Conservative Texas group kills dozens of bills

In a moved dubbed “The Mother’s Day Massacre,” a divide among Texas Republican lawmakers forced 100 bills to be killed during the 85th legislative session in Austin.

The Freedom Caucus, a conservative group of Republicans announced on Thursday that it derailed dozens of bills after much of its own legislation was not passed by House leadership.

Last Thursday, the Freedom Caucus, a conservative group of the Republican party announced it derailed dozens of bills after much of its own legislation was not passed by House Leadership.

State Rep. Cesar Blanco, D-El Paso, introduced five bills that will not make it to the Senate for approval. Blanco said the bills that were slashed were on the local and consent calendar, an expedited path for bills that are bipartisan or “uncontroversial.”

“It’s unfortunate that we got to this point, where a small faction within the Republican party is more interested in petty retribution rather than passing good public policy by both sides of the aisle,” Blanco said.

The bills that were tabled would have affected El Paso County, schools and women’s health. Another bill would have helped veterans who worked in health fields to get college credit for training in the military.

“At the end of the day, hardworking families in Texas are the ones that lose because this Republican Freedom Caucus wanted to throw a tantrum,” Blanco said.

In a video posted by the Texas Tribune, the Freedom Caucus announced the bills’ failure Thursday night.

Rep. Jeff Leach, (R) PlanoR-Plano called it “petty, personal politics.”

Leach said the Freedom Caucus delivered a form to kill the local and consent calendar.

“Essentially what we’re doing is exactly what they did to our bills,” Leach said.

Blanco said many of the Freedom Caucus’ bills were anti-abortion, Second Amendment and property tax legislation.

“Their approach is a scorched-earth approach, I don’t agree with that,” Blanco said.

“I think good public policy died because of politics.”

Blanco said that with fewer than two weeks to go before the end of the legislative session, the state budget has not been passed.

The Senate and House are currently negotiating different funding mechanisms. If they can’t come to an agreement, a special session will be called.

“There could be a lot of disagreements,” Blanco said.

A major concern is whether the caucus could pull the same move in the next two weeks. If so, that would affect the state budget and a major bill that could potentially shut down the Texas Department of Transportation if it’s not passed.

The Sunset Bill requires lawmakers to review agencies and their performances and also looks at ways the agencies can be improved.

If the recommendations are not passed, TxDOT could shut down. Blanco said it would hurt El Paso because there are a lot of projects that require TxDOT to be up and running.

“I hope that the Freedom Caucus doesn’t take this bill hostage,” Blanco said.

“We really haven’t seen anything like this in recent history where infighting within one party is creating bad public policy.”