Parties trade blame as flood victims wait for relief

AUSTIN (KXAN) —  As the back and forth over Quorum continues, all business at the Texas Capitol is effectively on hold.

Flood relief is one of the main topics, but can more be done even with Democrats away from the state?

"Look we have made a commitment to kill this special session and then hopefully Greg Abbott will come to his senses and remember that he has abandoned the people of the Hill Country," said Rep. John Bucy, who represents parts of Austin.

Both sides have pointed the finger at each other, but
those who were impacted by the devastating floods July 4th weekend are caught in the middle, waiting for relief and legislation that could save lives in the future.

"Any aid to their constituents who have been harmed by these floods is being delayed and denied by the derelict democrats," said Gov. Abbott.

Gov. Gregg Abbott, spoke to NBC, saying when he issued the special session agenda, the first item he listed was relief for the deadly flooding.

"There is only one thing denying getting legislation passed and it is these democrats who have fled the state," said Abbott.

Rep. John Bucy who represents parts of Austin, says the Governor can do more to help those flood victims though, even with House Democrats out of the state.

"He has executive authority right now and he could act today and we are calling on him to act today to help the people of the Texas Hill Country and then we will be ready to come back and join him at the negotiating table to solve many of the problems of Texas that he has created," said Bucy.

But what exactly can be done? KXAN spoke with Brian Smith a political science professor at St Edwards to learn more.

"He doesn't have a lot of executive authority to make decisions with a phone and a pen, so he can only do what the legislature presents to him, and if they have not passed any bills he really can't take any action on his own," said Smith.

The Governor has budget execution authority to manage the state's appropriations while the Legislature is not in session.

Budget execution authority permits the state to reallocate existing appropriations for fiscal emergencies that occur between legislative sessions.

"What he can do is move around a little bit of money, but because the disasters are so great it requires a lot of money and really only the legislature can appropriate out that money," said Smith.