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GOP Lawmaker Asks if Quorum-Busting Democrats’ Seats Can Be Vacated

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Elderberry:
Texas Scorecard by Brandon Waltens July 27, 2021

State Rep. James White (R–Hillister) asked the question of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday.

With Democrats in the Texas House having now fled to Washington, D.C., for more than two weeks in their attempt to halt progress on election integrity legislation and other items, one Republican lawmaker is seeking an opinion from the state’s top lawyer on whether their seats can be declared vacant.

State Rep. James White (R–Hillister), who serves as the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security and Public Safety, sent the letter to Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday, in response to what he referred to as a “thoughtful inquiry” from one of his East Texas constituents.

For the House to conduct business, a quorum of two-thirds of the chamber’s members (100 out of 150) is required to be present. A 30-day special session began on July 8 to address issues like omnibus election integrity legislation, which the Texas House failed to pass during the regular session. Just a few days in, however, more than 50 Democrat House members left, leaving the House unable to consider legislation for the past two weeks.

Those Democrats have not given any indication of when they plan to return, leading White to ask the following question of Paxton:

    With this in mind, does our constitution or state statutes expressly allow for the vacating of legislative seats or seeking a determination if legislators have vacated their legislative seats when members deliberately deny the constitutional quroum [sic] requirement, announce intentions to leave and remain outside the State […] in order to prevent the presiding officer from compelling attendance, and have taken the oath of office?

Were the seats to be vacated, special elections would be called to replace the absent members.

More: https://texasscorecard.com/state/gop-lawmaker-asks-if-quorum-busting-democrats-seats-can-be-vacated/

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