re: Texas to vote on whether to force all other states to secede

Lieutenant Governor.

He appoints all committee chairs in the Senate and determines where the bills are going to be sent (to which committees) and when.
That’s a whole heap o’ power.

Remember, every bill has to go through a Senate Committee before it gets a final vote.
Getting passed by the Senate is tough enough.
But it's impossible if your bill never gets out of committee—which makes the Lt. Governor's power to pick where to send a bill very important.

The Lt. Gov. could despise HB 1359 The Texas Independence Referendum Act (TIRA), for example, and send it to a committee also comprised of legislators who are against the idea of allowing Texans to exercise their right to vote, thereby rendering the bill DOA before it stands a shot.