Joe Valenzuela and Vincent Nguyen have never met, but they shared the same job for four days. Valenzuela has served for the past five years in the office of the Texas House Sergeant-at-arms. Nguyen is one of his YG counterparts. “Our job is to maintain decorum on the House floor,” Valenzuela said. “Decorum can mean anything from arguments on the House floor, or people not following the correct proceedings or wearing the correct uniform.” On a day-to-day basis, this means striving to maintain the rules of the House in all their forms. “Decorum can. Mean the way the process is happening, so we are making sure that process is smooth and correct,” Valenzuela said. The Sergeant-at-arms’s office sits right outside the House entrance and allows them to enforce strict laws about whether or not a person is allowed into the House. “I’m supposed to assist the lobbyists if they come in. So if they’re looking for a member of the House, they can’t go inside the House, so I find them for them,” Nguyen said. During his first day on the job, this was one of Nguyen’s main roles. “If someone from the Senate comes in and they’re trying to get their bill passed in the Senate and over here, they’ll need to talk to me to choose a sponsor,” Nguyen said. When the House functions well, this can mean a mundane day relaying messages. But, during times of contention, the duties of a Sergeant-at-arms can be drastically transformed. “We have a regular routine, but it depends on how contentious the bill can be,” Valenzuela said. “If it’s a crazy day and there are a lot of bills that need to go on, we can be running around all day until three in the morning when we’d started at nine.”
Written By: Elaine Carte-Engel