Shared from the 6/25/2017 San Antonio Express eEdition

Straus could slam door on special session

He has power to adjourn the House

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Tom Reel / San Antonio Express-News

His fellow House members unanimously gave Joe Straus a record-tying fifth term as speaker in January.

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Eric Gay / Associated Press

Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, were together at the opening of the legislative session in January.

AUSTIN — As Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick drive an agenda that would chip away at local officials’ control of everything from bathroom regulations to property taxes, House Speaker Joe Straus is talking up the belief that the best government is locally driven.

“It may not be popular right now, but we still believe something that one of my first mentors, Sen. John Tower, liked to say — that the best government is that which is closest to the people,” Straus said in a widely noticed speech to a Texas Association of School Boards conference. “In other words, we believe that you know what’s best for your students and for your taxpayers.”

The contrast could foretell a rough ride for the special session agenda laid out with much fanfare by Abbott, who like Patrick is attuned to the wishes of the GOP primary voters statewide who trend quite right.

Unlike the other two leaders, however, Straus’ political fortunes aren’t tied to statewide voters.

He’s elected to the House from San Antonio’s District 121, in which he has a record of beating challengers. And he’s elected speaker by his fellow House members, who unanimously gave him a record-tying fifth term in January. They, too, are more beholden to their local constituencies rather than a broad party platform.

“It (Straus’ district) is Republican for sure, and it’s conservative for sure, but it is the kind of conservative, reasonable Republican that is well represented by someone like Joe Straus,” said Republican consultant Kelton Morgan. “People like me who are constituents of Joe Straus … are happy with him, and people like me will continue to vote to re-elect him.

“I would say that Joe believes in the long-held conservative value of local control, whereas the governor and the lieutenant governor are content to replace the social engineering of the left that Republicans decried for so long with the social engineering of the right,” Morgan said.

Newly elected San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said Straus “has demonstrated a very reasoned understanding of his local community and the needs of the state.”

Efforts to infringe on local control, Nirenberg said, are damaging to the state.

“It’s foolish, because what’s happening with the state clamping down on local control is the loss of business in cities throughout Texas which are producing the revenue required for the state to function,” Nirenberg said. “Businesses are concerned about discriminatory legislation that would be coming to our state, and they’re looking elsewhere.”

The city will continue to work with the San Antonio delegation and the Legislature in general to find compromise when possible, he said, and it is seeking an active partnership with the state.

“We answer to the same voters that they do,” Nirenberg said. “There is a reason why in the state and throughout the country, it’s local governments that have the highest approval ratings they’ve had in history while the state and more so the federal government are at the lowest points in history.”

Same outcome?

Some lawmakers and observers say there’s no reason to think there will be a different outcome in the 30-day special session that begins July 18 for the controversial issues that died in the 140-day regular session. Abbott can call repeated special sessions; Straus can adjourn the House.

“Certainly, everybody is sending the same sets of signals that they were sending during the (regular) session, except in a more cranky and direct way, which is leading us not to expect that it’s going to be much different,” said James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

The speaker’s post traditionally has included protecting House members from votes they’d rather not take. Some lawmakers say they aren’t hearing from their constituents about Abbott’s agenda items.

“Certainly in my time in the district on a day-today basis, I am not hearing a large outcry on any of these issues,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairman John Zerwas, R-Richmond. “I don’t make any predictions that it (the session) will end up any differently than it did last time.”

But there could be increased pressure on Republican House members from those who support some of the contentious special session agendas, since the spotlight will be on the limited number of proposals in a way it wasn’t during the regular session.

Pressure from Abbott also could help persuade some lawmakers.

Abbott spokesman John Wittman said the governor’s office has been engaged with individual House and Senate members. Abbott’s office has begun announcing bill sponsors. And sources said Abbott will actively and aggressively support people who support him. Abbott didn’t get involved in last year’s primary elections.

Some tea-party-aligned House members long have publicly disagreed with Straus’ approach, including Rep. Jonathan Stick-land, R-Bedford.

“I think that Joe is completely out of touch with the state of Texas and the voters in the state,” Stick-land said, contending that Straus’ positions will “cost him everything.”

“I don’t think that Speaker Straus can publicly oppose the legislation that he has been and maintain the (position of) speaker of the Texas House,” Stickland said, adding that during the special session, “My plan is to push for things to get done as fast as possible and to use every bit of public pressure or rules to accomplish that goal.”

Stickland’s confidence belies his relative inexperience compared to Straus; Straus has been speaker longer than Stick-land has been in the House. Stickland joined in the unanimous vote for Straus in January, but said he won’t vote for him in the future.

Lawmakers also may worry about drawing a GOP primary opponent if they oppose Abbott’s agenda.

