KVUE by Maeve Ashbrook 8/24/2021
A committee with the Texas House of Representatives has advanced the controversial elections bill, Senate Bill 1 (SB1), after a public hearing Monday. This comes after the House met quorum for the first time in over a month last week during the Legislature’s second special session.
According to the Texas Tribune, the bill heads to the chamber’s Calendars Committee, which is then expected to place it on an agenda so it can be taken up by the full House as soon as this week.
The 9-5 party-line vote on the revived legislation, Senate Bill 1, is part of a third bid to enact proposals that would outlaw local efforts to make it easier to vote, ratchet up vote-by-mail rules and bolster protections for partisan poll watchers. It comes just days after the House regained enough Democrats to restart business following a nearly six-week exodus over the minority party’s opposition to the voting legislation.
With the second special legislative session past the halfway mark, the House Select Committee on Constitutional Rights and Remedies opted to replace the Senate’s bill with language from its own bill, House Bill 3. That means the House is essentially starting over with the same exact proposals that instigated a stalemate in the chamber following Democrats’ departure to Washington, D.C., in early July.
State Rep. Andrew Murr, the Junction Republican authoring the legislation, indicated he could "foresee" at least some changes to the legislation when it reaches the House floor, though it remains unclear how expansive those amendments could be.
More:
https://www.kvue.com/article/news/politics/special-session/texas-house-senate-bill-1-public-hearing-election-reform/269-2a0ddf57-6149-494a-88cd-f5063c575c98
