“No pay for those who abandon their responsibilities,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott wrote on Twitter when announcing his system.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a tweet he would suspend the salary of the Texas legislature after State Democrats staged a walkout to prevent Republicans from passing restrictive election legislation.
The Texas Structure grants the governor the power to veto posts in bills and state budgets, giving Abbott the power to unilaterally remove funding for the legislature in the recently passed spending budget.
Abbott’s planned veto comes after State Democrats collectively walked out of the chamber to ensure there wouldn’t be the quorum of lawmakers needed to vote on the legislation, a move that killed the odds that the bill be passed before midnight.
Texas Senate Bill 7 cracked down on initiatives local election officials – particularly Harris County Democratic officials – took in 2020 to expand voting selections during the COVID-19 pandemic, including:
- Sending unsolicited mail-ballot requests to voters, even those eligible to vote by mail in Texas, would have been a criminal offense for election officials. Harris County officials attempted to send absence requests to the county’s 2.4 million registered voters in 2020, but were stranded in court.
- I would have banned election officials from offering drive-thru voting, which Harris County did in 2020. The county successfully defended itself against last-minute legal challenges to its drive-thru voting system.
- The law also reportedly limited counties to holding a maximum of eight hours of voting between 1 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Sundays during early voting.
The Texas Legislature meets every two years for 140 days, which means Republicans will not be able to present the Election Bill for a vote during the normal legislative session until 2023. Under the Constitution of Texas, however, the governor has the power to call a special session of up to 30 days only to discuss and work on details presented by the governor.
Abbott was already scheduled to hold a special session to tackle the redistribution, and it is now possible that voting legislation will also be debated during that time. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is also pushing for Abbott to include anti-trans legislation and other bills in the special session that were not passed until the end of the 87th legislative session in the state.
Texas lawmakers earn $ 7,200 per year when not in session and $ 38,140 when in session, leading most state lawmakers to pursue other careers when the legislature is not. not in session. If the governor requests a special session, each legislator will receive a per diem allowance of $ 221 for each day the special session is opened, or up to $ 6,630 for the full special session.
Abbott’s veto would also likely affect members of the legislative staff who are paid by using the legislative branch.
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