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- The Blast - May 27, 2025
The Blast - May 27, 2025
The Blast | Texas Tribune
May 27, 2025
By Renzo Downey and The Texas Tribune Politics Team
Today is the House’s Senate bill deadline
1 day until the Senate bill deadline
6 days until sine die
IN TODAY’S BLAST
Too little time
Bills dying by points of order and for lacking the votes
The Blast presents: Tom Oliverson’s Session Jams
TOO LITTLE TIME
Today is the final day for the House to preliminarily pass Senate bills, and as expected, bills are dying.
As of 7 p.m., the House has made it to page eight of today’s 21-page supplemental calendar. The House has until midnight to preliminarily pass Senate bills.
SB 18, the ban on drag story hour in public libraries, is down on page 18 of today’s supplemental calendar. SB 2858, the expansion of now-House Speaker Dustin Burrows’ 2023 “Death Star” preemption bill, is about halfway down that page.
The bottom line is it sounds like the House will come up short. That’s despite efforts to keep the calendar moving.
It may be the last day for the House to give its first OK to Senate bills, but bills that survive this deadline have until tomorrow for their final House passage. So, the House postponed nearly two dozen bills from the top pages of the calendar that were up for final passage, putting off work that could be saved for one more day.
This means the final passage of some of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s priorities will have to wait till tomorrow: SB 7, the water infrastructure bill, SB 13, the library catalog bill, and SB 30, the nuclear verdict bill that’s become a proxy for Texans for Lawsuit Reform and the Texas Trial Lawyers Association.
It’s a tactic that some of the hardliner conservatives have called for previously but the House hasn’t pulled this session. However, that apparently irked some Republicans, who noted that the postponed bills were mostly Republicans’ bills. That included SB 1718, which would approve an incentive for the National Rifle Association to hold its conventions in Texas.
Rep. Briscoe Cain, a Republican from Deer Park who is part of the hardline flank, took to the back mic to troll any disgruntled Republicans.
“My understanding is members are postponing so we don’t slow the calendar down, so Republicans are having to postpone them,” Cain told the House. “But we have no problem passing bills by the other party.”
“This keeps happening, sir, that Republican bills are being postponed,” he added after a few more postponements. “Don’t we have 88 members in this body? I don’t understand why we’re worried about Republican bills dying in a Republican-controlled chamber.”
The calendar trickery seemed to start last night.
Just before 10:30 p.m., about 40 minutes into deliberations on the bill to urge cities to crack down on homeless encampments, SB 241, Arlington Republican Rep. Tony Tinderholt implied that conservative hardliners may “move the previous question.” That would force a vote to cut off debate and amendments, a move that would likely anger Democrats.
Soon after, Tinderholt, fellow conservative Nate Schatzline, R-Fort Worth, gathered in a back room of the House with Calendars Committee Chair Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, Appropriations Committee Chair Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, and Burrows lieutenant Cody Harris, R-Palestine. Tinderholt and Schatzline’s goal was to game out how the House can get to as many of the conservatives’ priorities as possible. That meant marching through as much of the calendar as they could with as few breaks as possible.
Meanwhile, SB 241 died on a technicality raised by House Democratic Leader Gene Wu of Houston.
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BILLS DYING BY POINTS OF ORDER AND FOR LACKING THE VOTES
The SB 241 technicality was by far the only successful “point of order” brought by Democrats against a substantive bill in the final 48 hours before the deadline.
Around 2 a.m., Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, raised a point of order against SB 310, which would eliminate ranked-choice voting in certain elections. This afternoon, Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, nuked SB 552, which would’ve eliminated the possibility of deferred adjudication for immigrants who are in the country illegally.
Republicans are also having to navigate the 100-vote threshold to approve constitutional amendments.
Criminal Jurisprudence Committee Chair John Smithee, R-Amarillo, has repeatedly postponed SJR 1, a part of the bail package backed by Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick that would deny bail for immigrants who entered the country illegally and are accused of violent crimes. It appears Republicans still don’t have the 12-plus necessary Democratic votes to make that happen.
And after SJR 87, “Jocelyn’s Law,” failed to pick up the necessary votes yesterday, Republicans took their final shot today but lost 97-40. The proposed constitutional amendment would have denied bail to people accused of repeat violent offenses.
