AUSTIN (KXAN) — A protest is planned Tuesday outside of the House chamber where one lawmaker is refusing to leave after rejecting a requirement to be monitored by a Department of Public Safety escort.
“We demand that Rep. Nicole Collier be released without a DPS escort,” a news release from the Austin Justice Coalition said. “We demand DPS withdraws escorts for all elected officials during this & all TX special sessions.”
The Austin Justice Coalition, MOVE Texas Civic Fund, Women’s Voices Austin, 50/50 Austin are some of the groups who will have members in attendance at that protest. It will occur Tuesday, August 19th from 7 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. outside of the House chamber on the third floor of the Texas Capitol building.
“We will wrap at 9:30 PM sharp so everyone can safely exit Capitol grounds before the building closes at 10 PM,” the news release said. That comment was made after several people were arrested at a protest the night before.
The Texas House Democratic Caucus also said eight House Democratic members will be “publicly tearing up the permission slips required by Republicans for members to leave the chamber” at 4 p.m. Tuesday. They will therefore join Collier in sleeping inside the chamber tonight, a news release said.
“All that you’re going to have happen is what you’re seeing, politicization so that you can raise money. I mean, you have a member sleeping on the house floor for fundraising and she has a right to do it but this is all just silliness at this point,” Dennis Bonnen, former house speaker, said during KXAN’s midday newscast.
How we got here
The Texas House is adjourned until Wednesday morning. But one state representative is staying in the chamber, staging a protest that’s gaining national attention.
Before the House adjourned Monday, House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, ordered the doors to the chamber to be locked. He said that members needed written permission to leave the chamber. But he added an extra step for Democrats who broke quorum and had arrest warrants issued. The speaker said those members would be granted written permission to leave only after agreeing to be released into the custody of a designated Department of Public Safety officer who will ensure they return to the House on Wednesday at 10 a.m.
State Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, refused and was therefore not allowed to leave.
“I refuse to sign away my dignity as a duly elected representative just so Republicans can control my movements and monitor me with police escorts,” Collier stated in a news release.
Texas Democrats highlighted her protest, sending out a news release stating that Collier was locked in the chamber, “detained as political prisoner.” The Texas House Democratic Caucus set up a live stream of Collier remaining on the House floor and offered reporters live interviews with the representative.
At one point, supporters gathered outside the chamber chanting, “Let her go!” A social media post by the Texas House Democrats showed video of a group of activists appearing to be arrested outside the House chamber.
Former Travis County Democratic Party Chair and HD 47 candidate Pooja Sethi posted on X that four women were arrested.
“Four fearless women were arrested last night at the Texas Capitol after refusing to leave, standing in solidarity with Rep. Nicole Collier, who remained on the House floor all night rather than submit to ridiculous demands. Capitol police could have simply walked them out. Instead, they charged them with criminal trespass,” Sethi wrote.
Sethi said she and Senator Sarah Eckhardt (D-Austin) were at the jail until around 3:30 a.m. waiting for those four people to be released.
The redistricting battle
Early into Collier’s protest, the Texas House committee on redistricting voted out of committee a new version of a bill with proposed new congressional maps. The committee vote sets the stage for the full House to consider the redistricting legislation, where it is expected to pass on party lines.
The maps are designed to boost Republican representation in the Texas congressional delegation. The push for the redistricting legislation comes after President Donald Trump called on Texas leaders to redraw voting lines to gain five Republican seats in Congress during the mid-term elections.
State Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, defended the plan to boost Republican representation.
“The U.S. Supreme Court … says that jurisdictions may engage in constitutional political gerrymandering, recognizing that politics and political considerations are inseparable from districting and apportionment,” Hunter said before Monday’s committee vote.
The maps will likely push out Congressman Marc Veasey, a Democrat who represents the area that includes much of Collier’s state house district. Collier believes the maps will have a negative impact on her constituents.
“My community is majority-minority, and they expect me to stand up for their representation. When I press that button to vote, I know these maps will harm my constituents,” Collier stated in a news release.