V. The Legislature's Continuance Kings
A tiny elite of lawmakers filed most continuances, with the top five filers accounting for 81 percent of all the state’s legislative continuances. Rep. Roberto Alonzo (D-Dallas) is the undisputed continuance king. This criminal-defense attorney filed 241 continuances—or 56 percent of the total. Rep. Alonzo filed an average of two continuances a week.
Lawmaker Continuance Count
|
Home |
No. of |
Lawmaker (Party) |
Town |
Continuances |
Rep. Roberto Alonzo (D) |
Dallas |
241 |
Rep. Phil King (R) |
Weatherford |
53 |
Rep. Carlos Uresti (D) |
San Antonio |
34 |
Rep. David Leibowitz (D) |
San Antonio |
11 |
Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (D) |
San Antonio |
11 |
Rep. Joseph Nixon (R) |
Houston |
9 |
Rep. Robert Puente (D) |
San Antonio |
9 |
Rep. Jim Dunnam (D) |
Waco |
7 |
Rep. Rene Oliveira (D) |
Brownsville |
7 |
Rep. Robert Duncan (R) |
Lubbock |
6 |
Rep. Ron Wilson (D)* |
Houston |
5 |
Rep. Harold Dutton (D) |
Houston |
3 |
Rep. Veronica Gonzales (D) |
McAllen |
3 |
Rep. Toby Goodman (R) |
Arlington |
3 |
Sen. Chris Harris (R) |
Arlington |
3 |
Rep. Bryan Hughes (R) |
Mineola |
3 |
Rep. Aaron Pena (D) |
Edinburg |
3 |
Rep. Sylvester Turner (D) |
Houston |
3 |
Rep. Ruben Hope (R) |
Conroe |
2 |
Rep. John Mabry (D)* |
Waco |
2 |
Sen. Royce West (D) |
Dallas |
2 |
Rep. Joseph Deshotel (D) |
Beaumont |
1 |
Rep. Craig Eiland (D) |
Galveston |
1 |
Rep. Dan Gattis (R) |
Georgetown |
1 |
Rep. Will Hartnett (R) |
Dallas |
1 |
Rep. Abel Herrero (D) |
Corpus |
1 |
Rep. Vilma Luna (D) |
Corpus |
1 |
Rep. Todd Smith (R) |
Euless |
1 |
Rep. Jim Solis (D) |
Harlingen |
1 |
Rep. Jack Stick (R) * |
Austin |
1 |
Rep. Robert Talton (R) |
Pasadena |
1 |
Rep. Yvonne Gonzalez T. (D) |
Alice |
1 |
|
TOTAL: |
431 |
*No longer in legislature.
Rep. Alonzo’s closest competitor is Rep. Phil King (R-Weatherford), who filed 53 continuances (12 percent of the total). Rep. King’s cases principally involved civil suits between businesses or family members. Rep. Carlos Uresti (D-San Antonio) came next with 34 continuances (8 percent), which mostly involved criminal-defense cases. Only two other lawmakers filed more than 10 continuances. They were San Antonio Democrats David Leibowitz and Trey Martinez Fischer, who filed 11 continuances apiece.