The House approved an amended Senate Bill 6 by Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston), on a nearly party-line, 79-56 vote yesterday (Saturday). Reps. Harold Dutton (D-Houston), Ryan Guillen (D-Rio Grande City) and Oscar Longoria (D-Mission) voted with Republicans for final passage. Rep. Lyle Larson (R-San Antonio) voted with the Democrats against final passage.
Notably, the House adopted an amendment from Rep. Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston) that realigned CD18 closer to its current configuration than in the Senate-passed map, unpairing U.S. Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston) and Al Green (D-Houston). Doing so paired Jackson Lee with U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Houston). The House also included more of Bexar Co. into CD35, which runs from Travis Co. to Bexar Co. via a slender corridor east of Interstate 35 in Comal and Hays Cos.
The Senate promptly rejected the House amendments and appointed a conference committee chaired by Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston), the bill’s author. Sens. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels), Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound), Robert Nichols (R-Nacogdoches) and Charles Perry (R-Lubbock) were appointed to the committee. House conferees were Rep. Todd Hunter (R-Corpus Christi), the House sponsor, as chair and Reps. Jacey Jetton (R-Richmond), Brooks Landgraf (R-Odessa), J.M.Lozano (R-Kingsville) and Thompson as members.
Just before press time, the conference committee report was filed in the Senate. The report package was not yet available online.
Early voting begins tomorrow (Monday) for the November 2 constitutional, general and special elections.
Voters statewide will determine the fate of eight constitutional amendments. The League of Women Voters has produced a Voters Guide for the election, which is available alongside personalized voting information at VOTE411.org.
SD16: Sen. Nathan Johnson (D-Dallas) announced he would seek re-election.
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