So after yesterday's chubathon, which lasted till one AM, there are still a bunch of local and consent bills to be dealt with. After that, there are still more bills to go before the House could get to today's calendar, with SB362 still parked atop it. That makes it function as a de facto blocker bill, the irony of which I trust is lost on no one.

I can't say for sure that the Dems' strategy will work, in the sense of stalling long enough to keep SB362 from ever coming to the floor. I'm not sure how the math works out, and I presume the Republicans can and will force everyone to be on the floor as much as possible to try to maximize the time for bills to be brought up. It's possible the Republicans will go along with the two thirds rule to get to some bills ahead of SB362, and it's even possible some kind of compromise could be reached to allow SB362 to be voted on once and for all. Hard to say what that could be at this point, but crazier things have happened in the waning days of a session. Until further notice, assume there will be a lot more small talk and clock-watching on the floor.

UPDATE: There are some good bills that are stuck behind SB362 on the calendar. If the Dems' chubbing effort is successful, those bills will die. That is a shame, but it's the Republicans that have set the priority by declaring voter ID to be the single most important issue facing Texas today. They're perfectly capable of re-evaluating that priority.