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July 23, 2021 8:23 PM
Just a mess: Patrick sounds worried about a Senate quorum break in a second special session; House Democrats in DC say they’d rather talk with Abbott, who has said the GOP shouldn’t negotiate with Democrats
The Texas House
Democrats might be losing leverage – it’s hard to tell from day to day – but it
does appear the group has dug in and is ready to reject any overture from Texas
Senate Republicans who insist they have a nicer, gentler bill they are
willing to adjust on elections.
The Senate’s “voter
integrity” bill clearly is better than the House version, supporters argue. Beyond
that, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and sponsor Sen. Bryan Hughes,
R-Mineola, have insisted the maneuvers of House Democrats are acts of desperation.
Patrick and Hughes also say members of the minority party would be better off
returning to negotiate with the Senate.
“You can always tell the
side that's losing because it’s the side speaking the loudest and most
emotional. And I think that’s what's happened since some Democrats went to
Washington,” Patrick said during a Texas Capitol news conference Wednesday.
Patrick insists the tide
is shifting.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Kimberly Reeves
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Copyright July 23, 2021, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 23, 2021 7:55 PM
Republicans like Chairman Dustin Burrows and Chair Brian Birdwell have filed bills to block UT from changing conferences, but of course that's not on the special session agenda. The governor's office has gone quiet
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Copyright July 23, 2021, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 22, 2021 5:26 PM
“Our load expectation could reach an all-time high (next week). We’re projecting somewhere around 74,000 megawatt hours, and the current record is 74,820.”
The Texas Legislature
passed all the legislation necessary to fix the reliability of the Texas
electric grid that failed during Winter Storm Uri, PUC
Chair Peter Lake told reporters during a news conference with ERCOT
Interim CEO Brad Jones on Thursday.
The joint news
conference was intended to update the media and the public ahead of what will
be the hottest weeks of the summer, starting next week, when demand on the
system is expected to hit new highs.
That doesn’t mean
everything is fixed, but it does mean ERCOT has begun to map out strategies to
shore up reserve power and not be caught unprepared.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Kimberly Reeves
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Copyright July 22, 2021, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 22, 2021 2:10 PM
After earlier in the year
saying they intend to expand the GOP map into South Texas by targeting some
specific Texas House districts in that region, the Associated
Republicans of Texas on Thursday unveiled another group of districts
held by Democrats they will attempt to win in 2022.
As part of their pitch, ART
seized on the walkout by Democrats in DC working to block elections legislation
from moving forward in Austin.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright July 22, 2021, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 22, 2021 10:25 AM
“When other Republicans would say, ‘Wear a mask, stay inside. You must do this, you must do that,’ when other Republicans were siding with Dr. Fauci, it was Don Huffines who would stand up and say he will side for your freedom."
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Copyright July 22, 2021, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 21, 2021 4:17 PM
GOP leadership promotes the fact that 92 House members are now at or near the Texas Capitol; 57 Democrats signed letters last week asking the Journal Clerk to lock their voting machines, that number now appears only down one to 56
Rep. Philip Cortez,
D-San Antonio, on Wednesday announced that he had returned from Washington to “lead
the reform effort on HB 3,” the Texas House version
of the elections bill. That’s as GOP leadership promoted the fact that 92
members – from both parties – are now on or around the
Texas House floor, 8 shy of a quorum.
GOP Caucus Chairman Jim Murphy earlier in the day had
said there were 91 House members at the Texas Capitol. After
that, QR reported that Rep. Leo Pacheco, D-San Antonio,
was also back at the Capitol.
But it’s
important to note that from the moment most members of the Texas House
Democratic Caucus were wheels down in Washington last week, 57 of them
had signed letters asking the House Journal Clerk to lock their
voting machines.
That means the GOP leadership’s
number for House attendance, even with Cortez back, tops out at 94.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright July 21, 2021, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 21, 2021 2:56 PM
That would bring to 92 the unofficial attendance in the Texas House
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Copyright July 21, 2021, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 21, 2021 2:28 PM
Here is the statement from
Rep. Andrew Murr:
"While he was in
Washington, Rep. Cortez and I had very frank, candid discussions about the
concerns he and his Democrat colleagues have with House Bill 3. Rep. Cortez is
now back in Austin and we will continue to have
serious, thoughtful conversations about House Bill 3. Phil Cortez and I will
likely never see eye-to-eye on this election legislation, but he will have a
seat at the table to fight for his district because he is willing to defend
their beliefs in the chamber of the Texas House."
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Copyright July 21, 2021, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 20, 2021 10:32 AM
Something amazing
happened this past week: legislators managed to get their semiannual campaign
finance reports in on time. Alternatively, of course, that could mean the Texas
Ethics Commission is working lightning fast. It’s all
relative.
Regardless, the
July semiannual reports are in and y’all are clearly holding your checkbooks
close.
With district lines
up in the air, donors seem to be holding back on major giving. Rounding out the
donor names are a who’s who of the lobby as well as
members’ colleagues and friends. This list is a result of asking around, Scott
and I making calls, and a compilation of top Democratic and Republican targets
in 2022.
Let’s take a
look at what we have so far, starting with Democrats in the Texas Senate.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By James Russell
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Copyright July 20, 2021, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 20, 2021 8:49 AM
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Copyright July 20, 2021, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 19, 2021 7:00 PM
It's our understanding some conservatives have reached out to Krause to gauge his interest in running and he is strongly considering it
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Copyright July 19, 2021, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 18, 2021 10:07 PM
Served from 1991-2007, arrangements announced shortly
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Copyright July 18, 2021, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 16, 2021 1:29 PM
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Copyright July 16, 2021, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 16, 2021 12:47 PM
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Copyright July 16, 2021, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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July 16, 2021 10:48 AM
A notable retirement, some lobby moves, staffer moves, and more
WASHINGTON – It turns out a stalemate is about
as exciting as it sounds.
If anyone tries to tell you Texas House
Democrats are having a party here in Washington, there isn’t
even a bar in their hotel. Rep. Donna Howard took a little bit of flak
for tweeting out a picture of her laundry in the hotel room and she apologized
for distracting from the message: “This is serious work we're doing in DC
bringing attn to ensuring the freedom to vote for all. I may be a human who
makes mistakes, but there's no mistake that fair & equal access to the
polls is the foundation of our democracy,” she said.
How long will this go on? Well, there’s absolutely no indication from the members here that any
of them would break ranks anytime soon to return to Austin while Gov. Greg
Abbott threatens another special session immediately starting August 8.
Back in Austin, Texas Senate
Republicans are going through the motions of passing bills – going through the motions
has become the norm anyway in the 5/9ths Senate – and the House GOP is praying
and asking Democrats to come back to help retired teachers. Of course, those
retired educators could use a boost after their 13th check died in
the regular session.
Meantime, there’s career news to tell you
about including a notable retirement, some lobby moves, staffer moves, and
more. The best way to let the entire Texas Capitol community know
what’s going on with you or a friend is to send the scoop
to ksbraddock@gmail.com and use POTM
in the subject line. Please and thank you.
Here’s
the latest edition of People on the Move:
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright July 16, 2021, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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