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Hours after Gov. Greg Abbott mentioned he believed the Legislature may just go a school vouchers invoice sooner than the tip of the particular legislative consultation, the House all however killed any deal.
The House met in short Wednesday night time and recessed most likely till Monday or Tuesday, pending the Senate’s approval of expenses similar to frame safety.
The particular consultation ends Tuesday and the House has no longer such a lot as thought to be a voucher invoice in committee, an early step within the lawmaking procedure.
At a news convention on the governor’s mansion Wednesday morning, Abbott mentioned “we are on track to ensure there will not be another special session” and referenced a “bill that will be coming out of the House later on today.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick signaled his own optimism, saying in an afternoon statement that there was still time to pass a vouchers bill, but only if the House amended legislation already passed by the Senate rather than attempting their own version.
“The Senate will concur if we agree with the House’s changes or try to work out the differences in conference,” Patrick said on the social media platform X. “The Senate is ready to act, as we have been for weeks.”
But no bill materialized in the lower chamber, and House members took no action on the Senate’s voucher bill.
Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Killeen and chair of the public education committee, told KUT that the timing was “too tight” to pass a vouchers bill before the Tuesday deadline.
The House’s inaction all but guarantees a fourth special session, which Abbott had previously vowed to call if school vouchers did not become law. If that fails, Abbott has said he will support primary challengers to anti-voucher Republican House members.
Wednesday’s dissonance between the governor and House reflected what happened Tuesday. Abbott introduced that he had “reached an agreement” on vouchers with House Speaker Dade Phelan’s team, only for the speaker to demur and Republican holdouts to say there was, in fact, no such deal.
For all his pronouncements that the passage of a voucher bill is imminent, Abbott has been unable to show publicly that any of the two dozen Republicans who opposed vouchers in a spring test vote have flipped.
That group of mostly rural conservatives, along with nearly all Democrats, have successfully blocked vouchers in the House.
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