With GOP supermajority at risk in 2020, Texas Senate may lower threshold to bring bills to floor.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Thursday the Texas Senate may further lower the threshold required to bring bills to the floor if Republicans lose one or two seats in November.

Patrick made the comment at a conservative policy conference in Austin while discussing the current makeup of the upper chamber, which has 19 Republicans and 12 Democrats. Currently, 19 votes are required to put legislation on the floor for passage. But Republicans are facing the real possibility of losing at least one caucus member in 2020. Sen. Pete Flores, R-Pleasanton, is running for reelection in a historically Democratic district after winning his seat in a 2018 special election upset.

"I'm right there at that number, and if we lose one or two seats, then we might have to go to 16 next session," Patrick said. "We might have to go to a simple majority because we will not be stopped in leading on federalism in the United States of America."

Patrick went on to express confidence that Republicans will "be successful in November" up and down the ballot. He said the party will "keep the majority in the Senate" but did not specifically comment on the seats that Republicans need above that 16-member baseline to be able to bring bills to the floor on their own.

The suggestion prompted immediate outcry from Democrats. The state Democratic Party called Patrick's suggestion "yet another example of Republicans circumventing Texans and jamming through unpopular Republican legislation that harms Texas families" in a written statement.

"Texans don't want us to be like Washington, D.C. where politicians are in constant gridlock," Houston Sen. Carol Alvarado, chairwoman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, said in a statement. "The Lt. Governor's statement on once again changing the rules would continue to bring DC-style hyperpartisanship to Texas. One person alone cannot dictate the rules of our chamber; that authority resides with all of the Senators."



https://www.texastribune.org/2020/01/23/dan-patrick-says-he-may-further-lower-threshold-bring-bills-senate-flo/