A newly filed bill at the Texas Capitol will make it against the law, going forward, for a state lawmaker to raise money and to submit political expenditures for travel, hotel stays, and meals when they are breaking quorum.
The legislation, House Bill 18, was filed by Republican Rep. Matt Shaheen, R-Prosper, following House Democrats’ quorum break that made national headlines because they successfully blocked the House for two weeks from holding a session to pass controversial new Congressional maps. The new maps will produce five GOP majority districts at the expense of Democrats.
House Bill 4, which comprises the new maps, now heads to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk for his signature.
Early Saturday morning, the Texas Senate gave final approval to the maps. The House passed the bill on Wednesday evening.
As for HB 18, for those lawmakers who are found to raise money while breaking quorum, they will have to return the contribution, and they face a $5,000 fine per violation.
The same is true for submitting reimbursement for costs related to travel, hotel stays, and meals while breaking quorum. Once there is a complaint filed, a judge will consider it.
A House committee held a hearing on the bill Monday morning. During an exchange with Rep. Mihaela Plesa, D-Dallas, the author of the bill, Republican Matt Shaheen of Prosper, said his constituents were outraged by lawmakers raising money while they were out of state.
“They were questioning the integrity of the Texas legislature that members can break quorum and benefit financially from doing so,” Shaheen said.
In response, Plesa said, “I guess that can be said from your constituents, but I think there are other constituents that were letting their Representative know that they wanted them to use all legislative tools available to them, whether the majority or minority party, to make sure their viewpoints are being heard.”
Shaheen replied, “I think it’s a separate question whether those constituents are happy that there are certain members that benefit financially. I think you have to separate those two.”
Plesa said his constituents have the right to support their representatives in any manner they see fit. Shaheen said there can be limitations. The bill was left pending in committee without a vote.
Meantime, the House Democrats who broke quorum are facing thousands of dollars in fines.
Last week, Rep. Venton Jones, D-Dallas, placed on “X” the letter he received from the Committee on House Administration saying he owed more than $9,300 in fines and other costs associated with the two-week-long quorum break and the investigation by Texas DPS into their whereabouts. Jones responded by requesting a due process hearing and time for his attorney to prepare for it.
The Texas House Republican Caucus met Monday and voted to support increased penalties for quorum-breakers.
The caucus supports HB 18, SB 48 & HB 64, which say a legislator will vacate his or her office if they are absent for seven consecutive days without leave, and a Constitutional Amendment, HJR 10, to reduce quorum for the House and Senate from two-thirds to a simple majority.
In addition, the Caucus said it supports changing House rules to include increasing fines from the daily $500 penalty for breaking quorum and the loss of chairmanships and vice-chairmanships and seniority.
