He's smart enough to stack the deck in his favor, this time.
The big Texas abortion fight, round two, is postponed mostly until next week, when the full chambers will reconvene on Tuesday, July 9. Both chambers of the legislature gaveled in Monday afternoon to take care of the first bit of business on taking women's rights away. They had to introduce the bills anew and refer them to committee. The new bills we will be watching are HB 2 in the House and SB1 in the Senate.
Both chambers did take care of some other business. The Senate will once again dispense with its 2/3 majority rule, as it did in the previous special session. That means Democrats won't be able to put up "blocker bills" to slow down progress on this one. So much for the "honored tradition" of the Texas Senate, a rule that "fosters civility, a willingness to compromise, and a spirit of bipartisanship."
The House did a little more business before adjourning, determining that the committee hearing for HB2 will happen tomorrow afternoon and will last until, and only until, midnight regardless of how many people have signed up to testify. Democratic House members raised concerns about the ability of the public to testify in that short time period and about the scheduled committee room, which they say is too small to fit the entire committee, much less members of the public wishing to attend and testify.
Democratic House members also attempted to get a parliamentary ruling on the decorum of this statement about Sen. Wendy Davis from this member of the House:
We had terrorist in the Texas State Senate opposing SB 5
— @Bill_Zedler
The question of whether or not there's a terrorist in the state Senate, the parliamentarian decided, will have to be taken up at a later time. Presumably after this special session has adjourned and the GOP is celebrating their victory over the state's women over beers. Gov. Perry and the legislature are doing everything possible to guarantee the outcome this time around. It's a 30-day session, with the abortion bill coming up early, too early to be successfully filibustered. They're stacking the rules in their favor. But they're turning the people of Texas, and the nation, against themselves.
Stand with Wendy Davis and the Texas Democrats. Sign the petition and show your support.