Off the Kuff / TPR: “A committee of the Texas House of Representatives voted late Friday afternoon to impose financial penalties totaling nearly $422,000 on Democratic House members who broke quorum last August to try to prevent the Republican-led Legislature from passing a controversial mid-decade congressional redistricting plan.
The GOP-led Committee on House Administration imposed $303,000 in fines on the 50-plus Democratic members for being absent without leave during the first and second special sessions of the 89th Legislature. The committee assessed an additional $118,889.81 penalty to reimburse the Texas Department of Public Safety for expenses incurred in trying to compel those members to return to the chamber.
Under House rules, the members being penalized may not use political fundraising in order to pay the fines — in this case more than $8,000 per member.”