Texas Legislature: What is a quorum?

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Legislature must have what’s called a “quorum” in order to do business proposing, discussing and voting on bills. But what does that mean, and why would you ever “break” it?

A quorum is “the minimum number of members of an assembly or society that must be present at any of its meetings to make the proceedings of that meeting valid,” according to the Oxford English Dictionary — basically, the number of lawmakers needed to be present to take action on bills, including voting. For Texas, that number of people is defined in the state constitution and rules are set each legislative session.

The House must have two-thirds of its members, or 100 people, present. The Senate also needs two-thirds, or 21 members, present.

House rules say if members do not show up, they are subject to fines of $500 for each day they are absent, payment of costs incurred by the sergeant-at-arms, reprimand, censure or expulsion.

Senate rules say, “Those for whom no sufficient excuse is made, by order of the majority of those present, may be sent for and arrested wherever they may be found and their attendance secured and retained by the Sergeant-at-Arms or officers appointed by the Sergeant for that purpose. The President of the Senate shall request a writ of mandamus from the Supreme Court of Texas compelling their return.”

Why break quorum?

Breaking quorum halts the legislature’s ability to do its normal business, including passing bills. While some functions do not require a quorum, others do require it.

The Texas House and Senate are both controlled by Republicans. There are 19 Republicans and 11 Democrats in the Senate, and there are 88 Republicans and 62 Democrats in the House. The Republicans have enough votes to pass legislation without Democrats. Breaking quorum may come into play to stop passage of legislation because there needs to be a set amount of lawmakers present in order to hold a vote at all.