Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan late Tuesday signed 52 arrest warrants for Democrats who left the state for Washington, D.C., in July and have yet to return to the House chamber for the second special legislative session of the year.
The warrants came after Texas House Republicans voted to direct state law enforcement to track down and compel the attendance of absent Democrats by a vote of 80-12, the second time such a vote has been taken amid the Democratic lawmakers efforts’ to prevent passage of a bill overhauling state election laws.
The warrants, first reported by the Dallas Morning News, were expected to be delivered to the House sergeant-at-arms Wednesday morning, according to Phelan spokesperson Enrique Marquez.
