April 14, 2021      6:20 AM

Texas Senate votes 29 to 2 to approve constitutional amendment to force a special session during prolonged disaster

Senators also voted overwhelmingly to put lawmakers, not the governor, squarely in charge of whether businesses can be ordered to shut down during a disaster

A constitutional amendment to put state lawmakers back at the decision table during disasters and emergencies passed the Texas Senate late Tuesday. The enabling legislation, meantime, was stripped of an amendment that would allow lawmakers to override a governor’s executive orders.

Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, was frank about the outlines of his bill, which has more than a dozen co-sponsors: He stripped out the parts that were being sponsored by other Senators and landed on a bill that could gain the supermajority needed for a constitutional amendment.

By Kimberly Reeves

Copyright April 14, 2021, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved