AUSTIN -- Legislation to ban invasive pat-downs by federal airport security screeners collapsed in the Texas House on Wednesday as the 82nd Legislature finished a protracted 170-day workathon, including 30 days in overtime.
Weary legislators began returning home to families, jobs and businesses after the House adjourned at 12:32 p.m., ending a 30-day special session that began immediately after the 140-day regular session. Senators left town a day earlier.Assessments of the biennial deliberations varied sharply, depending on the perspective.Gov. Rick Perry and other Republican leaders proclaimed the back-to-back sessions an overall success.But Democrats gave a thumbs-down.The final legislative drama was played out on the House floor as Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, lost a bid to push through a Senate-passed "anti-groping" bill opposed by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.House members gave preliminary approval to the bill but fell far short of mustering the 120-vote "supermajority" needed to suspend constitutional rules to allow the bill to be considered for final approval on the last day of the Legislature. The vote was 96-26.The bill, which had a die-hard fan base of largely conservative supporters, would have expanded the federal definition of "official oppression" to prohibit federal employees from improperly touching a person's private areas. Violations would constitute a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a maximum $4,000 fine.After the bill's defeat, Simpson addressed the House in a personal privilege speech that effectively accused the Republican leadership of giving lip service to the bill while trying to sabotage it."Rarely in the history of this Legislature has the state's leadership so masterfully worked against the will of its members and the people they represent," Simpson said.House Speaker Joe Straus called the bill "a publicity stunt" last week, but he dropped his resistance after changes in another version of the bill. Straus said he and a bipartisan group of legislators "spent a lot of time" trying to work with Simpson in behalf of the legislation.'The system works'"It's unfortunate for Mr. Simpson that his bill didn't pass," Straus said. "But the system works and if you took a poll of the 150 members, I think they would all have multiple bills they wanted to pass."The bill died during the regular session after TSA officials threatened legal action. But it surged back to life after Gov. Rick Perry put it on the special session agenda.Simpson and co-sponsor Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, raced the clock in a frantic effort to get the bill passed before lawmakers went home.The Senate passed Patrick's version of the bill Monday while the House gave preliminary approval to Simpson's House bill. But Simpson preferred Patrick's stronger bill and pinned his hopes on getting it past procedural obstacles on the final day of the session.Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, chairman of the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, told lawmakers that district attorneys and law enforcement groups had concerns about the bill and feared that it would be hard to prosecute.Other members also criticized the Senate for going home a day before the 30-day deadline, making it impossible to adjust differences between the two chambers. Gallego said House members were put in a "take it or leave it spot."Playing politicsRep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, also asserted that Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, the Senate's presiding officer, had improperly politicized the issue by declaring that the bill is "telling the Obama administration we will not be intimidated and we will vigorously defend our constitutional rights.""Playing politics and playing gamesmanship between the two chambers is not the way to end our special session," Coleman said.A resolution approved by the House on Tuesday calls on Congress to "take appropriate action to ensure acceptable treatment of the public" by TSA employees.But Simpson said the resolution is the equivalent of "saying please" and called on House members to pass his bill to end what he said have been a string of well-documented abuses by TSA agents. He said the bill would stop "the routine touching of private parts" of people who are subjected to pat-downs for refusing to go through metal detectors or body scanners.House members also approved a revenue-related bill to streamline the Texas court system and help it absorb state funding reductions under the new two-year budget. The measure would allow for the transfer of cases between district courts, expand the civil jurisdiction of county courts and merge small-claims courts into justices of the peace courts.Perry ordered the special session after a filibuster by Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, on the final day of the regular session killed a must-pass revenue and school finance bill that implements $4 billion in reduced school funding. A revived version of the bill, now known as SB1, passed both chambers Tuesday and is now on Perry's desk.Lawmakers also acted on other measures Perry added to the agenda, including a congressional redistricting plan and legislation transforming a windstorm insurance fund to help hurricane victims on the Gulf Coast.But one of Perry's major priorities -- a bill to prohibit "sanctuary cities" that critics say are havens for illegal immigrants -- died in the special session, prompting high-level finger-pointing in the final hours of the session.Perry issued a sharply worded statement Tuesday criticizing Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, the chief architect of SB1, for failing to include the sanctuary cities bill in the must-pass bill. But the Senate Republican Caucus issued a statement supporting Duncan, saying Senate Republicans feared that including sanctuary cities in SB1 could have endangered both bills.Hispanics celebrateMore than two dozen Hispanic leaders held a Capitol news conference to proclaim victory with the bill's defeat. "This is a moment of celebration," said Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Texas Border Network.Perry, Straus and Dewhurst released statements hailing the Legislature's work, including a no-tax-hike budget that calls for $15 billion in reduced state spending over the next two years. Perry, who is expected to announce a decision on a possible presidential run later this summer, also commended bills requiring sonograms before abortions, toughening property rights and cracking down on human trafficking."Ultimately the measures we have worked together to complete this session will keep Texas a model of good, efficient and limited governance," Perry said.The Texas Democratic Party panned the legislative body of work. "After meeting for 170 days, the Republican-led 82nd Legislature adjourned without solving the most critical problems facing Texas," said state Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie."Instead of adequately funding our children's schools or correcting a revenue system that will lead to future deficits and shortfalls, the regular and special sessions were dominated by 'red meat' partisan wedge issues," he said.Dave Montgomery is the Star-Telegram's Austin bureau chief. 512-476-4294Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
