Filibusters in the Texas Senate: What you need to know

Texas State Sen. Carol Alvarado’s filibuster to try to thwart an elections overhaul bill is just the latest of more than 100 over the past 72 years, according to the Texas Legislative Reference Library.

Filibuster rules in the Texas Senate require a senator to hold the floor by standing and speaking constantly. A senator is not allowed to eat, drink or use the restroom.

The last Texas filibuster to garner national attention was that of Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth.

On June 25, 2013, Davis talked 13 hours to block an abortion restrictions bill. She killed the bill by talking past the midnight deadline to end the special legislative session. The bill ultimately passed in a second special session but Davis garnered national attention and later had an unsuccessful run for governor against Greg Abbott in 2014.

But Davis’ 13-hour talk wasn’t close to the the record or even in the top five longest filibusters, according to the legislative library.

That honor goes to Sen. Bill Meier of Fort Worth — who spoke from the same desk as Davis occupied — for 43 hours in May 1977 to try to kill a bill that would have made workers’ compensation claims from industrial accidents not subject to the state’s public information act. That filibuster, which didn’t stop the bill from being passed, is believed to be the longest in U.S. history.

According to news reports at the time, Meier wore “an astronaut bag” to allow him to stay at his desk for almost two days as he read legal cases from law books on the floor at his desk.

In second place was Dallas Democratic state Sen. Mike McKool, who tried — unsuccessfully — to kill a bill funding construction of state buildings and aid to junior colleges. McKool spoke for 42 hours, 33 minutes in June 1972.