Texas House Democrats broke quorum for two weeks to prevent a vote on the state’s redrawn congressional map.
AUSTIN, Texas — Now that Texas lawmakers have passed a newly redrawn congressional map and sent it to Gov. Abbott’s desk for his signature, Texas House Democrats are preparing to face the consequences of their two-week long quorum break.
State Rep. Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth), who chairs the Committee on House Administration, sent a letter to House Democrats totaling up their fines.
In a social media post Thursday night, State Rep. Venton Jones (D-Dallas) shared the letter he received, which detailed the extent of the fines.
It shows that House members are fined $500 for each day they are absent, which equals to $7,000 given that Democrats were absent for 14 days. Democrats were also hit with more than $2,300 each in other costs spent on trying to get them back to the state.
In total, the fines amount to $9,354.25. House Democrats are not allowed to use campaign funds to pay the fine.
At least 50 Texas House Democrats left the state on Aug. 3 in an effort to prevent a vote on the new map. The Republican-drawn map further favors the GOP and could possibly net the party as many as five more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The push to redraw the congressional district map came at President Donald Trump’s urging, who asked Texas Republicans to redraw the congressional districts to help the GOP maintain control of the U.S. House during next year’s midterm elections. Typically, the president’s party tends to lose seats in congress during a midterm election.
The Democrats’ absence was met with escalating threats from Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) – from ordering Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers to conduct civil arrests, to reportedly getting the FBI involved in Illinois, where many of the Democrats went when they left.
The entire saga prompted a greater, nationwide arms race on redistricting, with California responding to Texas by putting a measure on the November ballot that would allow the state to implement a new congressional map that would further favor Democrats. The new California map needs voter approval because a nonpartisan commission typically draws the state’s congressional map.