SPEAKER OF THE TEXAS HOUSE

Mutscher served as speaker from 1969 to 1972 before leaving amid the pay-for-play scandal, though he was later cleared on appeal.

The Texas Democrat served as speaker of the Texas House of Representatives from 1972 to 1973.

Here’s a rundown of how a bill becomes a law, how the Texas Legislature works and the power players who keep things moving under the Pink Dome.

The current speaker, fellow Republican Dade Phelan, is expected to seek the gavel again but has not made an official announcement yet.

Phelan said it is an “outrage” that officials still do not have a clear picture of what happened during the shooting. The committee’s findings will inform the House’s legislative response.

It remains unclear whether Gov. Greg Abbott — the only official with the power to convene special sessions — will order state lawmakers back to Austin, or what issues he would include on the agenda.

The lawmaker has represented parts of central and southeast Houston in state House District 147 since 1991.

Lawmakers approved new political maps and decided how to spend COVID-19 relief money. But they didn’t pass bills about vaccine mandates or the criminal penalty for illegal voting.

Members considered more than 50 amendments to the proposed map during debate that began Tuesday and ended early Wednesday. Some of the biggest changes focused on Dallas and Harris counties.

The Texas Legislature is in the midst of its third special session, which is dedicated to redrawing political maps based on the latest census data that showed people of color fueled 95% of Texas’ population growth over the past decade.

The news comes less than a month after Paddie, who has represented House District 9 since 2013, announced he would run for reelection.

The threat was apparently made on Reddit and included the names of House and Senate members who voted for Senate Bill 8 during the regular legislative session.

The Republican-dominated, 15-member board determines what millions of public school students in the state are taught in classrooms.

For House Democrats, the story of the second special session is much different from that of the first one. The excitement of leaving the state had worn off, the media spotlight had dimmed and the pressures to return home were mounting.

The Legislature is expected to return soon for another special session focused on redrawing the state's political maps.

The legislation will need another stamp of approval in the House before it heads to the Senate, which has not yet debated its version of the proposal on the floor.

Navigating the quorum break, Speaker Dade Phelan said he was especially mindful of not doing “un-repairable harm” to the chamber, indicating that could have happened if members were physically detained and brought to the chamber.

As of Wednesday, there were no known cases of absent Democrats being arrested, and the chamber was still shy of the 100 members it needs for a quorum to conduct official business. That is despite its Aug. 10 vote to proceed with the arrests.

The Texas Supreme Court cleared the way for absent House Democrats’ civil arrests after it temporarily blocked Harris County judges’ orders protecting them from such a move.

The Texas Supreme Court earlier Tuesday ruled that Democrats who refuse to show up could be detained by law enforcement and brought back to the state Capitol.

This is the second time in recent weeks the majority Republican House has voted to issue a “call of the House,” though members on Monday did not offer or debate a motion to enable law enforcement to track down members still missing from the chamber.

Abbott vetoed a section of the state budget that funds the Legislature — including salaries and benefits of 2,100 employees — as punishment for House Democrats' May walkout to prevent passage of a controversial voting bill.

“There’s been some significant — if not irreparable — damage to the relationships within the body,” said state Rep. Justin Holland, R-Rockwall.

Funds amounting to at least $12.6 million will be transferred from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to the Senate, the House, and legislative agencies such as the LBB, the Legislative Council and the Legislative Reference Library.

House Democrats are still camped out in the nation’s capital hinting that many may not return to Austin immediately as the next overtime round starts Saturday.

Republicans believe they have already compromised enough on the legislation, while Democrats are distrustful of both the policy driving the bill and their GOP colleagues after seeing how they have managed the process around the proposal so far.

Both Republicans in Austin and Democrats in D.C. have engaged in the political drama over the past two weeks, with the two camps battling it out on cable news interviews and social media over the quorum bust and who is to blame for it.

Members left Texas about 10 days ago and have said they plan to stay out of state until after the special session ends Aug. 6.

The Texas House Democratic Caucus, which has said it plans to not identify lawmakers who test positive, has started additional precautionary measures, such as providing daily rapid tests.

A number of House Republicans indicated that they would support what’s known as a call of the House, a procedural move that would allow law enforcement to track down lawmakers who have already fled the chamber.

The lower chamber, led by House Speaker Dade Phelan, is trying to start off on a new foot with a controversial election bill that blew up during the regular session.

The governor had vowed to veto the Legislature’s funding in the final hours of the regular legislative session in May after House Democrats broke quorum and left the chamber to prevent passage of a controversial elections bill.

The proposal’s low bill number signaled it was a priority of new House Speaker Dade Phelan, a Beaumont Republican who referred to the legislation as “the House’s blueprint for pandemic response.”

Abbott has the power to veto individual line items he objects to.

Democrats supported Phelan for House speaker, reassured he would avoid controversial social issues that target LGBTQ Texans. They say they’re disappointed he is now signaling support for bill targeting transgender student athletes.