Day 100: The GOP’s Supermajority Fantasy Meets Reality
AI, ERCOT, pipelines, and the performative politics of power.
On Day 100 of the 140-day Texas Legislative Session, the House is in total chaos, and Republicans are beginning to learn the difference between a majority and a supermajority. If you watched yesterday’s House proceedings, you may have noticed that Republicans were postponing a lot of their bills. If you missed it, here’s a short mashup:
What’s going on? Last week, the Texas Tribune reported that more than 50 House Democrats have signed on to a plan. To kill all constitutional amendments for the rest of the session unless the House voted to put school vouchers before voters in November. As we all know, that didn’t happen.
I love this. With only 40 days left in the Legislative Session, can Democrats hold their ground until the end?
Honestly, Democrats should’ve done this years ago. For too long, Republicans in the Texas House have governed like they hold a supermajority, steamrolling the minority party, ignoring public will, and expecting Democrats to roll over for every half-baked constitutional amendment they cook up. But here’s the thing: they don’t have a supermajority. They have a simple majority. And when it comes to passing constitutional amendments, they need 100 votes. That means they need Democrats.
For once, Democrats are finally acting like it.
Blocking every single GOP constitutional priority that requires two-thirds support is not just a defensive strategy. It’s a power move. It reminds Republicans that the days of polite cooperation in the face of extremist overreach are over. If the GOP wants to treat every legislative session like a warpath, they should expect a blockade in return.
This is how you fight back when you’re outnumbered but not powerless. No more playing nice. No more “bipartisan” cover for bad policy. Democrats have leverage, and they’re using it and exposing the lie at the heart of Republican control: they can’t govern without help.
But that isn’t the only thing that happened yesterday that you need to know about.
The Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act is a bill that regulates the use, development, and deployment of AI in the state.
HB149 bans the use of AI for biometric surveillance without consent, social scoring, political censorship, or encouraging self-harm or violence. It requires clear disclosure when consumers interact with AI systems and imposes civil penalties of up to $200,000 for violations. The bill also establishes a regulatory sandbox that allows companies to test AI systems without full licensure and creates the Texas AI Council to oversee the development of ethical AI and provide advice to lawmakers.
We’ve previously spoken about AI regulations and how important they are as we enter this new era of humanity.
That’s why it’s worth highlighting the Republicans (and one Democrat) who voted against this bill, because they didn’t just vote against regulation. They voted for Skynet. They voted for the rise of unchecked surveillance, political censorship by algorithm, and AI systems that can manipulate, exploit, or harm people with zero accountability.
Voting against guardrails on automation in 2025 is like voting against seatbelts in 1970, except the car is sentient, and it’s learning to lie. This bill wasn’t some radical leftist overreach. It was a measured, practical framework that balances innovation with transparency and civil liberties. But some members couldn’t even stomach that.
So next time a deepfake video poisons a local election or a kid gets served suicide bait by an AI-driven app, remember who refused to act. The lawmakers who voted “no” on HB149 are actively endangering Texans by attempting to let the most powerful technology ever created go completely unregulated.
Robot apocalypse? No worries. Texas Republicans will be sure to send thoughts and prayers.
AI won’t kill us, as long as it’s regulated. But these lawmakers would rather you put your lives and liberty at risk under the automation revolution:
Trent Ashby (R-HD09)
Briscoe Cain (R-HD128)
Terry Canales (D- HD40)
Brian Harrison (R-HD10)
Mitch Little (R-HD65)
David Lowe (R-HD91)
JM Lozano (R-HD43)
Shelley Luther (R-HD62)
Brent Money (R-HD02)
Mike Olcott (R-HD60)
Luckily, the bill passed. And if you want to know more about where our society could be headed under AI, I suggest checking out AI 2027.
Republicans’ weird obsessions with sex and children.
After the session is over, we’re going to have to talk about this more, but Republicans have filed hundreds of bills about protecting kids from sex and sexual predators. While we all think there should be laws on the books to protect children, there comes a point where it’s excessive and borderline creepy.
Take Nate Schatzline (R-HD93), for example. Over 50 of the bills he’s filed this year have to do with protecting kids from sexual predators, which is like 2/3 of his filed bills. It’s very reminiscent of Bryan Slaton. In 2021, Bryan Slaton attempted to add amendments to countless bills, which were all focused on the policing of children’s genitals. It was very disturbing. Then, in 2023, Slaton was expelled from the Texas House for committing date-rape against his 19-year-old staffer.
