AUSTIN, Texas, May 8 (UPI) -- The speaker of the Texas House told fellow lawmakers to take Sunday off after a heated debate over tort reform the day before.
Speaker Joe Straus adjourned Saturday's session after four hours of often testy debate in Austin over passage of a measure that would require losers in certain civil cases to pay the winner's likely hefty legal costs.
"Everybody realized the mood on the floor was pretty volatile, which is not conducive to good public policy," Democratic Rep. Pete Gallego told the San Antonio News Express. "Every session has a boiling point, and we just hit ours."
The newspaper said the measure was pushed through by the Republican majority without discussion after Gov. Rick Perry declared it an emergency priority, which moved it immediately to the top of the agenda. The bill next goes to the Senate.
"The other side had dug in and made it clear that they were going to give no quarter -- that they were going to kill these bills," Straus said in explaining his decision to approve the bill without discussion.
Saturday's session included raised voices and a motion to lock the doors of the chamber to prevent Democrats from bolting and scuttling a narrow quorum. A number of Republicans were also not at their desks when the opening gavel came down.
