Craziness on the House Floor
May 10th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Despite the big second-reading deadline in the House tonight, it seems like there won’t be many fireworks on the floor. For instance, looking at some of the blogs that cover the capitol beat by beat, the Morning-News’s Capitol Letters has been writing about noisemakers and “life in the slow lane.” Of course, they also smartly pointed out that the really controversial bills are stuck at the back of the calendar, likely never to see the floor before the midnight bell tolls.
Not to say there weren’t unexpected exchanges.
When Rep. John Davis laid out HB 405, “relating to the authority of an emergency room physician to hold a person believed to have a mental illness,” he was confronted by Rep. Brian McCall.
“You represent Clear Lake?” McCall clarified with Davis.
Yes, Davis said.
“Do you believe generally that people are fairly well represented by people like them in their district?” McCall asked.
“Well, yes, that’s usually — that’s true,” Davis said.
“Andrea Yates, who drowned her five children. Where did she live?”
“She was from Clear Lake.”
And Clara Harris, McCall continued, who repeatedly ran over her philandering dentist husband?
Also from the Clear Lake area, Davis affirmed.
“Lisa Nowak, she was an astronaut who drove a thousand miles in a diaper in pursuit of her lover’s girlfriend. She was from your district?”
Right again, Davis said.
Dramatic pause by McCall.
“You have a good bill, Mr. Davis.”
Later in the evening, Rep. Allen Vaught, a Dallas Democrat, became the last belle at the ball, just scraping under the deadline as the final freshman to pass his first bill. Per tradition, he was razzed by all.
There’s sure to be plenty of information to parse tomorrow and this weekend to see which bills, good and bad, didn’t make it under the wire. But for now, the House was mostly light and workmanlike this night.
May 11th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
[…] bad our earlier coverage didn’t give them paws before passing this one), there was plenty of light-hearted action in the House last […]