News

The Texas House returns to operation, lawmakers, schools, hospitals, and businesses navigate surging COVID-19 cases, special elections to commence after House recognitions, 2020 Census data is released, and Congressional and state House and Senate redistricting begins.

Texas House Quorum Restored
For the first time in nearly six weeks, there were enough lawmakers present in the Texas House on Thursday for the chamber to conduct business — opening the door for the passage of the GOP priority elections bill that Democrats have been attempting to kill for the past several weeks by staying far away from the Capitol. The quorum was reached on Thursday with the help of three Democrats who broke ranks with other members still refusing to return — Houston Democrats Garnet Coleman, Armando Walle and Ana Hernandez. The three members arrived together with Walle pushing a wheelchair for Coleman, who’d recently undergone surgery on his leg. More than 34 Democrats signed on to a statement on Friday condemning their colleagues for joining with Republicans on the House floor. 

The margin was razor-thin on Thursday evening and it was unclear for hours before gaveling in whether Republicans had enough members in the chamber to begin their work. Ultimately, 99 members voted that they were present with 49 stated absences. (The regular 100-member threshold for a quorum dropped to 99 on Thursday after San Antonio Democrat Leo Pacheco’s resignation went into effect.) The House then adjourned until 4 p.m. on Monday after referring a slew of bills to committee. Committee hearings began over the weekend and continue this week.

The Texas Senate has already passed the vast majority of items on the call.

Coronavirus Pandemic
COVID-19 is surging again in Texas; Gov. Greg Abbott has tested positive; hospitalizations are increasing faster than at any other time; and local officials and school leaders are rebelling against Abbott’s ban on mask mandates. 

Gov. Greg Abbott tested positive Tuesday for COVID-19. Abbott, who is fully vaccinated, is not experiencing any symptoms and is isolating at the Governor’s Mansion. He is getting Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody treatment.

Texas school districts must now notify teachers, staff, and students’ families of positive COVID-19 cases in classrooms or extracurricular or after-school programs, the Texas Education Agency announced in updated public health guidance Thursday. This is a change from the TEA’s previous guidance, which didn’t explicitly require school districts to notify parents of a close contact with the virus.

More Texas hospitals are reporting a shortage of intensive care beds than at any other time since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the state 18 months ago — just one sign among many that the health crisis is on track to reach its most dangerous phase yet, health officials say.

The Texas Supreme Court cleared the way Thursday for school districts to require people to wear masks in classrooms (at least for now). For cities, counties and school districts that have defied Gov. Abbott by issuing mask mandates in public schools, the ruling is a victory on a technicality: The high court left in place a Travis County judge’s temporary restraining orders against Abbott’s ban on mask mandates. The court’s order cited a provision that typically requires matters to go to an appellate court before it reaches the state’s highest civil court.

Special Election for HD 10
Eight candidates have filed for the August 31st special election to fill the seat of former state Rep. Jake Ellzey (R-Waxahachie) who won a special election for Congress. The eight candidates include five Republicans, one Democrat, an Independent and a Libertarian. They are:
• Independent Scott Goodwin of Waxahachie, who listed his occupation as “V.P. development”
• Republican Kevin Griffin, a Midlothian general manager
• Republican Brian Harrison, the former Trump administration official who ran in the special election for the 6th Congressional District
• Republican Susan Mellina Hayslip, a Waxahachie attorney
• Democrat Pierina Otiniano, an Ennis immigration attorney
• Libertarian Matt Savino of Seven Points, who listed his occupation as “I.T. support”
• Republican Clark Wickliffe, a member of the Midlothian City Council
• Republican John Wray, the former HD-10 representative who decided not to seek reelection in 2020

House Resignation
State Rep. Leo Pacheco (D-San Antonio) has reportedly resigned his seat in the Texas House. First elected in 2018, Pacheco announced recently that he will be resigning as a representative to teach public administration at San Antonio College. Like HD 10, a special election will soon take place to fill his role serving District 118, which covers the southern and eastern parts of Bexar County.

Census Data Released
Setting the stage for what is expected to be a bruising battle over political representation, the results of the 2020 census released recently showed that Texas’ explosive growth over the past decade was again powered by people of color. And it is the state’s cities and suburbs that are booming, with Texas home to three of the country’s 10 largest cities and four of the fastest-growing.

Texas gained the most residents of any state since 2010, and its Hispanic population is now nearly as large as the non-Hispanic white population, with just half a percentage point separating them. Texas gained nearly 11 Hispanic residents for every additional white resident since 2010. Texans of color accounted for 95% of the state’s population growth. The 2020 census puts the state’s population at 29,145,505 — a 16% jump from 25.1 million in 2010. 

Redistricting
Congressional and state House and Senate districts must be reconfigured ahead of the 2022 elections to account for the state’s population growth and to even out residents across districts that were drawn to be close to equal in population a decade ago but are now significantly out of balance. With the census data release, the Legislature’s number-crunchers will begin processing the massive set of data released by the Census Bureau — down to the block level — to upload it into the system lawmakers will use.

But the actual work of drafting maps, wrangling the numbers that represent communities and neighborhoods, might not begin until next month. State Rep. Todd Hunter, the Corpus Christi Republican who chairs the House Redistricting Committee, told his colleagues to expect the data to be ready for them by September 1st.