If there is any punishment coming from the Senate for the House Democrats who withheld their support, the punishment hasn’t emerged yet.
Five Democrats who voted no had bills on today’s Senate intent calendar that the chamber had not taken up by the time of the SJR 87 vote. Immediately after the vote failed, the Senate passed HB 367 by Rep. Jon Rosenthal, D-Houston. And a while later, the Senate approved HB 5616 by Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin. Still to come are HB 3005 by Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins, D-San Antonio, HB 3848 by Rep. Ana Hernandez, D-Houston, and HB 5672 by Rep. Erin Zwiener, D-Driftwood.
And be ready in the Senate, because the deadline for that chamber to pass bills (and joint resolutions) is tomorrow.
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THE BLAST PRESENTS: TOM OLIVERSON’S SESSION JAMS
Texas House Republican Caucus Chair Tom Oliverson, 52, lands squarely in the Gen X crowd. And so does his music taste.
Earlier this session, Oliverson was blasting “Hotel California” on the floor during deliberation on a point of order. (Shouldn’t that be illegal in the great state of Texas?) Late on Saturday, as members were on the floor, he took to social media to praise Stone Temple Pilots for “Interstate Love Song.”
Oliverson’s STP post started a ’90s kick among Tribune employees over the weekend. Urban affairs reporter Joshua Fechter said he had the band’s classic third album “Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop” on repeat while glued to the House livestream.
Then, in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, Rep. Erin Zwiener, D-Driftwood, referenced 1994 during questions for Oliverson on SB 2703.
That’s all it took to get the nostalgia flowing.
“’94. That was a good year. I graduated from college that year,” Oliverson said. “I think Bush’s first album came out that year.”
And that’s all it took to put Fechter over the top. Thanks to some important social media scrolling by Fechter and The Blast, here’s a selection of just some of Oliverson’s songs that, like anything prescribed by an anesthesiologist, is certain to knock you out.
The Blast presents: Tom Oliverson’s Session Jams
The conference committee over SB 21, creating the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, has already returned its conference report.
House actions:
Senate actions:
The Senate passed HB 14, the House’s nuclear fund bill.
The bill clarifying that refusing to acknowledge a child’s sexual orientation or stated gender is not child abuse, HB 1106, preliminarily passed today and is expected to finally pass tomorrow.
The TCUP bill, HB 46, is on today’s Senate intent calendar.
The bill banning kids from social media platforms, HB 186, is still on the intent calendar from yesterday.
The House and Senate have not adjourned for the day, but the House is expected to go to midnight and return at 10 a.m. tomorrow.
Today marks the beginning of early voting in runoffs from the May elections. The big race to watch is San Antonio mayor.
TX-SEN: Missed this late last week — Top Trump adviser Chris LaCivita is joining Texans for a Conservative Majority, a pro-John Cornyn super PAC that is supporting the four-term senator in his reelection. Axios had it first.
Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke will hold a town hall at the Humble Civic Center in Harris County on Thursday. It will be his eighth town hall in a congressional district represented by a Republican.
Do you or someone in your office have a new job you’d like mentioned? Email us.
Shilo Brooks will be the next president and CEO of the George W. Bush Presidential Center. The West Texas native is currently a program director and lecturer at Princeton University.
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“Lawmakers near deal to spend $20 billion over two decades on water crisis” by Alejandra Martinez and Jayme Lozano Carver of The Texas Tribune
“Bill that would increase oversight of Texas’ largest energy users gets OK’d in Texas House” by Carlos Nogueras Ramos of The Texas Tribune
“Texas House OKs bill to allow smaller homes on smaller lots amid housing affordability crunch” by Joshua Fechter of The Texas Tribune
“Cybersecurity, prison AC among projects in Texas Senate surplus spending bill” by Karen Brooks Harper of The Dallas Morning News
“Texas lawmakers vote to decriminalize short-barreled firearms” by Isaac Yu of the San Antonio Express-News
Do you or someone in your office have a birthday you’d like mentioned? Email us.
(May 27) Astros Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell
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Disclosure: The George W. Bush Presidential Center, Texans for Lawsuit Reform and the Texas Trial Lawyers Association have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.