KEY VOTE ALERT

Young Conservatives of Texas urges no vote on House Rules Package

Manfred Wendt
Executive Director
Young Conservatives of Texas
[email protected] 

Fort Worth, TX — ​The Young Conservatives of Texas (​YCT) opposes HR 4, the House Rules, as currently written and urges legislators to vote no​. The result of the vote will be included in the Young Conservatives of Texas 87th Legislature Scorecard.

The House rules package currently includes a provision known as Rule 5, Section 51, which would raise the threshold for a recorded vote from one member to three members. We firmly believe that one member should have the right to request a roll call vote. Simply put, if Texas House members do not feel confident in being able to record themselves voting for it, they shouldn’t vote for it or bring legislation to the floor.

Another concerning addition is Rule 16 Section 20, the “Consensus Calendar”. This rule creates a calendar for supposedly “non-controversial” bills and restricts legislators’ ability to amend or debate the legislation on the floor. Amendment and debate is a key part of the legislative process and should be encouraged not curtailed.

Additionally, YCT is concerned about Rule 4, Section 13 C which restricts taxpayers’ ability to live-stream committee business. We believe this to be a clear and egregious violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act. Similar rules have been used before to arrest Texas citizens.

These rule changes are clearly a political maneuver intended to reduce accountability and transparency.

Young Conservatives of Texas, a non-partisan conservative youth organization, has been fighting for conservative values for more than forty years in the Lone Star State and publishes the most respected ratings of the Texas Legislature.

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