The Texas House is at a standstill with just days left in the third special session, as for the second day in a row the chamber has lacked a quorum.
When attendance was taken Tuesday morning, only 77 of the chamber’s 150 members registered as present. The chamber’s rules require 100 members to be present in order to conduct business.
Without a quorum the House is unable to vote on bills or motions, or to accept the new widened special session call from Gov. Greg Abbott.
The absences include a majority of Democrats as well as 20 Republicans.
In 2021, Democrats fled the Texas House for Washington D.C. for 38 days in order to avoid votes on election integrity legislation.
Suggestions that a repeat of that quorum bust could be unfolding were refuted by Democrat State Rep. Erin Zwiener (Driftwood). In a post on X, she claimed members were not given the usual warning that attendance would be critical and accused Republicans of faking a quorum break because they don’t have the votes for school choice.
With no quorum, the House will reconvene Wednesday at 6 p.m. When they do, there will only be 6 days left in the special session.
