One word to describe the partisan-charged special session of the Texas Legislature: Ugly
AUSTIN — On the final day of the 2017 Texas legislative session, it got ugly.
Amid a raucous demonstration that migrated from the base of the Capitol rotunda to the third-floor gallery of the House, some Democratic and Republican lawmakers squared off on the chamber floor as a possible prelude to punches being thrown. One Republican later acknowledged telling a Democrat that, in response to a threat, he'd shoot him.
The ugliness, which was festering all through that session four years ago, was in response to Republican-backed legislation to require state and local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration laws. Republicans said the measure was needed to help control illegal immigration. Democrats countered it was enacted to menace and intimidate American citizens of Hispanic descent.
Now, at the opening of the first special session of the 2021 Legislature, that air of ugliness has returned. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who plans to seek a third term next year, summoned lawmakers back to Austin on Thursday to finish work on a piece of partisan-charged legislation Democrats managed to block in the waning hours of the regular session.
Read more: https://www.timesrecordnews.com/story/news/columnists/john-moritz/2021/07/09/partisan-agenda-likely-make-ugly-special-session-texas/7913799002/
(Wichita Falls Times Record News)
