The speaker of the House could be limited to two terms if state lawmakers approve incoming State Rep. Mitch Little’s newly filed proposal.
House Bill 1758, one of the shorter pieces of legislation filed this session, states that no speaker candidate would be eligible to run after serving two complete terms.
The proposal stems from the “Contract with Texas,” a set of reforms endorsed by some Republican members to improve the integrity, transparency, and efficiency of the Texas House.
Little told Texas Scorecard the legislation is an attempt to limit the power of the speaker of the House.
“When the membership and the lobby have to face the specter of dealing with someone who could be in power for a decade or longer, they tend to become more compliant and generous than they otherwise would. That power and influence and money gets communicated by contagion to the speaker’s chairmen, which is exactly what landed us in the situation we find ourselves in right now,” said Little.
Instead, Little argues that the speakership should be considered a position of “service and sacrifice where one member has to subordinate his or her own agenda to the will of the body for a time.”
“That power dynamic has been inverted, and the body has been held captive by poor leadership and communication. No one should hold the gavel long enough to truly own it,” he added.
Early Texas House speakers often served just one or two terms. Billy Clayton, serving from 1975 to 1983, was the first to exceed that limit.
Former Texas House member Kent Grusendorf highlighted the shift in his book, “Who Rules the Texas House?,” noting that the speakership was originally more of an honorary position than a seat of power.
“As rules transferred more power to the chair, the incentive to stay in power grew. The longer one stays in office, the greater the ability to change the rules, giving even more power to the chair,” wrote Grusendorf. “Once granted, it is not easy to walk away from such immense power. Unlike most of Texas history, modern-day speakers tend to stay in office until they are run out of office.”
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