Good morning, 

The Texas House still doesn't have a quorum. This is the Texas Minute for Wednesday, August 6, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Paxton Threatens Court Action To Vacate Seats of Fleeing Democrats

• Yesterday, for the second day in a row, the Texas House of Representatives failed to reach a quorum, with only 94 of the 150 members present—six short of the 100 required to conduct legislative business. Now, reports Brandon Waltens, the fight is escalating.
       
• Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that he will seek court orders declaring the seats of absent Democrats vacant if they do not return by Friday. The move comes as House Democrats continue to deny quorum to block a Republican-backed congressional redistricting plan. The House is scheduled to meet again on Friday at 1 p.m. 
      
• “Democrats have abandoned their offices by fleeing Texas,” said Paxton. “If you don’t show up to work, you get fired.”

RELATED NEWS

• The emergency petition, filed yesterday, marks the most aggressive legal action yet in response to House Democrats fleeing the state. Abbott's lawsuit alleges that Wu and others may have solicited and received benefits in exchange for their absence—potentially violating Texas' bribery laws.

OTHER REDISTRICTING NEWS

• The map, drawn to maximize political advantage, changes five Democrat districts to favor GOP candidates; four of those proposed Republican districts would be majority-Hispanic.

Federal Court Rules Texas Can Require Voter ID on Mail Ballots

• In a win for secure elections in Texas, a federal appeals court upheld a state law requiring voters to provide identification numbers on mail-in ballots, a security measure already required of in-person voters. Erin Anderson has the details.

       
• Judges on the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had “no difficulty concluding” that the state’s ID number requirement “fully complies” with federal law.
      
• In 2021, Texas lawmakers passed the ID requirement as part of a comprehensive plan to make voting more secure and increase confidence in fraud-prone mail ballots. The Biden administration sued, along with the League of Women Voters and other private plaintiffs opposed to the election integrity law.
      
• Texas has continued to require mail-ballot voters to provide a voter ID number—either a state-issued ID number or the last four digits of their Social Security number—as the case was litigated.

Records Confirm UT-Austin's Payment to Pro-Abortion Activist

• Adam Cahn reports that newly released financial records show that the University of Texas at Austin funded a Netherlands-based pro-abortion activist in 2021. As previously reported, Rebecca Gomperts sent an invoice to the university for work she had performed to assist a pro-abortion researcher with an academic paper.
      
• Gomperts founded a group that sends abortion drugs through the mail. She claims that the entity has "facilitated over 200,000 online abortions" in the United States. Texas Right to Life has described the group as an “illegal abortion cartel.” 
      
• These discoveries come as state lawmakers are considering new restrictions on the interstate trafficking of abortion drugs, which is included on the agenda of the current special session.

Houston PD Pulls SIG Sauer P320 Following Unintended Discharge Lawsuit

• The Houston Police Department has ordered approximately 1,200 officers to replace their SIG Sauer P320 service weapons. Joseph Trimmer has the story.
   
• Under the new directive, officers have until the end of September to make the switch. The decision follows a lawsuit filed by veteran HPD officer Richard Fernandez Jr., who alleges that his holstered P320 discharged without a trigger pull.
      
• Fernandez's legal team argues that SIG Sauer has long been aware of serious design flaws in the P320. His suit joins more than 100 similar claims filed nationwide since 2017, many alleging the pistols fired while holstered or after being dropped. SIG has dismissed the claims as misinformation spread by “agenda-driven parties.”

USDA Approves Texas’ SNAP Waiver Request

• Federal approval has been granted for Texas and five other states seeking to prohibit Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs from being used to purchase sugary drinks and other unhealthy snacks. SNAP is administered by the states, but overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
      
• Currently, SNAP recipients can purchase anything except alcohol, tobacco, hot and prepared foods, and personal care products with taxpayer-funded SNAP benefits. That will change under a law passed during the regular legislative session. The new law prohibits the use of SNAP benefits in Texas to purchase sweetened drinks and candy.
      
• U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said Texas' effort will "promote healthier options for families in need."

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