So, again, while laws to protect children are necessary, when Republicans obsess over just this one issue, it raises a red flag. Maybe it’s their own trauma, but in cases like Slaton, maybe there’s more to it.
Which brings us to Shelley Luther. Yesterday, she attempted to add amendments to several bills that would “protect children.”
HB121, for example, was a bill that would increase the militarization in public schools and feed the school-to-prison pipeline. It’s an awful bill, but in the midst of it, Shelley Luther tried to add an amendment to protect kids from predators.
She wound up withdrawing the amendment, promising to reinsert it in the bill during the third reading, but it wasn’t the only time she did that yesterday.
Keeping children safe matters. Of course it does. But so does feeding them, housing them, making sure their schools don’t crumble, and ensuring their families have access to healthcare. Lawmakers who spend all session pushing bill after bill about predators while ignoring hunger, poverty, infrastructure, and basic care aren’t protecting kids, they’re performing outrage while neglecting everything else that actually keeps children safe and thriving.
More favors for fossil fuels.
HB206 strips counties of the ability to require a cash bond from companies before they begin constructing pipelines, meaning counties would no longer be allowed to demand upfront financial assurances that a company will clean up its mess or fix damaged infrastructure.
Who benefits? Big oil and gas companies, not communities.
This bill takes away one of the only local tools left to hold pipeline developers accountable. It hands more power to fossil fuel corporations while undermining counties trying to protect their roads, land, and residents. Once again, Texas Republicans are prioritizing corporate profits over environmental safeguards and local control.
And here are the Democrats who voted to help them:
Democrats bring up a bill to study the interconnection of Texas’ electric grid with Mexico’s.
The Brianworm Brigade lashed out, and Jared Patterson (R-HD106) and Andy Hopper (R-HD64) took the GOP civil war to the front and back mics.
HB805 is a simple study, but its outcome could lead to regional grid interconnectivity in a few years. It’s a step in the right direction. But Andy Hopper tried to add an amendment to study adding all Texas Counties to ERCOT.
First of all, that’s dumb. Our grid barely works. Just yesterday in Houston, the entire network for the Texas Medical Center experienced a power outage. Adding more to the grid before fixing it doesn’t make sense. Hopper’s amendment would be a step backward.
Secondly, East Texas, El Paso, and the panhandle don’t want to join ERCOT. They have reliable power now. If they joined ERCOT, they would lose that.
During Hopper’s amendment, Jared Patterson went to the back mic and gave him the third degree. Terry Canales attempted to call a POO (point of order), but took it down quickly.
Then, Tony Tinderholt (R-HD94) went to the back mic and called Patterson immature (paraphrasing). It was high-quality entertainment:
Hillary Hickland (R-HD55) laid out her first bill to the full House.
The bill, HB2894, is completely noncontroversial. It provides more tax relief for veterans. But the House has a tradition that every time a new member introduces their first bill, both sides of the aisle will go to the back mic and ask them silly or personal questions… sort of a hazing ritual.
Erin Zwiener (D-HD45) managed to squeeze a real zinger in there, making fun of Hickland’s attempt to ban dildoes at pharmacies. Funny stuff:
But also during Hickland’s hazing, Richard Raymond (D-HD42) thought the most appropriate way to contribute was by impersonating an authoritarian:
Cringe. Someone in Laredo needs to tell him that’s not funny and to stop it. If he doesn’t get the message, who knows who he’ll be impersonating next, Mussolini, Stalin, maybe even Ronald Reagan.
So yeah, Day 100 was chaos, but it was revealing.
We saw Democrats finally flex some power, Republicans unravel in real time, and the same tired playbook of performative outrage, corporate giveaways, and culture war distractions play out on the House floor. Amid the noise, there were genuine moments of resistance, real stakes in the legislation, and real consequences for working Texans.
If you’re only tuning in for the drama, you’re missing the bigger picture. The Texas GOP isn’t governing. They’re scrambling to hold on to power by stoking fear, silencing dissent, and selling the state to their donors one bill at a time. And Democrats? When they hold the line, they remind us that obstruction can be a form of protection.
With 40 days left in the session, keep watching. Keep calling. Keep raising hell. Because the fight for Texas isn’t over.
April 29: Early Voting Ends
May 3: Local and County Elections
June 2: The 89th Legislative Session ends.
June 3: The beginning of the 2026 election season.
Click here to find out what Legislative districts you’re in.
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