The Texas House is starting off on a new foot on the contentious elections proposal that blew up the regular legislative session.
As a special session reviving the Republican-priority bill got underway Thursday, there were ample signs that the lower chamber was taking a fresh approach to the legislation, at least procedurally. The bill has a new author who is moving early to get colleagues’ input, and it is going through a new committee that House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, says he created to bring more diverse perspectives to the issue.
The attempt at a reset comes as House Democrats have said repeatedly they plan to fight the legislation at every opportunity and that tactics such as leaving the state to again break quorum are still on the table. In the final hours of the regular session that ended in May, Democrats staged a walkout that killed the election bill that Abbott had earmarked as a priority.
