A second deadline for the return of missing Texas Democrats to the state legislature came and went Tuesday afternoon, and again they were no-shows despite several incentives to return, including notification from the state attorney general that he'll seek legal judgments against those missing for having abandoned their seats.
More than 50 Democrats from the House of Representatives left Texas on Sunday evening for meetings with national Democrat leaders in Illinois, New York and Massachusetts, after several of them met last week with California Governor Gavin Newsom, implying that the actions of the missing state representatives are being coordinated by national party leadership.
AG Paxton and Speaker of theTexas House gave a new deadline of this Friday, August 8th, for legislators in other states to return to the Capitol in Austin to resume business for the special session, which was called in June by Governor Greg Abbott to take on more than 17 initiatives, including funding for current aid and future emergencies in the flood-ravaged Hill Country.
The Democrats who fled to other states said they're protesting against plans by the Republican-led Legislature to confirm maps that redraw federal Congressional districts in the state, giving advantages to Republicans, referred to by most as redistricting, or referred to pejoratively as "gerrymandering."
But “starting Friday, any rogue lawmakers refusing to return to the House will be held accountable for vacating their office," Paxton wrote in a Tuesday statement.
"The people of Texas elected lawmakers, not jet-setting runaways looking for headlines. If you don’t show up to work, you get fired.”