Pub. 60 2019-2020 Issue 4

35 SUMMER 2020 Some of the Legislature’s standard operating procedures could be set aside until the coronavirus has been eradicated or tamed with an effective vaccine. Staff might not be allowed to linger on the outer edges of the House and Senate floors while the chambers are in session. The press might be banned from the House and Senate floors with potential sections of seating reserved in the galleries. Traditions that are purely ceremonial could go by the wayside beginning with the disbandment of the formal committee of repre- sentatives who are chosen to escort the speaker to the stage for the coronation. Lawmakers could devote more time to policy discussions and debates if they’re not giving shout outs to people or groups in the gallery and having their colleagues clap for them. The House could add a line to the rules that keeps the members lounge shut down in the early stages of the regular session— a move that would be a minimal inconvenience at most.The sergeant-at-arms on both sides of the rotunda might be charged with the unenviable task of advising senators and representatives not to congregate around their desks like they’ve always done in the past. Texas legislators can safely assume that the coronavirus will still be lurking in the state when 2021 arrives, if the disease hasn’t manifested in a far more virulent second wave that many experts are predicting for the fall this year. The multitudes of questions on how they prepare for it as a legislative body are loaded with intriguing possibilities. 