Can Texas Democrats be arrested for fleeing the state? What does it mean for the special session?
A group of Texas House Democrats chartered two flights to Washington, D.C., Monday afternoon, to block a sweeping election bill that would establish new voting restrictions statewide. Although it's happened before, the dramatic move is not a common tactic. Democrats are looking to break quorum, or the minimum number of lawmakers that must be present to advance laws in Texas. Both the House and the Senate need two-thirds of members present to be able to hold quorum, as reflected in House rules. Texas Democrats would need 51 of the party's 67 House representatives to leave the state to effectively break quorum, because there are 150 House representatives in total. According to sourcing by the Texas Tribune, at least 51 lawmakers boarded a flight out of the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport Monday afternoon, meaning the party had successfully broken quorum. Texas Democrats broke quorum Monday in an attempt to block election and voting reforms proposed in two sweeping GOP bills that passed through respective committees Sunday. The Senate version of the voting bill, Senate Bill 1, is expected to go up for a floor vote on Tuesday. Texas voting bills:Hundreds testify at state Capitol  SB 1, and the similar House Bill 3, would ban 24-hour and late-night voting, prohibit drive-thru voting, add an identification requirement to mail-in ballots, allow partisan poll watchers to move freely in polling places, and create new or stiffer penalties for voter fraud, among other provisions. Texas Democrats broke quorum earlier this year to block previous Republican efforts to rewrite the state's election law, effectively killing Senate Bill 7. Following the move, Gov. Greg Abbott vowed to return to the issue during a special session, which kicked off Thursday and was set to address 11 different conservative Republican priorities, including border security, abortion regulations, transgender student athletes and critical race theory. Texas House rules state that absent legislators can be arrested by the sergeant-at-arms or somebody appointed by the sergeant-at-arms and returned to the House floor. Because of this rule, Texas Democrats looking to break quorum travel out of state, where Texas officers lack jurisdiction. An order to arrest House members must be voted on by a majority of lawmakers present after quorum has been broken. Both the House and the Senate are set to convene as scheduled Tuesday at 10 a.m. But without House Democrats, the chamber will be unable to vote on any legislation. House committees can continue to hear public testimony on bills, but they won't be able to approve legislation and send it to the floor without a quorum. It is still unclear what Senate Democrats' plans are. Assuming they report to work as planned, the chamber will be able to conduct business as usual.