AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- As the Texas House debated bipartisan House Joint Resolution 72, a proposed amendment to the Texas constitution, State Rep. Gene Wu, D - Houston, stepped up to the microphone with a unique question for the bill's author, State Rep. Candy Noble, R - Murphy.
"I fully support this resolution," began Wu, the chairman of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, said. HJR 72 grants property tax relief for family members of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), if they own their family member's homes in their name.
"I called you last night and asked you to just have a brief delay in this bill, correct?" Wu asked.
"Yes," Noble replied.
"You agreed and you gave me your word that you would delay just briefly," Wu said.
"I did, and after talking with my IDD constituents I decided to choose them and I apologize that that did not happen," Noble replied.
The exchange came after a constitutional amendment discussion was delayed on Tuesday. Ahead of a vote on Senate Bill 2 -- the education savings accounts bill -- the Texas Tribune reported that Democrats were threatening to vote against all proposed constitutional amendments if Republicans didn’t help them put the ESA legislation to a public vote.
Constitutional amendments require a two-thirds vote from both chambers of the Texas legislature before heading to the voters, meaning 51 of the 62 Democratic House members can kill one without any Republican dissenting.
When HJR 72 got to a vote, 90 members voted in favor, two against with 51 members registering as 'present, not voting' (PNV). Among the 51 PNVs, 50 were Democratic House members with the 51st being Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows, who typically only breaks ties.
While 100 votes are needed to pass joint resolutions/constitutional amendments, HJR 72 wasn't killed by the vote, but rather sent to a third reading where it will need 100 votes. The third reading was scheduled for Thursday, but after Wednesday's vote, Noble motioned to move the vote to Monday.
"Maybe I'm being told we are going to vote it out"
HJR 72 wasn't the only proposed constitutional amendment on the House docket Wednesday. A couple hours prior, State Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, appeared unsure if he should bring forward Senate Joint Resolution 3 which, in conjunction with Senate Bill 5, would create the Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.
"(SB 5) has a constitutional amendment that's attached to it which we're not going to vote on today. We're going to do like the other constitutional amendments," Craddick said before turning to State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston.
"We got the votes, we got the votes," Senfronia, a co-sponsor on the bill with Craddick, told him.
With a collection of State Representatives gathered near the Speaker's desk, the microphone picked up one saying "the Ds are deciding."
After SB 5 advanced to a third reading, Craddick ultimately decided to postpone debate of SJR 3 to Monday.
