This article was written by Bobby Cervantes and originally published in the Houston Chronicle.
The Convention of States effort in Texas begins in earnest Tuesday, when state Rep. Rick Miller, from Sugar Land, and state Sen. Brian Birdwell, from Granbury, will pre-file a resolution calling for a convention.
“The subject-matter resolution calls for limiting the power, scope and jurisdiction of the federal government, fiscal restraint and term limits on federal officials, such as the judiciary,” according to a statement from the Convention of States Project, whose organizers are expecting nearly 400 people to attend the kick-off event.
There is no room for compromise here, since states need to agree on particular issues they want to consider during a convention to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The goal is that each chamber will approve the identical resolution, overcoming the Senate hurdle they faced last session, said Tamara Colbert, a Convention of States co-director.
“We need to aggregate with those other states, so we’re passing the identical resolution,” she said, adding that a convention requires the go-ahead from 34 state legislatures.
In the last weeks of the 84th Legislature, the lower chamber passed House Joint Resolution 77with 80 ayes and 62 nays. The session was wrapping up by the time it headed to the Senate, where the resolution was left pending in the Senate State Affairs Committee.
Make no mistake about it now: It is a priority item for at least two of the Big Three, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott. The governor and a raft of lawmakers are scheduled to speak to hundreds of volunteers at Tuesday’s meeting. It is difficult to see how the measure does not win the Texas Legislature’s approval in the upcoming regular session, which begins in January, especially given the Senate’s seemingly unending drive to show that it, not the House, is the most conservative body. So much for the argument that the House routinely obstructs right-wing legislation.
As national Democrats come to terms with soon-to-be complete Republican control in Washington, D.C., they’ll feel what Texas Democrats have felt for quite some time. It is unclear what, if anything, Democrats in the House or Senate will do the halt the convention of states resolution. They certainly will have other pressing matters to oppose. Organizers of Tuesday’s event say they have volunteers from all political stripes and will lobby House and Senate members from both parties.
