Good morning, 

Here is the Texas Minute for Thursday, January 12, 2023.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Majority Of House Republicans Let Democrats Be Committee Chairs

• Despite intense grassroots pressure, the Texas House refused to allow a vote on blocking Democrats from chairing legislative committees in the Republican-controlled chamber. Sydnie Henry has the details.

      
• A Republican priority for 2023, banning Democrats from holding key committee chairmanships—which allows them to block conservative legislation—is supported by more than 81 percent of Republican voters. State Rep. Bryan Slaton (R-Royse City) introduced an amendment accomplishing that effort.
      

• House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) blocked Slaton's amendment, decreeing that House rules “may only be used for public purposes and not political purposes.” Phelan said that because the measure was the priority of a political party, adopting it would violate the Texas Constitution.

     
• State Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R-Arlington) and Slaton could only get their colleagues Mark Dorazio (R-San Antonio), Nate Schatzline (R-Keller), Richard Hayes (R-Denton), and Brian Harrison (R-Waxahachie) to try to override the ruling – they needed 10 members to press the issue. 
      
• As Tinderholt put it, "no other Republicans will help challenge the ruling." 
      
• None. Of. Them. 
        
• Here is what it means: The 83 House Republicans who voted for Dade Phelan as speaker actually voted to keep Democrat committee chairs; those 83 Republicans own Phelan’s ruling.

Phelan Decrees 'Gender' Political, Out of Bounds For House Action

• At the direction of Speaker Phelan, Texas House Republicans effectively blocked discussion of gender-related legislation on the House floor after they changed the chamber’s rules and prohibited use of House resources for political purposes. Katy Drollinger has the report.
         
• An amendment to the new operating rules of the chamber was made by State Rep. Tinderholt, banning House members, their staff, and all employees from including their “preferred gender pronouns” in the signature block of any letters or emails sent while conducting “the legislative business of Texas.”State Rep. Erin Zwiener (D–Driftwood) asked Speaker Phelan to declare the amendment out of bounds.
      
• Phelan was happy to oblige, cutting off the amendment while oddly citing a rule prohibiting House resources being used to advance political purposes.
       

• Some observers are concerned Phelan's ruling effectively labels gender a political and partisan topic in the House. This would allow Democrats, later in the session, to follow Phelan’s precedent and raise objections against Republican legislation addressing any issue relating to gender. If that is the case, Republicans could expect Phelan to block debate on priority measures such as a ban on child gender mutilation or the attendance of children at drag shows.

'Historic' Surplus Offers Opportunity for Tax Cuts, No-Growth Budget

• A new record-high estimate of Texas’ budget surplus for the next two years has a pro-taxpayer group renewing calls for lawmakers to cut Texans’ property taxes and freeze state spending during the legislative session now underway in Austin. Erin Anderson has the details.
     

•  Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced a Biennial Revenue Estimate of $188 billion available for general-purpose spending during the 2024-25 budget period, a 26-percent increase over 2022-23 revenue. The new estimate includes a record $32.69 billion budget surplus.

     
• “This absolutely is a ‘historic, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,’” explained Tim Hardin, president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. According to Hardin, the surplus is an opportunity for lawmakers to give Texans the biggest property tax cut in state history and maintain that tax cut in perpetuity, as well as stop the growth of state spending.

Federal Government Furthers Chemical Abortion Freedom

• The Food and Drug Administration announced last week that it will now allow pharmacies and mail-order companies to offer abortion drugs. Soli Rice reports the Department of Justice announced that the United States Postal Service can continue delivering abortion drugs throughout the country, even to states where abortion is illegal.

Hopper: A Missed Opportunity

• In a new commentary, Andy Hopper considers the missed opportunity presented by President Joe Biden's carefully choreographed stop in El Paso on Sunday.
       
• "Americans were treated to visions of a sleepy and uneventful border tour courtesy of a federal government that gaslit its own people about the role it played in the fate of its 35th chief executive," writes Hopper.

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