Gov. Greg Abbott asks for new penalties for lawmakers who flee to halt legislative sessions

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Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday added three new items to his agenda for the ongoing special session, including punishments for lawmakers who leave the state to block passage of future legislation.

Abbott announced the new items about an hour after the Texas House passed a new GOP congressional map that prompted House Democrats to flee the state in a bid to block its passage. The governor called on the Legislature to establish new penalties or punishments for lawmakers when they “willfully absent themselves during a session.”

In a press release, Abbott said the legislation was needed “to ensure that rogue lawmakers cannot hijack the important business of Texans during a legislative session by fleeing the state.”

Abbott and other Republicans unleashed an unprecedented response in their efforts to end the quorum break House Democrats started earlier in the month, including filing orders seeking to vacate representatives’ seats and authorizing civil arrests. Most of those who fled the state returned on Monday, allowing the House to resume business after previously denying the chamber the headcount needed to conduct business.

With a Republican majority in both chambers, Democrats said breaking quorum was one of the few constitutionally protected tools left at their disposal to stall the congressional map’s passage.

Abbott, who controls the agenda during overtime legislative sessions, also asked lawmakers Wednesday to consider legislation to allow the purchase of ivermectin at pharmacies and to authorize the state to conduct a groundwater study of East Texas aquifers.

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