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Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis during her marathon filibuster (AP Photo).
Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis became a viral sensation on Tuesday as she launched a 11-hour filibuster seeking to block legislation that would have imposed draconian restrictions on abortion in the Lone Star State.
Davis, a Democrat, was finally shut down on procedural grounds and the chamber moved to vote on the bill. Lawmakers had to vote on Senate Bill 5 before the special session's end at 12 a.m. local time, The Huffington Post reported.
But more than 400 protesters halted the proceedings 15 minutes before the roll call could be completed with what they called "a people's filibuster," The Associated Press reported.
Republicans claimed the bill passed on time. But Democrats are disputing it. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a onetime GOP presidential candidate, could call a special session to vote on the bill.
But don't expect Davis' act of political theater to repeat itself in Pennsylvania. The word "filibuster" literally does not appear in the procedural rules for the 50-member chamber.
Erik Arneson, a spokesman for the chamber's majority Republicans, said he went to check the rules himself as the Davis drama unspooled last night.
“I do love procedural stuff,” Arneson said.
Unlike Texas, where lawmakers faced a deadline, Pennsylvania’s legislative session runs for two years and, with the exception of the end of the biennial session every Nov. 30 in even-numbered years, there’s no pressure to act on a bill before the clock runs out.
In general, Pennsylvania senators are allowed to speak for as long as they want, Arneson said.
The motion requires several “seconds” to proceed, but can be approved by a simple majority of senators.
Such a motion is considered the procedural equivalent of the nuclear option and in his 16 years in the Senate, Arneson said he’s seen it employed “a half-dozen times.”
“It tends to anger people,” he said. “But it happens more often in the House.”
Finally, thanks to reforms adopted in 2006 in the wake of the infamous 2005 government pay raises, Senate and House voting sessions end at 11 p.m.
A majority of senators can vote to waive the curfew, but the motion seeking the waiver must explain why it’s being sought. That’s been employed only rarely in the seven years since it went on the books.
So, sorry fans of high political drama, there won’t be any Wendy Davis repeats in the Keystone State.