Gov. Rick Perry announced he had added legislation that would make it illegal for TSA agents to engage in “intrusive touching” at airports security checkpoints without probable cause to the list of items for the legislature to consider during the special session.

The measure had previously failed to muster enough support in the Texas Senate to come up for a vote because the Justice Department wrote a scathing memo against the bill, which threatened legal action against the state, and the measure became enmeshed in Senate politics.

There are questions about what impact the legislation might have since airport security is a federal matter.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who was accused of lobbying against the bill in May said he was “pleased” by Perry’s decision.

“I’m very pleased that Governor Perry agreed to add this legislation to his Special Session call,” Dewhurst said. “Addressing unreasonable and unlawful searches of innocent travelers by some TSA employees is an issue that affects all Texans who use air travel, and it should not wait until next Session.”

Before the Senate took up the bill initially, the Justice Department sent a letter to state advising that passage of the bill would result in immediate legal action by the federal government and that it could result in airline flights to and from Texas being delayed or cancelled.

Opponents of the bill used it as ammunition to stall the bill. Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, blamed Dewhurst for the unexpected opposition and claimed Dewhurst was openly lobbying Senators against the bill. Dewhurst said that Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, had told him there were 12 Senators against the bill, enough to block it from coming up for consideration.

The day after, Patrick slammed Dewhurst.

“Apparently, for political reasons… he came up with this elaborate political play to kill the bill without his fingerprints,” Patrick said, speaking to the drama over the anti-airport pat downs bill that failed yesterday. When asked about how would affect his relationship with Dewhurst, he paused for a while before answering the question. “I have to ask myself,” Patrick said, before trailing off again.

Shortly after making those comments, Patrick announced that he would explore entering the U.S. Senate race and challenge Dewhurst’s bid to replace retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

The addition of the anti-TSA bill to the call comes just a couple of days after a Texas Republican activist confronted Perry about the issue while he was signing copies of his book ‘Fed-Up’ at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans.

The Houston Chronicle’s Joe Holley reports that during the exchange, Perry told activist Wesley Strackbein that there simply weren’t the votes to pass the measure, an answer that Strackbein wasn’t pleased with.

When he got to the head of the line and told the governor he was disappointed about his lack of support for the anti-groping bill, Perry said “Woo!” and then went on to say there wasn’t enough time in the special session to round up support for the bill. “They don’t have the votes on either side,” the governor said, trying to move Strackbein along. “That’s what I told them. I said, ‘Bring me in a multitude in votes.’” Strackbein was polite with the governor but displeased. “This is a flimsy excuse, as the bills considered in the special session and the length of the session itself are the sole prerogative of Perry to determine,” he said later. “His comment, in effect, was: ‘I’m powerless to do what I’ve been empowered to do.’”

Conservative activists have held at least two rallies at the Capitol, protesting the Texas’ Senate’s inability to pass the legislation.

One of the rallies was led by talk show host Alex Jones, a controversial figure best known for propagating conspiracy theories about the September 11th terrorist attacks.

Author’s note: Attribution to Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, was cleaned up. Second graph was clarified from “failed to pass” to “failed to muster enough support in the Senate to come up for a vote.” Both are accurate because a bill obviously can’t pass the Senate if it can’t muster enough support to come up for a vote.

