Rep. Todd Hunter
The Texas House unanimously adopted rules Thursday that will require members to wear masks in the chamber and during committee hearings and allow them to cast votes on legislation from outside the House floor.
But the chamber opted to not require testing for lawmakers as they meet during the coronavirus pandemic and did not expand its virtual testimony options to allow members of the public who have not been invited to testify to comment at committee hearings remotely.
“We’re new to this pandemic, and the whole point about these rules — the key is respect, the key is courtesy,” said state Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, while introducing the rules proposal earlier Thursday. “What’s the rules? It’s 150 people, that’s what the rules are.”
The coronavirus requirements were part of a broad resolution setting rules for the House during the Legislature’s 2021 session. Members debated amendments on the resolution for hours. In addition to voting on health protocols, the chamber overwhelmingly shot down proposals that would have kept Democrats from serving as committee chairs in the Republican-controlled House.
House members, staff and the public will be required to wear face masks while inside the chamber or a committee hearing room, though witnesses and lawmakers may remove them while speaking from a microphone. Members may also remove masks during a committee hearing if protected by a barrier and socially distanced from others.
The House’s decision to not require testing for people entering the chamber or attending a committee hearing differs from protocols the Senate passed Wednesday. Every senator will be required to test negative for the virus before entering the upper chamber or attending a committee hearing. Senate staff must be tested the first day of the week they enter the Capitol and before accessing a hearing or the chamber.
Addressing the House’s testing approach, Hunter told members that the chamber could not mandate testing until it’s “available in our courthouses and … schoolhouses,” saying it “would be wrong” for members to prioritize their health and safety above others.
“That is the people’s House,” said Hunter, one of the House members spearheading the rules proposal. “And for us to prioritize our own health and safety above others would be wrong.”
The House rules also authorized members to cast votes for legislation “from a secure portable device” if they are inside the chamber, in the gallery, or “in an adjacent room or hallway on the same level as the House floor or gallery,” such as the speaker’s committee room or member lounge. That expansion could help space out the chamber’s 150 members should a lawmaker wish to do so.
See here for some background. The rules are codified in HR4, and you can see a long Twitter thread about the housekeeping rules that were the preliminaries for all this here; note that some of the proposed amendments were later withdrawn. One of the two House members who got up to some mischief but was roundly rejected by the rest of the chamber. I mean, when Briscoe Cain is speaking eloquently for tradition and bipartisanship, you know you’ve gone off the rails somewhere.
Of interest is also the rules relating to redistricting:
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The 24-hour amendment rule does not apply after May 13; during a special session, the rule will not apply to maps that originate in the House.Virtual testimony for region-specific hearings seems to be in lieu of field hearings that were canceled because of the pandemic #txlege
— Alexa Ura (@alexaura) 5:44 PM – 13 January 2021
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Democrat redistricting amendments that have failed:-expand size of House redistricting committee from 15 members to 21
-some virtual testimony
-requiring livestream of all committee meetings regardless of venue
-analysis to evaluate map impact on voters of color#txlege
— Alexa Ura (@alexaura) 12:41 PM – 14 January 2021
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This is why, in the 2011 redistricting for example, the Texas Senate redistricting staff did not have email addresses #TxLege— Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) 1:08 PM – 14 January 2021
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So what was one of the lessons we learned from today’s debate on the House Rules? If you even hint at using the “R” word (redistricting), everything you say is being prepared for use in lawsuits. #txlege(I look forward to seeing this Tweet on PACER later this year.)
— Derek Ryan (@longhornderek) 2:52 PM – 14 January 2021
Suit up, y’all. It’s on.