speaks at a Texas Freedom Caucus press conference at the Capitol on Aug. 30, 2021.
State Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, speaks at a Texas Freedom Caucus press conference at the Capitol on Aug. 30, 2021. (Credit: Michael Gonzalez/The Texas Tribune)

Texas House leadership on Wednesday shut down a long-building push to ban Democratic committee chairs, deploying procedural legislative maneuvers to defeat multiple proposals on the issue.

The chamber also approved new punishments for members who break quorum, as most House Democrats did two years ago in protest of GOP-backed voting restrictions. Those members left for Washington, D.C., for weeks to stop the House from being able to do business in an effort to prevent passage of the bill. Under the new rules, quorum-breakers can now be subject to daily fines and even expulsion from the chamber.

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