Texas Supreme Court dismisses Greg Abbott’s Article X veto request

Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to date with the most essential Texas news.

The Texas Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request by several members of the Democratic House and state employees asking justices to overturn Gov. Greg Abbott’s veto on legislative funding in the next biennial state budget .

Abbott vetoed the funding in June after the House Democrats left the House in the closing days of the May regular legislative session, killing two of his priority election bills and changing the bail system of the state. Abbott then brought the legislature back for a special session to pass the bills, but more than 50 House Democrats again broke the quorum – denying the lower house the number of members present needed to move the bills. – decamping to Washington, DC, until the 30-day session ended on Friday.

Democrats challenged Abbott’s veto in court, saying it took away their power as a “co-equal branch of government.” But the Texas Supreme Court on Monday sided with Abbott on his veto that will effectively fund the Texas legislature, its employees and its legislative agencies later this year.

State officials on Friday extended funding for an additional month, meaning 2,100 legislative employees will continue to be paid until September 30.

In an unsigned opinion, the all-Republican court said that the lack of funding for the legislature “continues to exist not because of a dispute between the governor and the legislature, nor even because of a dispute between the legislature. governor and a minority of members of the House On the contrary, the main dispute is between the members of the legislature.

“This political dispute within the legislature is not a question of the separation of powers that we can resolve,” the court said in its opinion.

Abbott’s office celebrated the move and urged Democrats to return to Capitol Hill, saying the additional month of legislature funding meant lawmakers were “running out of excuses.”

“The Texas Supreme Court has again recognized that ‘the governor has the power to disapprove any bill” and upheld the governor’s veto power granted under the Texas Constitution, “said Renae Eze, spokesperson. Abbott’s word in a press release. “It’s time to end the charades and get back to work to do the job they were elected to do – vote on critical legislation on behalf of their constituents, including Article X funding, potential funding from COVID-19 healthcare response, providing property tax relief, funding our retired teachers, protecting our foster children and securing the border.

State Representative Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, and Chad Dunn, counsel for the group, said the court ruling was not totally against them.

“We are disappointed that the Court has chosen not to become involved in Governor Abbott’s tyrannical violation of the separation of powers, but make no mistake, the High Court is clear that the Governor vetoing the funding of the legislature in the future raises serious constitutional issues, ”they said in a statement. “Texas House Democrats will continue to fight against Governor Abbott’s systematic attack on our democracy.”

The court said House Democrats could have worked with other lawmakers in this year’s first special sessions to restore Article X of the state budget, which covers legislative funding, without having to pass d ‘other bills. They could also have worked with their fellow lawmakers to pass the bill more than 10 days before adjournment, which would have made it veto-proof. But they chose not to.

“Journalists claim that the governor is unconstitutionally forcing them to vote for legislation he favors. But the governor did not oblige the legislator to adopt its priorities before taking care of its own financing ”, indicates the opinion. “The legislature was free to use the special session to restore Article X funding. It could have done so without addressing any of the other items listed in the governor’s appeal.

“[T]The governor’s veto on Article X followed by the convening of an extraordinary session does not prevent the legislature from being self-financing and does not oblige the legislature to adopt legislation chosen by the governor ”, indicates the opinion.

The court noted that Abbott was trying to push his favorite bills forward, but that a majority of lawmakers in the GOP-dominated legislature also supported those bills.

The court said the Democrats’ alleged prejudice may have started with Abbott’s veto, but only continued because they couldn’t agree with fellow lawmakers “on the order in which review the legislation “.

The move comes after more than 60 Democratic members of the lower house, four state employees and other groups signed a petition filed last month.

The parties involved have asked the court to declare the veto unconstitutional, arguing that Abbott overstepped his executive authority and violated the doctrine of the separation of state powers.

Had the court sided with the Democrats, Article X of the state budget, the section in question, would have been reinstated when the next biennial state budget goes into effect on September 1.

Instead, the future funding of more than 2,100 state employees and legislative bodies such as the Legislative Reference Library and the Legislative Budget Board remains in limbo – especially as House Democrats continue. to stay away from the State Capitol during a second special session that began Saturday, a day after the first special session ended.

The court said Democrats “once again have the option of voting to allocate income to the legislature.”

But 26 House Democrats said on Saturday they would stay in Washington.

On Monday, the House failed to meet quorum requirements when it caved in at 4 p.m. But House Speaker Dade Phelan said the chamber would remain comfortable for an hour in anticipation of the arrival of more lawmakers.

Previously, House Democrats had obtained a temporary injunction in a state district court that prohibited their arrest and forcible transport to Capitol Hill. This order allowed Democrats still in Washington to return to the state without fear of arrest.

Before the order was issued by a Travis County judge, State Representative Nicole Collier D-Fort Worth told Dallas-Fort Worth TV station KXAS that she did not have intends to attend the second extraordinary session.

Legislators receive $ 600 per month in addition to a per diem allowance of $ 221 for each day the Legislative Assembly sits for regular and special sessions. These payments are constitutionally guaranteed and unaffected by Abbott’s veto.