Making a Statement (in the Journal)

Several members made a statement on some of the most ideological votes cast in the House during the regular session. No, not that kind of “statement.” The kind of statement that goes into the official journal documenting they meant to vote another way.

It happens from time to time with over a thousand record votes cast during the course of a regular session. Some members do step away for a moment to run back to their office, shake hands and snap a quick picture with a group of constituents outside the chamber, or grab a bite to eat. Other times when the proceedings on the floor are moving quickly, some may lose track and vote with the right intentions … just on the wrong bill.

That’s why the House allows members to enter a “statement” into the Journal after a record vote to indicate what vote they meant to cast.

The system on whole is beneficial. It allows taxpayers to see how their elected officials would have voted, or meant to vote if they hit the wrong button.

But in cases all too often, some members seem to game the system, casting a bad vote knowing they can just enter a statement in the journal and claim they meant to do the right thing.

Or in other cases, members conveniently leave the chamber and are counted absent when controversial votes are cast, allowing them to enter a journal statement to soften the blow of not taking a stand.

The Dallas Morning News suspected this might have been happening when Ways & Means Chairman Harvey Hilderbran was conspicuously absent for controversial votes on raising legislators’ pensions, and the infamous SB 346 bill targeting conservative political organizations, among others.

Whether or not Chairman Hilderbran (who’s all but declared he’s running for Comptroller) was ducking away to avoid tough votes as the DMN implies, or if he was simply away for committee business as he claims, is up for the voters to decide.

But it is interesting that Mr. Hilderbran tied for third place with the most journal statements on votes we at Texans for Fiscal Responsibility considered on our 2013 Fiscal Responsibility Index.

The other three include Calendars Chairman Todd Hunter, State Rep. Lance Gooden, and Higher Education Chairman Dan Branch.

That’s an interesting breakdown, given that Chairman Branch is close to announcing his intention to run for Attorney General, Chairman Hilderbran is considering a run for Comptroller, and Chairman Hunter is widely rumored to be looking at a run for speaker on the chance current Speaker Joe Straus decides to step down.

Again, this is factoring in only the votes scored on the 2013 Fiscal Responsibility Index, not their entire voting history throughout the regular session. But many votes on our Index do reflect many of the fiscally-oriented ideological votes cast that separated the conservative bloc from the more moderate establishment-type Republicans and Democrats.

We’ll leave it to you, the taxpayer, to form your own opinions about the pattern of journal statements inserted by the members mentioned above. Here is a table of the votes taken where at least one of these aforementioned members entered a statement into the journal on a vote scored on our Index:

A list of all members and the number of statements they entered into the journal on a vote scored on our Index:

The date of the full release of the 2013 Fiscal Responsibility Index will be announced when it becomes clear there will not be any more fiscal or budgetary issues added to the call of the current special session, or a subsequent special session called shortly thereafter.

Dustin Matocha

Dustin Matocha is the CFO and COO of Texas Scorecard. Dustin graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BBA in Management, a BA in Government, and a minor in Marketing. He’s a self-described Corvette enthusiast, baseball purist, tech geek and growing connoisseur of local craft beer.