Certified Vote Published for "Family and Traditional Values" Amendment

The certified results on the House vote to accept amendment 143 to House Bill 1 were posted on Friday. Amendment 143 by Rep. Wayne Christian (R-Center) requires state universities that have a center for gender and sexuality to equality fund a "center for family and traditional values." (read LQ's original coverage of the amendment.)

The contingent results of House votes are posted in real time on the Texas Legislative Online. The official results, however, contain important information about why representatives choose to vote the way they did and, in some circumstances, explains that members intended to place a different vote than what was recorded. This was explained in LQ's ongoing series Bipartisan Votes Key to LGBT Legislative Successes:

"In cases of record votes each member of the house uses a voting machine embedded into their desk to record their vote. The machine allows them to vote either 'yea', 'nay' or 'present not voting' for each item before the House.

If a member is away from the House Chamber due to illness, family emergency or similar circumstance they can ask a fellow member to request that the Speaker excuse them, if a vote happens while they are away they are notated as being "Absent-Excused" in the record. Typically a member who is "Absent-Excused" will miss an entire day of votes.

The House often meets for hours on end without breaks. Members must often step out of the chamber the eat meals, meet with constituents or take bathroom breaks. If a member happens to be away from their desk and unable to vote when a record vote is taken they are recorded as being 'absent' from that vote.

So on any vote there are five different ways that a members position could be recorded: Yea, Nay, Present - Not Voting, Absent-Excused and Absent.

The issue is further complicated by a long standing tradition of members voting for each other. Many representatives feel that it is appropriate for them to record a vote on the machine embedded in the desk of a colleague who is absent, obstinately voting in the manner that member would and sparing them a record of being "absent" for a vote. The practice is strictly prohibited by House Rule 5, section 47, but it still happens (and was famously defended by Rep. Debbie Riddle after she was caught, on tape, voting for Rep. Kuempel).

These votes are jokingly referred to as "voting machine malfunctions". The House Rules allow members to enter a statement in the official house record explaining that their voting machine "malfunctioned" and stating how they intended to vote. Members can enter a similar statement if they are absent for a vote and would like a record of their position on the record."

In the case of the vote on Amendment 143 five members entered examinations of how they intended to vote. Rep. Roberto Alonzo (D-Dallas) explained that his voting machine did not register his vote and that he intended to vote "Nay." Rep. Joe Deshotel (D-Port Arthur) and Rep. Mike Villarreal (D-San Antonio) both said that they intended to vote against the amendment, although their voting machine registered their votes as "Yea." Marisa Marquez (D-El Paso) stated that she intended to vote "Nay," but that her machine recorded her as being "present, not voting."

Sarah Davis (R-Houston), the sole Republican shown as voting against the amendment by the uncertified results, stated that she intended to vote for it. This conforms with a statement made by her staffer to Legislative Queery. Davis, who received the endorsement of the Houston Log Cabin Republicans during the campaign, has not responded to requests that she explain her support for the amendment.

The uncertified results showed amendment 143 passing 110 yeas, to 24 nays. If these votes had been recorded as the members intended the vote would have been 109 yeas to 26 nays.

Rep. Rafael Anchia, who voted "present, not voting," did not enter a note in the record. Anchia represents part of the historic "gayborhood" of Oaklawn in Dallas and is historically a staunch ally of the queer community. His chief of staff, Timothy Dickey, told the Dallas Voice:

“He [Anchia] said the PNV [present, not voting] was basically just a, ‘This amendment’s stupid. I’m not even going to grace it with a yes or no. It’s a ridiculous amendment, and that’s what the PNV was. … We’re going to try to talk him out of doing that in the future. A ‘No’ is stronger than a PNV.”

LQ's House scorecard has been updated to reflect the notes entered in the official record.

Coleman Again Vows to Fight Bullying; Does He Mean It This Time?

In a Houston Chronicle editorial Rep. Garnet Coleman has pledged to refile legislation to create a statewide nondiscrimination policy for Texas Public Schools. Rep. Coleman has filed similar legislation every regular session since 2003 (2003 - HB 862, 2005 - HB 376, 2007 - HB 2527, 2009 - HB 3746 (similar legislation had previously been carried by former House members Rep. Harryette Ehrhardt and, before her, Glen Maxey (the only openly gay person ever to serve in the Texas House).

The policy would cover "actual or perceived ethnicity, color, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, religion, or national origin" and would apply to both students and employees of public schools. The more recent versions would also required school district to offer regular training to staff and would have creating a statewide reporting system for instances of bullying.

(Before I say anything else about this bill I want to point out that Rep. Coleman (whose district includes part of the historic 'gayborhood' of Montrose) included "gender identity and expression" in his list of protected classes. Coleman deserves the utmost kudos for this. All too often, when writing bills, elected officials feel that including the trans community will make it too hard to pass their bills and so they have left out gender identity and expression.)

I hope that Rep. Coleman's statement to the press means that he will fight for this bill next session. The bill numbers tell the tale of his declining interest in it over the last few sessions. Bills are numbered in the order they are filed (except for the first 10, which are reserved for the budget and the Speaker's priorities). Legislators tend to file the legislation that is most important to them earlier, because the earlier a bill is filed the earlier it can start the process of becoming a law. So when a bill that one session is HB 376 is, four years later, HB 3746 it clearly is no longer a priority.

The other indicator of Coleman's declining commitment to this legislation is the declining number of authors and co-authors. A house bill can have up to 5 authors and (theoretically) 145 co-authors. House members who wish to support a bill before it makes it to the floor can, with the author's permission, add their name to the bill. Multiple authors and co-authors help during the committee hearing process by indicating the level of support the bill will receive on the floor.

In 2005, the second session Coleman filed the bill it had 5 authors and 14 co-authors. The next session in 2007 it had 4 authors and no co-authors. Last session (2009) it had only two authors: (Coleman and Rep. Marissa Marquez).

Authors and co-authors are also an indication of how hard the original author is hustling to gain support for the bill. It generally doesn't take much for one lawmaker to persuade another to attach their name (assuming they agree on the issue), just a friendly conversation explaining what the bill does. The 17 member decline in authorship indicates that Coleman didn't bother to have those conversations in 2009.

Coleman is not unique in filing legislation and then not fighting for it. Last session there were 4,836 bills filed, only 847 of those became laws. Some of the bills that didn't become law were incorporated into other bills, and some of them were fought for and died anyway, but most of the bills that didn't become laws were bills that were filed just so their author could go back home and say "I tried".

There was a time when the leadership in the queer community was satisfied with "I tried", when the acknowledgment that the community was, at the very least, worth placating was enough to gain our support for a lawmaker. That time is rapidly coming to an end.

More and more we are realizing that the stakes in the battle against bullies are life and death. I hope that Coleman realizes this and chooses to bring his considerable influence to bear in support of this legislation next spring.

If you would like to contact Rep. Coleman's office and politely request his unadulterated support for his own legislation you may do so at (713) 520-5355 or garnet.coleman@house.state.tx.us