The very first requirement of election integrity is to ensure that only U.S. citizens vote in an election. That's inarguable.

In Texas, that's not a requirement, which is why no less than 17 bills were filed and endorsed by the Republican Party of Texas (RPT) as fulfilling the first requirement of the legislative priority "Secure Texas Elections." It should be noted that this is the third session in a row that Election Integrity has been a legislative proirity for the RPT. Why? Because Texas Republicans in our Republican legislature continually fail to pass the bills to secure our elections.

The 17 bills this session that made citizenship a requirement were: HJR 49, HJR 161, HJR 197, HB 219, HB 892, HB 1263, HB 1312, HB 1670, HB 2245, HB 2279, HB 5337, SB 16, SJR 28, SJR 37, SB 146, SB 309, and SB 2057.

All of the House bills were assigned to the House Elections committee. Rep. Terry Wilson served on the House Elections committee.

All of the Senate bills were assigned to the Senate State Affairs committee.

Of all of these bills, the only bill that passed both chambers was Senate bill SJR 37, which only proposes a constitutional amendment clarifying that a voter must be a United States citizen. Though it passed and went to the Governor, this proposed constitutional amendment "shall be submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 4, 2025."

None of the bills that would make it law by this fall passed. Keep that in mind...

HB 4288, authored by Democrat Rep. Mihaela Plesa, sought to extend the last voting day in case of "force majeure" - which included "new or expanded state or federal statutory or regulatory requirements; hurricanes, tornadoes, ice storms, or other natural disasters; or acts of war, terrorism, or civil disturbance."

This was neither endorsed or opposed by the RPT. It was also not an urgent bill addressing a great need right now that needed passage. On the other hand, requiring voters to be citizens is an urgent need and has been for quite a while now.

On May 8, 2025, the House Elections met and because two members of the committee were absent, it failed to pass.

Ayes: Representatives Shaheen; Bucy; Raymond; Wilson (4).

Nays: Representatives Isaac; Swanson; Toth (3).

Two Republicans, Shaheen and Wilson, joined the Democrats to pass the bill, but without the other two members, a majority of the committee couldn't pass the bill.

So, on May 9, 2025, the other two Democrats rejoined the committee to reconsider the failed bill.

Ayes: Representatives Shaheen; Bucy; Morales Shaw; Plesa; Raymond; Wilson (6).

Nays: Representatives Isaac; Swanson; Toth (3).

With Republicans Shaheen and Wilson joining the four Democrats, the bill passed.

It's worth noting that the only citizenship bill to pass the House Elections committee did so on April 24 - three months after the start of the session and with only a little over a month left to get it through House Calendars, the House itself, and then through the Senate's entire process. This is why the majority of the bills that the House Elections committee passed had to be Senate bills and not House bills. The House waited too long to start its process.

HB 5337, by Rep. Carrie Isaac, would have made the citizenship requirement law on September 1, 2025.

The RPT-endorsed SJR 37 was first assigned to the Senate State Affairs committee on February 7.
The RPT-endorsed HB 5337 was first assigned to the House Elections committee on April 7, two months later.

The RPT-endorsed SJR 37 was heard in the Senate State Affairs committee on March 20.
The RPT-endorsed HB 5337 was heard in the House Elections committee on April 24.

The RPT-endorsed SJR 37 was placed on the Senate intent calendar on March 27.
The RPT-endorsed HB 5337 was sent to the House Calendars committee on May 7.

This is why it matters that the House takes so long to get to its bills. House Republicans don't have time to squander on non-urgent bills when urgent priority legislation languishes thirty to sixty days behind the Senate.