After Democrats staged a walkout earlier this summer to block congressional redistricting, the Texas House has moved to ensure such quorum-busting tactics carry heavy consequences in the future.
In one of its final actions before adjourning sine die, the chamber adopted House Resolution 128 by State Rep. Cody Vasut (R–Angleton). The measure rewrites House rules to increase fines and add new punishments for members who absent themselves without leave to deliberately break quorum.
Previously, quorum-busting members faced a $500-a-day fine. Lawmakers who leave also must pay back their share of costs incurred by the sergeant-at-arms and can lose pro rata portions of their monthly office budgets. HR 128 boosts that penalty to three times the daily per diem set by the Texas Ethics Commission—ensuring it automatically increases with any future changes.
For lawmakers who remain absent longer, the consequences escalate. Those gone for at least two consecutive days during a call of the House lose their committee chairmanships or vice-chairmanships for the rest of the session and are barred from reappointment. If they miss at least three days, they lose seniority—two years’ worth for each day absent—impacting committee assignments, office selection, and even parking spaces. The resolution also explicitly authorizes the House to impose other penalties allowed under the state constitution, including expulsion.
Laying out the resolution, Vasut said the goal was to “increase the available penalties to ensure that they are more robust, to help prevent quorum breaks or shorten their length.” He argued that the old rules were not strong enough either to deter walkouts or to give members cover against outside interests pressuring them to leave.
“When the average Texan doesn’t show up for work, they don’t get paid, they get laid off,” Vasut told members. “It’s important that we ensure that the people’s representatives are here in Austin doing the work they signed up to do.”
Notably, while the Republican Caucus declined to censure Democrats for this year’s quorum break, HR 128 applies going forward. And because House rules are not binding from one legislative session to the next, a future Legislature would need to readopt these provisions for them to remain in effect.
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