The State Republican Executive Committee passed a resolution Dec. 10 calling on the Senate to abandon its tradition of requiring a two-thirds vote in order to debate a bill.

The issue is also dividing Republican candidates in a Houston Senate race.

The two-thirds tradition is a critical element in Senate operations. It contributes to the egalitarian nature of the institution, because every senator – at one point – will be a part of a coalition that gets the two-thirds on a key bill. It also promotes consensus within the institution.

But the procedure has helped kill bills with widespread public support. And most recently it has provided a voice in government to Democrats in an era when Republicans hold all statewide offices.

“[P]rogress at relieving the excessive burdens of over-taxation, overspending, and liberal court rulings, has been blocked by a small minority of senators unfairly and unreasonably derailing bills designed to alleviate these and many other chronic problems of our great State of Texas ,” the resolution reads.

The Senate does not have a two-thirds rule, per se. Current rules state that bills are considered in the order they come out of committee. To take up a bill out of its regular order requires consent of two-thirds present and voting.

By tradition, the chairman of the Senate Administration Committee files a “blocker” bill, which is not designed to reach the floor but which effectively imposes a two-thirds vote requirement for consideration of bills.

The resolution calls on GOP senators to pledge not to file a blocker bill and to amend the Senate rules.

“The Republican Party of Texas State Executive Committee hereby calls upon the Texas Senate to end the practice of considering bills in numerical order, and instead, vest this authority with the Lt. Governor, or a Senate Calendars Committee appointed by the Lt. Governor, but with a ‘fast track’ provision allowing a vote of ‘a majority of the members of the Senate present’ to easily schedule a bill for consideration on the Senate Floor,” the resolution states.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said the two-thirds tradition works for conservatives. “The tradition to have a two-thirds vote when you take a bill out of order has been, time and time again – this year as well as in 2001 – a safeguard for conservatives,” he said. “Time and time again, eleven conservatives came together to make sure that legislation was changed and conservative pieces of legislation were passed.”

In other words, the procedure not only makes it difficult to pass legislation, it also makes it easier to kill legislation – including legislation opposed by conservatives.

This session, a majority of senators supported an effort to allow electronic pull-tab bingo in Texas . The two-thirds tradition prevented expanded gambling from passing the Senate.

Dewhurst told reporters that the two-thirds requirement stopped a 2001 redistricting plan opposed by many Republicans.

The blocker bill, with a two-thirds vote to eliminate it, is not only becoming an issue within the state Republican party, it’s also becoming a campaign issue.

In the open Senate seat in Houston (SD 7), the candidates are sending press releases and talking about the two-thirds tradition.

Candidates Dan Patrick and Joe Nixon both have publicly called for no blocker bill in the upcoming session. Candidate Peggy Hamric, however, has called for keeping the tradition.

“I applaud the State Republican Executive Committee for taking the steps necessary to ensure majority rules in the Texas Senate,” Patrick said. “The ‘blocker bill’ thwarts democracy by requiring a super-majority for passage of any legislation in the state Senate,” Patrick remarked. “The grassroots of our party have worked far too hard to elect a majority in the Texas Senate, only to see their agenda hijacked by a small minority of senators,” Patrick concluded.

Patrick, who as a talk radio host pushed caps on local property tax appraisals, blamed the two-thirds tradition with the lack of action on those issues. He notes that in March of 2003, the House passed appraisal caps but the Senate did not.

In 2005, neither chamber passed an appraisal cap constitutional amendment. The House took a record vote on the issue, however.

Nixon, who currently serves in the House, also called for an end to the two-thirds tradition. “As I publicly declared when I launched our positive campaign for conservative reform back in August – and as I have repeatedly noted on many other occasions before that and since – I strongly favor ending the so-called ‘blocker bill’ in the Texas Senate,” Nixon said. “My fellow conservatives and I in the Texas House have passed strong legislation to fight immigration fraud and to cut property taxes only to see these, and other badly needed pieces of legislation, die in the Texas Senate.”

Nixon is referring to HB 1120, which would have made it illegal for a couple to use fraudulent marriages as a means of circumventing U.S. immigration laws. The bill passed the House in May 2005 but died in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

Illegal immigration is also a key issue in the race, and Nixon is running television commercials that discuss his efforts, including HB 1120, to curtail illegal immigration.

Hamric disagreed with eliminating the two-thirds procedure.

“I support rule reform in the Senate to address property tax relief, economic progress, and other vital issues to all hardworking Texas families. However, I agree with the Lieutenant Governor’s stance and that over time the ‘blocker bill’ has been an effective tool for conservatives.

“My opponents want to change the Senate rules without offering an effective and viable alternative,” she said. “While I am disappointed that the Senate didn’t address the property tax relief bills, once elected I will work within the time-honored system to continue conservative change.”

Houston City Councilor and SD 7 candidate Mark Ellis has not yet made a public statement on the two-thirds rule.

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