The Standstill
In a display of political obstructionism, over 50 Texas House Democrats fled Austin on August 3, 2025, breaking quorum and paralyzing the chamber during Governor Greg Abbott’s first-called special session. As of August 12, 2025, the standoff has continued, with the House unable to muster the required 100 members for business. This walkout, aimed at blocking Republican-led congressional redistricting that could add five GOP seats, has not only stalled critical legislation like property tax relief but also imposed financial burdens on Texas taxpayers—hundreds of thousands in session costs and ongoing stipends for the very lawmakers shirking their duties.
While Democrats protest from out-of-state hideouts like Illinois or New York, hardworking Texans continue to foot the bill.
The special session, convened on July 21, 2025, was intended to address several priorities, including property tax relief, banning taxpayer-funded lobbying, enhancing flood preparedness, and redrawing congressional districts. Yet, with Democrats absent, no floor votes can occur in the House, leaving Senate-passed bills in limbo. Key measures like Senate Bill 12 (SB 12), authored by Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston), which would prohibit local governments from using taxpayer money to lobby for higher taxes or corporate welfare, remains stalled.
Similarly, Senate Bill 9 (SB 9) by Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), proposing to lower the voter-approval tax rate multiplier from 3.5% to 2.5% to help curb skyrocketing property taxes—one of the nation’s highest burdens—sits idle. TFR has pointed out that SB 9 is insufficient, pushing for bolder reforms like lowering the voter-approval tax rate to a true no-new-revenue rate and curbing local spending increases, but even incremental progress is thwarted by the Democrats’ flight.
The Cost to Taxpayers
Each day of a legislative session costs taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars in per diems, staff salaries, utilities, and security. A week and a half later, that’s hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted. Governor Abbott has threatened successive sessions until redistricting passes, potentially inflating costs to millions.
Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed lawsuits to remove several of these fleeing Democrats from office, adding legal expenses, while investigations into potential bribery—stemming from out-of-state fundraising tied to figures like Beto O’Rourke and George Soros—further drain resources.
Vice-Chair Stipends
Nearly 30 of these absent Democrats are committee vice-chairs, each receiving an additional $5,000 monthly stipend (paid for by Texas Taxpayers) for office budgets—a controversial perk approved in a backroom deal by House leadership at the beginning of the Regular Session, without a full chamber vote.
This stipend, part of broader budget hikes including $2,000 monthly session increases and eliminated staff salary caps, totals nearly $150,000 monthly for these democrat vice-chairs alone, or $1.8 million every year for all 30 Democratic vice-chairs. Rather than doing their duty, the vice-chairs and their democrat colleagues have instead abandoned their posts.
Among the quorum-breakers are prominent vice-chairs like Rep. Gene Wu, Vice-Chair of Criminal Jurisprudence, Rep. James Talarico, Vice-Chair of Trade, Workforce & Economic Development; Rep. Ann Johnson, Vice-Chair of Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence; Rep. John Bucy, Vice-Chair of Elections; Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, Vice-Chair of Ways & Means; and Rep. Senfronia Thompson, Vice-Chair of Licensing and Administrative Procedures. These lawmakers prioritize national media tours over debating bills that could ease Texans’ tax burdens amid inflation and high costs of living.
Accountability
Democrats broke quorum as recently as 2021—but while the move is likely only going to stall the inevitable, it is masterful at wasting public funds and eroding trust. Their absence denies Texans relief from property taxes, lobbying abuses, and more.
Taxpayers deserve accountability, not excuses. The Legislature should move to immediately end these stipends for vice-chairs – something that was approved by a simple vote of the Committee on House Administration, and should be stripped by the same procedure.
It’s time to end these taxpayer-funded stipends, get back to work, and let voters judge in 2026.
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