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Senate passes scores of bills, repeatedly suspends three‑day rule during floor session
Summary
The Senate advanced and finally passed numerous bills and adopted resolutions in a single floor session; most votes were unanimous or near‑unanimous and the chamber repeatedly voted to suspend the three‑day rule to move bills to third reading and final passage.
The Senate passed a large batch of bills and adopted several resolutions during a floor session that featured repeated suspensions of the chamber’s three‑day rule and a series of roll‑call votes, the presiding officer said.
The action chiefly consisted of formal motions to engross bills, motions to suspend the three‑day rule so measures could go to third reading, and motions for final passage. Examples recorded on the floor included final passage of House Bill 135 (moved by the senator from Kendall), adoption of HCR 64 (moved by the senator from Denton), adoption of SCR 3 (moved by the senator from Atascosa), and final passage of SB 500 (moved by the senator from Midland). The Secretary announced recorded tallies after roll calls; for House Bill 135 the Secretary reported "27 ayes, 4 nays," and for HCR 64 the Secretary reported "30 ayes, 1 nay."
Most final passage votes were unanimous 31‑0. The transcript records many roll‑call tallies of "31 ayes, 0 nays." Other recorded tallies included 30‑1, 29‑2, 27‑4 and 26‑5 on several measures. The session log shows the chamber repeatedly used a motion to suspend the three‑day rule to advance bills from engrossment to third reading and then to final passage.
On procedure, senators routinely moved to pass bills to engrossment and then to suspend the three‑day rule. For example, the senator from Midland moved to engross SB 500, then moved to suspend the three‑day rule; the Secretary then called the roll and reported the tally before the chair laid the bill out on third reading.
The Secretary’s roll‑call announcements provide the recorded tallies used to formalize passage on the floor. The transcript records the Secretary calling the roll after each motion to suspend the three‑day rule and after motions for final passage, with the Secretary announcing results such as "31 ayes, 0 nays," "27 ayes, 4 nays," and "26 ayes, 5 nays." Those tallies are the official floor record cited in this summary.
After completing the bills and resolutions listed on second and third reading, the presiding officer closed the session. "Pursuant to a motion previously adopted, the senate stands adjourned until 11AM, Monday, May fifth," the chair said.
The Secretary also read a sequence of bills and resolutions on first reading and referred them to committees at the end of the record, including a list of House bills assigned to committees such as State Affairs, Health and Human Services, Criminal Justice and others.
