Texas Scorecard by Amelia McKenzie and Sydnie Henry | May 6, 2024
Texas Scorecard asked candidates what they would like to see in a House Speaker Candidate.With the primary runoff election mere weeks away, Texas Scorecard reached out to all runoff candidates for state representative to ask what they are looking for in a speaker candidate.
The Speaker of the Texas House is elected by fellow House members and wields considerable power as the arbitrator of committee assignments and order on the floor.
Current House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) has faced considerable ire from citizens for appointing Democrats to chair key committees in the House and allowing Republican priorities to die without a vote.
A group of current and future House Republicans created a “Contract with Texas” to end “liberal dysfunction” in the House, proposing a dozen reforms promising to “improve the integrity, transparency, and efficiency of the House.”
They want the next Speaker of the House to implement the following 12 reforms:
1. Only solicit support for Speakership from Republican members
2. End the practice of awarding Democrats with committee chairmanships
3. Ensure all GOP legislative priorities receive a floor vote before any Democrat bills
4. Replace the current liberal Parliamentarians with staff committed to only offering advice on adherence to House rules, not to advancing their personal ideology
5. Limit the Speaker to two terms to reduce their power over individual members
6. Ensure there are no longer any Democrat-majority committees
7. Stop parliamentary abuse by requiring only substantial adherence to House rules to keep hyper-technical points of order from killing good legislation
8. Allow audio/video recording of all House proceedings, including point of order debates
9. Start substantive work as soon as Session begins to end delays that kill priority legislation
10. Reform the Calendars Committee to increase transparency and accountability
11. Select a Republican as Speaker Pro Tempore
12. Decentralize power by prohibiting the distribution of political funds from the Speaker
Below is what the Republican House Runoff candidates have to say on what they would like to see in a speaker.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/state/in-their-own-words-house-runoff-candidates-on-the-speaker/
