After the Voter ID bill cleared the Senate late Wednesday night, the media is reporting that legislation in the Texas House may face slower going. That take-it-slow approach let Voter ID, very popular with all Texas voters, get set for legislative death two years ago.
The Austin American-Statesman and others are reporting that the House version of SB 14 will take as long as a month to make its way through the House.
Texans should be asking their legislators why such a delay is expected, considering polls show that 60-70% of Texans favor Voter ID, even across ethnic lines. The support for it has stayed consistently high since the last legislative session, where Democrats chose to bring the House to a near stand-still by stalling through Local & Consent bills at the end of session, killing the bill.
The Senate got the message from voters when they suspended internal parliamentary rules to allow debate and a final vote on the bill to take place quickly. Even Senate Democrats were mindful enough to realize a delay would only result in wasted time and energy. After spending two days on the matter, the Senate can now set its undivided attention on preparing their proposed budget for the next fiscal biennium.
House members should follow the Senate’s lead and listen to the voters whom elected them. The Senate’s sensible legislation can pass the House (and with the GOP supermajority, there is no need to allow watering down by liberals), so why delay the inevitable?
Voters expect the legislation to get this job done.
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Dustin Matocha is the Social Media Coordinator for Empower Texans / Texans for Fiscal Responsibility.
Connect with Dustin on Twitter.
