“Currently, students' voluntary religious expression is being treated as second-class speech, and sometimes worse, in public schools. School children are being censored and reprimanded at school, leaving them in fear of punishment for their religious beliefs. Due to hostility toward religious expression, children are being forced to defend their First Amendment rights in courtrooms all across Texas, and throughout the nation.

“School districts' practices and policies continue to violate the free speech rights of students, regardless of court decisions to the contrary. C.S.H.B. 3678 codifies these court decisions and the constitutional ways a student, or groups of students, may express their faith at school and at school sponsored events. The bill protects the constitutional freedoms that students already have and provides clarity for teachers and administrators who have been confused about what they may permit students to express. With this clarity, students' constitutional rights are protected, and school districts avoid violating such rights.”

This is the summary of House Bill 3678, authored by Rep. Charlie Howard and Rep. Warren Chisum, which came before the Texas House for debate on the floor yesterday. Almost immediately, passions on the floor flared, with several Democrats – led by Rep. Senfronia Thompson – attacking the bill with an onslaught of amendments (i.e, separate filings that alter the bill’s language). Reps. Chisum and Howard fought back, claiming repeatedly that this was "nothing more than a Free Speech bill” that would “reinforce the First Amendment in our schools.” Opponents saw this as an radical piece of legislation inspired by religious extremists to address a crisis that, in fact, doesn’t exist aside from a few isolated incidences. They also saw it as a serious incursion on the constitutional separation of church and state.

Finally, at around 6pm, after several hours of amendment after amendment and procedural attack after procedural attack, Rep. Chisum decided that he’d had enough of all this hearty debate and discussion. He brought forth a very rare motion to “limit the amount of amendments, so we can all get out of here before midnight tonight.” Several Reps. reacted immediately, claiming that this was, ironically, an attempt to limit the right of free speech on what was being referred to as a “free speech bill.” Chisum’s motion was voted down (but just barely).

In a gutsy move, Senfronia Thompson then took the mic and asked to see the list of Reps. who had signed their names to Chisum’s amendment-limiting motion (there were allegedly 25 names, according to Chisum). After much protest and an attempt by Speaker Craddick to thwart Thompson's request, the list was finally read aloud. Here it is in full:

Rep. Hill
Rep. Morrison
Rep. King
Rep. Miller
Rep. Caligari
Rep. Hopson
Rep. Picket
Rep. Pitts
Rep. Orr
Rep. Aycock
Rep. Darby
Rep. Phillips
Rep. West
Rep. Harless
Rep. Patrick
Rep. Zedler
Rep. Chisum
Rep. Macias
Rep. Wayne Smith (not Todd)
Rep. Flynn
Rep. Taylor
Rep. O’Day
Rep. Hughes
Rep. Otto
Rep. Murphy
Rep. Zerwas

(Each of these members can all be looked up here)

Right after this list was read aloud to the House chamber, Rep. Charlie Howard came before the House and moved to postpone debate on HB 3678 until Monday. This motion passed, and the debate was cut off for the evening, despite much protest from the House floor.

Images of Reps. Howard, Chisum and Thompson courtesy of Wikipedia.