Feud between House and Senate leaders may scuttle far reaching border security bill

A far-reaching immigration bill may not reach Governor Greg Abbott’s desk because of a policy disagreement between the House and the Senate mixed with a long-running personal feud between the leaders of the two chambers. The personal vendettas may spur Abbott to call a fourth special session, keeping lawmakers in Austin longer and spending more tax dollars.

Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and Speaker of the House Dade Phelan, R- Beaumont, have been at loggerheads this year over the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton and an education reform package Republicans in the Texas House are split over. The third special session ends on Tuesday.

Friday the two strongly criticized each other online leaving two North Texas Republicans to try to salvage a deal while their leaders are fighting above them. Rep. David Spiller, R – Jacksboro, wrote HB 4 and passed it out of the Texas House in an all-night, heated session. Late last week, Sen. Brian Birdwell, R – Granbury, replaced the text with a version already passed out of the Senate earlier this Fall. In general, HB 4 will allow local and state police to arrest people crossing the border into Texas illegally.

There is one key difference between the two versions: whether or not to allow local police to take the detained person and leave them at a port of entry. In short, whether to have that person removed from the country, as favored by the House, or to have them remain in local jails, fingerprinted, and identified, as favored by the Senate.

HB 4

“The focus of House Bill 4, in what I carried in the House, was not to incarcerate more people. That is an option but there are several options that law enforcement would have here; but the primary focus would be to return those folks to the country from which they came,” Rep. Spiller told NBC 5 on Lone Star Politics.

Spiller said he worked on this bill with the Governor’s office under the impression that the version he was carrying was the one Abbott wanted.

Spiller said Abbott has memoranda of understanding with the border states in Mexico where people could be returned to. “That’s what we’re trying to do here, to try to slow down this flow,” said Spiller.

More than two million people have crossed the Mexican border this year.

When asked, Spiller said the state crime he was creating was not for existing in Texas illegally, a concern some have that would lead to racial profiling. Instead, he says it’s about someone physically crossing the border.

Officers he says, “would have probable cause that someone did cross the river. They came across into our state from someplace other than a legal point of entry”

Democrats in the Texas House spurred an all-night debate over the bill, fearing it would lead to discrimination and bad-acting police officers around the state questioning Hispanic people they feel are here illegally.

NBC 5 spoke with Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn about how it will impact officers in North Texas

“The way the author intended it, because I talked to him, is this will really only affect peace officers on the border. They have to see the crossing. They have to see the illegal entry before many arrests. So, I think the impact will be zero here other than what we normally do running into criminal activity.”

Feud

While there’s general agreement among Republicans HB 4 is needed, the running feud between Speaker of the House Dade Phelan, R - Beaumont, and Lt. Governor Patrick flared again before the weekend. The bill’s author tells NBC 5 he hopes the Senate passes their version Sunday night and then he will try to get it out of the House Tuesday before the special session ends.

Lt. Governor Patrick made much about the House version not requiring immigrants to be fingerprinted, photographed, and be given a background check while in jail.

“Mr. Speaker, you have become nothing more than hot air. You can peddle your nonsense all day but the truth is your version of HB4 does not require fingerprints or a background check of anyone detained,” wrote Patrick, ”You’ve become the teacher character from the “Peanuts” series. When you talk, all we hear is, “Wah wah woh wah wah.” You’ve become a Speaker who can impeach someone faster than it takes to smoke a brisket, but you can't pass a big teacher pay raise bill or a school choice bill in 10 months. No one takes you seriously anymore.”

According to his office, Patrick was diagnosed with viral pneumonia Thursday morning and working from home.

Phelan responded saying they will not back down because the House wants to remove people here illegally from Texas and not put them in jails, what he calls a "hospitality" program.

"Dan Patrick’s baseless critique of House Bill 4 is a transparent attempt to deflect from his chamber’s own impotent response to the growing crisis at our border,” wrote Speaker Phelan in response, “The Senate’s pro-illegal immigration bill would house undocumented immigrants for up to 99 years, shouldering Texas taxpayers with the exorbitant costs of their long-term detention, including healthcare, housing, and meals.”

It’s not just the immigration proposal in jeopardy because of the feud; but also Abbott’s number one priority – education reform.

Late last week, Governor Abbott expanded his special session agenda to include public school funding, teacher pay raises, and phasing out the STAAR Test in the hopes of convincing rural Republicans to back his plan to give public school tax dollars to use for private schools. The Governor has since left for Israel as a war rages while leaving representatives and senators in Austin to hash out the specifics of his priority legislation of education savings accounts.

Earlier framed his expanded call as an “agreement.” Leaders in the Texas House did not frame it that way, instead saying they were looking forward to continuing the conversation and working out the details.