AUSTIN, Texas — Picking up a debate that had been short-circuited for 88 days by a series of Democratic walkouts, the Texas House took up the GOP voting and elections bill Thursday amid several testy exchanges that flared despite pleas for decorum.
Republicans argued that Senate Bill 1 would reduce the likelihood of voter fraud, ensure that only legal ballots are counted and require all counties to conduct elections under similar rules.
Democrats blasted SB 1 as an unnecessary intrusion that would impose barriers to voting, particularly for Black and Hispanic Texans, under the guise of combating rare instances of voter fraud.
House Speaker Dade Phelan, a Beaumont Republican, began Thursday's proceedings by announcing that rules on decorum were to be strictly enforced, with no personal attacks allowed.
"While you may have strong disagreements on the legislation and policy that will be debated today, our rules require we conduct ourselves in a civil manner and treat our colleagues with respect," Phelan said, also warning observers that the overhead gallery would be cleared if there were outbursts or demonstrations.
Early in the debate, Phelan reminded Rep. Matt Shaheen, a Plano Republican, to keep his remarks to the contents of SB 1 after Shaheen bristled at Democratic claims of racial bias.
"The chair would appreciate members not using the word racism this afternoon," Phelan announced, eliciting several gasps from the House floor.
Rep. Andrew Murr, a Junction Republican, the House sponsor of SB 1, defended the measure as the next step in efforts to update election laws that were begun decades ago.
"This is serious and thoughtful legislation," he said.
But Rep. Rafael Anchía, a Dallas Democrat, called the focus on voter fraud a pretext to enact restrictions that would have a disproportionate impact on nonwhite voters.
"In fact, we know that the likelihood of fraud in a Texas election is a rounding error of a rounding error — maybe even of another rounding error," Anchía said. "It is so infinitesimally small so as to be a lower percentage than even being struck by lightning."
Anchía pointed to 10 federal court decisions that found intentional discrimination behind voting laws enacted in previous sessions of the Legislature.
Phelan spoke up again to caution Rep. Gina Hinojosa, an Austin Democrat, who asked Anchía: "The intentional discrimination against people of a certain race, is that racism?"
"We can talk about racial impacts of this legislation without accusing members of this body of being racists," Phelan said. When several Republicans clapped, Phelan added, "Members, outbursts are inappropriate."
Thursday's debate was set up in the closing hours of the regular session when most Democrats walked off the floor, depriving the House of a quorum to kill a similar voting bill on May 30.
Gov. Greg Abbott, who had made the voting bill a priority for passage, called lawmakers back to Austin for a special session to begin in early July, only to see most Democrats break quorum again, flying to Washington to press Congress to enact legislation to protect voting rights.
With the House unable to act without a quorum, the 30-day session ended with no legislation approved, prompting Abbott to immediately call a second special session earlier this month.
Democrats continued to stay away, but enough trickled back to Austin last week to make quorum, launching the House on a hurried blitz to pass SB 1 and other conservative priorities set by Abbott, including limits on transgender students in school sports, higher spending for border security, restrictions on the way race can be taught in schools and limits on drug-induced abortions.
House Republicans, wielding a solid majority, voted down a series of Democratic amendments, including efforts to allow online and Election Day voter registration and require voting law changes to be studied every two years to gauge their impact on racial and ethnic groups.
Rep. Bryan Slaton, a Royse City Republican, proposed an amendment to initiate a "forensic audit" of the 2020 general election by a third party — similar to a Republican-directed effort in Arizona — to investigate "anomalies or discrepancies in voter data, ballot data or tabulation."
The amendment, challenged by Democrats as not germane to SB 1, was withdrawn.
Abbott praised the House for taking action on SB 1, saying it would "make it easier to vote and harder to cheat."
"I look forward to signing this bill into law," Abbott said on Twitter.
Approved by the Senate on Aug. 12, SB 1 must receive House approval on two separate days before it returns to the upper chamber, where senators can approve House changes and send the measure to Abbott or call for a conference committee to negotiate changes that would have to be approved by both chambers.
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