Outgoing Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said that Republican state senators should change Senate rules so a GOP majority leader, rather than Lt. Gov.-elect Vikki Goodwin, would hold the chambers operational powers, arguing that 16 of 31 senators, a simple majority, can rewrite those rules.
The lieutenant governor derives her power from the Senate, Patrick said on the Mark Davis Show. Sixteen out of thirty-one senators, a simple majority, can change the rules. He added that Republicans still have the majority in the Senate, which we do 19 Republicans and 12 Democrats, and that you shouldnt give up your majority because the governor lost, or the lieutenant governor lost or the attorney general lost.
Under current Senate rules, the lieutenant governor appoints committees, decides which bills reach the floor, and plays a central role in budget negotiations, but those authorities come from the chambers rules, not from a constitutional grant to write the state budget. The Texas Constitution mainly provides that the lieutenant governor preside over the Senate and break ties. Patrick endorsed shifting operational powers toward a Republican majority leader but did not itemize every authority he wanted moved.
Vikki Goodwin won, but she doesnt have a majority on the floor, Patrick said, after Democrats won statewide offices in November and Goodwin became the first Democrat elected Texas lieutenant governor since 1999. He noted that the last time the lieutenant governor and the Senate majority were from opposing parties was 199798, when Republicans took over the chamber under Democrat Bob Bullock, and he called Goodwins victory fair and square.
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