One incoming Texas Representative is proposing legislation that would limit the Texas Speaker of the House to serving just two terms in that role. This might help prevent the drama we've seen recently in future House Speaker races.
Representative-elect Mitch Little, who filed House Bill 1758, says that this should help make the Republican caucus more unified. He said, "The purpose of bringing the bill to term limit the speaker was to stop making this position so attractive to people that they will break with the Republican caucus."
That's what we've seen in recent weeks from Representative Dustin Burrows, who is pushing for the speakership backed by a coalition of Democrats and Republicans, despite losing the GOP caucus vote for speaker.
Rep. Little went on to say that putting term limits on the Texas House Speaker would also help balance out power inside the Texas House, which right now is very centralized within the speakership. He said, "After that power becomes consolidated, the speaker started using it to essentially amass political capital, which he would then distribute to his cronies."
He says that prior to about 1973, the position of Texas House Speaker was what he called a "servant leadership" position. He says no one really ever served in it for more than just one term, and we need to get back to something similar to that.