The emotional adjournment of the House, a day after the Senate closed shop, brought an end to the 82nd Legislature tasked with closing a $27 billion budget gap amid ideological and partisan splits, controversial bills and a governor seeking to raise his national profile among Republican voters while exploring a possible presidential run.

Throughout the regular and special sessions, Republicans held an overwhelming majority in both houses. Claiming a mandate from the November 2010 elections that left the House with a 101-49 Republican majority, leaders were eager to follow Gov. Rick Perry's demand that the budget be balanced solely through spending cuts and no new taxes. The result was billions of dollars in cuts to public education and social services, as well as accounting maneuvers that delayed structural fixes to soaring Medicaid and school costs.

In addition to budget matters, Republicans used their super-majority to push through controversial measures — sometimes by going around long-held legislative rules and traditions — such as voter ID, so-called "sanctuary cities" legislation, cuts to funding for family planning and a law requiring women seeking abortions to have sonograms 24 hours before the procedure.

Democrats accused the Republicans of overreaching and predicted the GOP would pay in future elections when Texans felt the full measure of the session's results.

Perry points a finger

Wednesday's death of the sanctuary cities bill and a so-called "anti-groping" measure, both controversial priorities of the governor, sparked a final spasm of recriminations as freshman Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, blasted GOP leaders, citing "The Emperor's New Clothes." Even Gov. Rick Perry got into the act, blaming the failure of the sanctuary cities bill on a lone Republican senator for refusing to attach it to a must-pass school finance bill.

Senate Republicans swiftly disputed Perry, saying they instructed Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, not to jeopardize the controversial school finance bill, which cuts at least $4 billion from public education, by attaching the even more polarizing sanctuary cities bill to it.

'Assault on Latinos'

The measure would have penalized cities with policies prohibiting law enforcement officers from inquiring about the immigration status of people they detain.

Hispanic lawmakers characterized that bill as "the largest assault on Latinos" in modern history, saying it would have subjected Hispanics to possible detainment if they could not document citizenship after a routine traffic stop, for example.

Simpson's measure aimed at intrusive airport pat-down searches by Transportation Security Administration agents died when House Democrats withdrew their support for the bill after Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst tied the measure to the Obama administration.

In a statement Monday night, Dewhurst urged the House to pass the Senate anti-groping bill, declaring: "We're telling the Obama administration we will not be intimidated."

Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, a co-sponsor of the legislation, immediately pulled his support after he saw Dewhurst's message, as did about 20 other Democrats.

"It's disconcerting that we spent the last moments of the special session attempting to take a petty political swing at our president," Coleman said.

Dewhurst, who is weighing a run for governor or U.S. Senate, did not back down.

"The fact remains it was Obama's Justice Department that tried to intimidate the Legislature - and pre-emptively kill the bill - by implicitly threatening to shut down air traffic in Texas," Dewhurst spokesman Mike Walz said. "This issue isn't about partisanship; it's about protecting innocent travelers from unreasonable and unconstitutional searches - something that all members of the Legislature should support."

Frustration, exhaustion

The regular session ended May 30, but Perry immediately called lawmakers into a special 30-day session the next day after a Democratic filibuster killed a key bill cutting public school funding.

That bill and others passed in the special session, but the frustration and agony of extended time in the state Capitol became clear in its closing hours.

"After 170 days, members are exhausted. Their exhaustion leads to frustration," said 16-year member Rep. Beverly Woolley, R-Houston. "The House is frustrated because we already did our work when we passed these bills during the regular session. We spent 30 additional days passing the same bills again during the special session. It is time for members to go home and recharge."

Cutting health and human services was difficult, legislators said. Cutting public education spending by $5.4 billion provoked even louder protests.

On top of that, lawmakers empowered school districts to furlough teachers and cut their pay.

"We're all tired of beating this poor, dead dog," said Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, who is ending 22 years in the state House. "It's not been an easy session. We've never been this tough on not raising new taxes in the past and not funding schools like we would like to and like we have in the past."

Simpson's parting shot

House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, offered a more optimistic spin as he gaveled the session to an end.

"It took a little longer than any of us wanted, but we're finally closing very successful and productive - although difficult - legislative sessions," Straus told his colleagues. "I'm proud that the House took the lead in making the tough choices required to pass a balanced budget, with no new taxes, while funding essential state services.

"We preserved funds to help balance what will also be a very difficult budget two years from now. We promoted our strong business climate. We promoted accountability and transparency in state government and in higher education and passed major sunset legislation. We passed all required redistricting maps, which is something that is unheard of in recent legislative history."

Simpson's blunt personal privilege speech, however, grabbed more attention.

"The emperors in the state would rather talk about opposing federal tyranny … than stop the despicable behavior," Simpson declared, adding that the "grand halls" of the state Capitol were full of "duplicity and deceit."

Simpson said he's "not only fed up with the TSA and its humiliation of travelers, but also with phony politicians."

Reporter Peggy Fikac contributed to this report.

gscharrer@express-news.net