Texas State Rep. Brian Harrison (R) is calling for a special session to limit the “unconstitutional” powers the state confers on its governors, noting he filed this legislation before as well, after current Gov. Greg Abbot (R) was elected.
He wants the opportunity to file it again before the incoming Democrat governor takes office, he explained in an interview on Breitbart News Daily.
Host Mike Slater asked Harrison what he believes will happen when Democrat Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa takes Abbott’s place and other Democrats come to power alongside her.
“Well, before we get there, I actually want to talk about something we can do about a lot of bad things are going to happen. … We’re not powerless–and this is what I’m trying to remind our governor and all my Republican colleagues, including all the ones that lost–is that, Hey guys? Ok, the Democrats won the election Tuesday night, but guess what? They didn’t get sworn in Tuesday night. We are still here for another ten weeks,” he said.
“The Constitution and the people require us to continue governing and leading the state of Texas, and we need to use every minute of the next ten weeks to stop and limit the destruction that the Democrat Party can cause. And so, what I’m doing today, I announced it yesterday morning, and it’s gone very viral all over the country. I’m calling on Greg Abbott to … use the power to demand and call a special session,” he said, explaining that the legislature can come back “right now” and “limit the unconstitutional executive emergency powers that Gina Hinojosa is about to inherit, which effectively give her–and I’m not making this up, this isn’t hyperbole–all the powers of a dictator.”
The Republican state lawmaker said that people are often shocked to find out that any time there is an emergency in Texas, the governor can use emergency powers to “change any law that we put on the books, to delete any law, or even worse, to write their own laws and enforce them by edict.”
Harrison said these powers were used during the coronavirus pandemic in Texas, yet many have already been forgotten.
“People in Texas–people might have forgotten this–were literally sent to jail for violating COVID laws that not one member of the legislature ever voted on. And guess what? Gina Hinojosa, on her very first day after winning, she pledged to use the exact same emergency authorities to meddle in our electricity market. She could use her emergency powers to waive our pro-life protections. She could use her emergency powers to end or ignore our border security protections, effectively turning Texas into a sanctuary state,” he said, reminding the audience that these laws have been on the books for decades.
“Nobody knows they exist outside of Texas, but they give the governor the total power of the legislature, and there’s not a darn thing we can do about it if we do not take these unconstitutional laws away from her,” he said.
Further, Harrison said he has been calling for this move for years, filing it four years ago right after Abbott was elected.
He said, “No governor of any party should be able to execute the powers of a dictator, but we have that now, and Greg Abbott can stop it, and he needs to get us back down there.”
“I have been trying to end these unconstitutional powers for many years. The media was silent when I did this for Abbott,” he added.
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