House Bill 3 Passes by a Single Vote, 70-69
By Phillip Martin
Why, oh why, was this vote not verified?
After hours of debate and discussion, House Bill 3 passed the House on third reading by a vote of 70-69. Though the floor vote was 71-66, there were numerous machine malfunctions and errors in voting. The House Journal Clerk's office is saying that the final vote was 70-69.
I have spoken with Rep. Hilderbran's office, and they have told me that Rep. Hilderbran was meeting with the Governor during the vote, and once he was out of the meeting he went to register a "no" vote against the tax bill (71-67).
I have spoken with Rep. Anchia, who told me it was "chaos" after the vote, and once he realized he was not registered he immediately went to the Journal Clerk and registered a "no" vote. (71-68).
I have spoken with Rep. McClendon's office, and they also assured me that Rep. McClendon was opposed to the tax bill. Apparently, their voting machine malfunctioned the worse, and she was recorded voting "yes" when she obviously meant to vote "no." (70-69).
So the Leadership's bill only passed by a vote, and that was after considerable arm-twisting by the Speaker. Two Republican Representatives, Rep. Laudenberg and Rep. McCall, switched from a "no" vote last night to a "yes" vote this afternoon. Also, Rep. Hegar and Rep. Truitt, who voted "no" last night, disappeared overnight and were not present on the floor this afternoon. Also, last night, Chairman Pitts apparently broke his promise to Rep. Dukes. Check the Statesman for the best story---they go into much better detail than I can here.
It was good to see Rep. Edwards and Rep. Bailey remain firm with their "no" votes, despite rumors that they might do otherwise, and while it would have been best for him to be here last night, it was good to see Rep. Eiland immediately return to the House floor.
So, in the end, it seems that the Democrats were caught off guard last night, which gave our illustrious Speaker enough time to guarantee that the will of the Leadership was greater than the will of the people of Texas.
Posted by Phillip Martin at July 7, 2005 01:14 PM
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To note, most of the absent members were paired with present House members (pairing is a way to cancel out a "yes" vote with a "no" vote, an unofficial way of getting your view heard). The paired votes were:
Rep. Geren (R) and Rep. Martinez-Fischer (D)
Rep. Smith, Todd (R) and Rep. Dukes (D)
Rep. Taylor (R) and Rep. Solomons (R)
Rep. Seaman (R) and Rep. Reyna (R)
Just a little more information on the vote...