“For the Republican supporters of Straus in the House, they will have to decide in the very public spotlight of a special session who to serve: their conservative constituents, or Straus' obstructionist agenda. Those who decide to join the Straus-Democrat coalition in obstructing Gov. Abbott's agenda will have to hope Straus will spend big in the 2018 primary to protect them from their constituents,” said Michael Quinn Sullivan, president of the tea-party-aligned, free-market group Empower Texans and a frequent Straus critic.

But lobbyist Bill Miller said Straus is doing what the House expects.

“They don’t expect their leader to follow the lead of the governor or lieutenant governor. That’s what political leadership is about,” Miller said, pointing to Straus’ high-octane option of adjourning the House if the special session becomes too wearing. “He effectively has the power of sine die (adjournment) any time he chooses to. It’s like a pocket veto that the speaker enjoys during any special session, as does the lieutenant governor.”

Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus in the House, also cited that option, saying the only bill that must pass is so-called sunset legislation to keep open state agencies including the Texas Medical Board.

Patrick stalled Senate action on the sunset bill in the regular session in order force a special session after the House didn’t follow the Senate’s lead on two of his priority bills.

The House didn’t vote on requiring automatic rollback elections when cities and counties raise property taxes above a certain rate; and it didn’t pass a measure that satisfied Patrick regarding transgender people’s use of public restrooms, which the lieutenant governor called a matter of safety and privacy.

Straus opposes the bathroom bill, joining the business community in expressing concern that a law viewed as discriminatory could cause boycotts affecting Texas’ economy.

“We should work on and pass the sunset bill and then save taxpayer money by just adjourning sine die. That would be my preference,” Anchia said.“Nothing else on that list is critical. There’s a reason they didn’t pass in the House. They didn’t have widespread support.”

Abbott, however, could simply call lawmakers back into another session if the House adjourned early.

Straus support

Numerous House members see little shift in the House’s support for Straus.

“He (Straus) continues to be in a very strong position,” Zerwas said. “I would say his support is unchanged by anything that happened in the regular session.”

Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, noted that, in standing firm in the face of Abbott’s agenda, Straus is “being a leader.”

“The bathroom bill is a priority only in the halls of the state Capitol. Once you leave that place and you talk to people in the real world, it doesn’t come up. It’s not a concern,” Bernal said. “Most people don’t understand why we’re having a special session at all.”

Besides the bathroom and tax measures, the special-session agenda includes a proposal to allow parents of special-needs children to get state-supported funding for private school tuition. The House has voted against the voucher idea, which backers say empowers parents but critics see as a drain on already-underfunded public schools.

On that issue, Henson said, Straus is being straightforward about the sentiment in the chamber he leads.

“The speaker just called the reality what it is, which is that he knows where the votes are, particularly on vouchers,” Henson said.

Straus has Republican bona fides that predate his time in the Legislature.

Straus’ mother has been a force in Republican politics, and he started at the grass-roots level, serving as a Bexar County precinct chairman.

He interned for Tower, worked in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, managed U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith’s first campaign for Congress and last year chaired the Republican Legislative Campaign Committee. He has raised and donated millions of dollars to benefit Republican candidates, a spokesman said.

“What I’m expecting from him (in the special session) is what he has provided during the regular session, and that is the voice of reason,” said Austin lawyer Hector De Leon, co-chairman of the Associated Republicans of Texas, which had a fund-raiser featuring Straus on Tuesday. The group traces its roots to Tower, who in 1961 became the first Republican U.S. senator elected in Texas since Reconstruction.

“There is no doubt that Speaker Straus is motivated by what he believes to be in the best interest of the state of Texas and of all its citizens, and not interested in pursuing any particular agenda and not interested in catering to any particular interest group,” De Leon said.

Not everyone agrees.

“It seems that the state-wides (Abbott and Patrick) are on the same page in terms of priorities, while a single blue-blood state representative from the country clubs of San Antonio is being the obstructionist,” Sullivan said. “Straus may be in tune with the mood of Democrats and the Austin lobby, but he is out of touch with Texas' conservative majority.”

As the special session approaches, Straus is highlighting issues including school finance reform, which he suggested deserves more than the study commission that Abbott included in the special-session agenda.

He says putting more money into schools would benefit education while relieving pressure on local school property taxes that make up the biggest overall share of the property tax levy statewide.

“I think (Straus) is absolutely a beacon of hope,” said Paul Sugg, legislative director of the Texas Association of Counties. His group is among those fighting automatic rollback elections, which critics say would impair local governments’ ability to fund services including public safety.

“The speaker is not about empty political symbolism. The speaker and his leadership team are about real policy,” Sugg said. “He’s the Lone Ranger, but he’s not afraid of being the Lone Ranger.” pfikac@express-news.net Twitter: @pfikac

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