Texas House Democrats who participated in a walkout in August to protest a newly drawn congressional map favoring Republicans will face penalties exceeding $8,000 each, following a decision by a Republican-led committee on Friday.
The Democrats absented themselves from the Capitol for two weeks in August to contest the congressional map, which was redrawn at the behest of former President Donald Trump. This map was designed to potentially secure up to five additional seats for the GOP in the upcoming midterm elections. Their absence resulted in the Texas House being unable to achieve a quorum, effectively halting legislative proceedings until the Democrats returned to Austin.
Under House rules, lawmakers can be fined $500 for each day they miss while the House is in session if their absence is intended to obstruct the House’s actions. Additionally, they are responsible for covering costs incurred by the House sergeant-at-arms in efforts to compel their attendance.
The total penalty for most Democrats who broke quorum reached $8,354 each, surpassing the annual salary of $7,200 that Texas House members receive. This fine is composed of $6,000 for their 12-day absence and $2,354 for expenses incurred by the Department of Public Safety (DPS) in their attempts to ensure the lawmakers’ presence, which included visiting their homes and monitoring their movements after they returned to the Capitol.
The House Administration Committee determined that 53 Democrats would collectively bear a financial burden of $421,890. The committee, comprised of six Republicans and five Democrats, approved the fines along party lines.
On Friday, Democrats sought to have the penalties reduced or eliminated entirely, asserting that walkouts are a constitutionally protected legislative strategy for the minority party and characterizing the fines as a partisan overreach.
“The power to compel attendance is not the power to punish dissent,” remarked Rep. Armando Martinez, D-Weslaco, a member of the committee who did not join the walkout. He emphasized that the penalties distort the Constitution’s intent and turn a protected legislative mechanism into a punishable offense.
Committee Vice Chair Sheryl Cole, D-Austin, proposed five motions to reduce the penalties, all of which were defeated in a 6 to 5 vote by the Republican majority. She initially requested to eliminate all penalties, arguing that the committee failed to provide due process for the affected members.
Democrats insisted that Republicans should present detailed breakdowns and records justifying the fines imposed by law enforcement. They emerged from a closed-door session expressing frustration over what they deemed a lack of transparency and accuracy in the accounting process.
“There’s no certain number, because you’ve given us uncertain evidence and there’s uncertain documentation,” stated Rep. Cassandra Garcia Hernandez after her testimony. She noted that despite requests for supporting receipts in August, the Democrats received documentation only days prior to the hearing, which included a 300-page packet that was difficult to analyze within the time constraints. Garcia Hernandez and other Democrats also pointed out that DPS officials acknowledged possible errors in the accounting and admitted that some documentation was inconsistent.
“Records provided by DPS don’t even show that they were legitimately trying to secure absent members during the relevant time period,” Cole noted during the hearing. “None of the documents are tied to efforts to track down specific members, so we have no way of knowing what was expended on which members.”
Some Democrats succeeded in having their penalties reduced or eliminated before Friday’s hearing by arguing that their absences should be classified as excused. Rep. Salman Bhojani, D-Euless, had his fine reduced after explaining he was in Pakistan for part of the quorum break attending to a sick family member, while Rep. Claudia Ordaz, D-El Paso, had her penalties dismissed entirely due to undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment.
Ultimately, the maximum penalty was $1,000 less than the amount initially proposed by House Republicans in August. House Administration Chair Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, stated that he excluded two Sundays from the tally as the House was not in session on those days.
Beyond their arguments regarding due process, Democrats lamented that the pursuit of these penalties would deepen the already polarized political climate.
“Not only is [our politics] more divisive, but it’s becoming also more vindictive,” Rep. Vince Perez, D-El Paso, remarked during his testimony. “Democrats lost this battle. We put up a fight, we returned, and we moved on to other business. So I asked the committee: What purpose does it serve to continue imposing these penalties when Democrats have already lost this issue?”
Rep. Joe Moody, an El Paso Democrat on the administration panel, criticized the partisan rhetoric from Republicans, some of whom advocated for harsher penalties to deter future walkouts.
“The members whose fines we’ve considered today are colleagues and friends,” he stated. “They’re not just political ideas, and they broke quorum because they believed it was the right way to advocate for their districts. Some of the rhetoric surrounding this has been excessively inflammatory, which is counterproductive to the very nature of politics.”
Under House rules, lawmakers are prohibited from utilizing campaign funds to pay these fines, which means Democrats will need to cover the costs personally. Prior to the hearing, a spokesperson for House Democrats’ campaign arm indicated that their interpretation of state law allowed lawmakers to reimburse themselves for the fines with campaign funds. The campaign group is actively raising money to support the reelection of every Democrat, noting that how individual lawmakers choose to manage their finances within legal limits is ultimately their decision.
After the hearing, Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, denounced the imposition of these fines, asserting, “There is something deeply wrong in this state if the majority party is trying to punish representatives for advocating for their constituents.”
“This is why we have to take back Texas,” he continued. “And when we do, I promise to fight for the people—regardless of the consequences.”
Following the committee’s approval of the penalties, some Democratic lawmakers expressed uncertainty about paying them, with Perez and Garcia Hernandez indicating they would explore their options. Rep. Jolanda Jones of Houston declared she would “not concede or pay anything illegal.”
Lawmakers who opt not to pay the fines could face a 30% reduction in their office budgets, per House rules.
Some House Republicans have signaled a desire to further increase the penalties for walkouts in anticipation of the 2027 legislative session.
“We’re clearly not conveying the message with the current rules,” said Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville. “The penalties need to be heightened. We’ll determine a figure that is sufficiently significant to encourage attendance.”
