Hot List: Day 91 of the Texas Legislature
The Lead: The House passed its version of the 2014-2015 state budget late Thursday night. As the Observer‘s Patrick Michels reported, the amendment that caused perhaps the biggest stir was Rep. Abel...
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In “Fetal Pain” Abortion Ban Debate, Both Sides Claim Scientific High Ground
Rep. Jodie Laubenberg (R-Parker) After a long Wednesday considering airport security screenings and fireworks regulations, the House State Affairs Committee tried its hand at medical science, with Rep....
View ArticleHot List: Day 95 of Legislature
The Lead: The big news yesterday was in the Senate, which passed a heavily amended version of Senate Education Chair Dan Patrick’s controversial charter school reform bill Thursday afternoon, with only...
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Lawmakers Hear Proposals to Allow More Discrimination, Limit Ethnic Studies...
Rep. Matt Krause (R-For Worth) House members considered a pair of bills Wednesday rooted in social conservative ideas about what’s wrong with universities, before briefly delving into a plan to let...
View ArticleHot List: Day 101 of the Legislature
The Lead: We’ll say this for Sen. Dan Patrick: He keeps it interesting. In an unusual move, the Houston Republican pushed the Senate yesterday to take back a campaign finance bill by Sen. Kel Seliger...
View ArticleHot List: Day 107 of the Legislature
The Lead: Two years after leaving the state’s rainy day fund untouched, despite a $27 billion deficit, the Senate voted yesterday to finally use the fund to restore money to public education, after...
View ArticleHouse Hears Bill Limiting UT Regents’ Power
Sen. Kel Seliger’s bill that could cut through the University of Texas System regents’ current power struggle with the Legislature was heard by the House Higher Education Committee early Wednesday...
View ArticleProfessor Sues Over Layoff in UT-Brownsville, Texas Southmost Split
Susan Mills, an English professor at the University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College, filed a federal lawsuit last week against the university officials who fired her. Mills claims that...
View ArticleHot List: Day 113 of the Legislature
The Lead: You know the session has gotten serious when the first major bill dies in the House on a point of order. That’s what happened yesterday, when a major water bill that would have directed $2...
View ArticleHot List: Day 117 of the Texas Legislature
The Lead: Lawmakers are giving up their Saturday—the first chamber weekend workday of the session—to debate a slew of controversial gun bills. The gun day fun day festivities include legislation that...
View ArticleIn Gun Debate, Texas House Goes Off Half-Cocked
In the wake of Sandy Hook and other gun tragedies, many state legislatures are passing stricter gun regulations. But not in Texas The Texas House took a step in the other direction Saturday afternoon,...
View ArticleTyrant’s Foe: Helping Homeless Kids
I don’t like to take a lot of credit,” Will Hancock says, sitting on his white-and-burnt-orange leather University of Texas desk chair. “I’m kind of the guy that really likes to do stuff behind the...
View ArticleHouse OKs Concussion Insurance Program for Student Athletes
The national sport of Texas could get a little safer for kids under a bill passed today in the Texas House. Harlingen Democrat Eddie Lucio III’s House Bill 887 would create a pilot program for public...
View ArticleHot List: Day 122 of the Legislature
The Lead: There are so many ways to kill a bill in the Texas Legislature, and many bills will meet their demise today: It’s deadline for the House chamber to pass House bills on second reading. Monday...
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At Deadline, Anti-Drone Bill Flies Through House
Courtesy House of Representatives member page.Rep. Lance Gooden For anyone worried their neighbor might spy on them with a small unmanned aircraft (aka drones), Lance Gooden, and the Texas House, has...
View ArticleHouse Approves Vaccination Consent Bill After Resurgent HPV Scare
Just an hour before the Legislature’s midnight deadline for passing House bills out of the lower chamber, as lightning flashed ominously outside the Capitol, tonight’s debate took a brief and sudden...
View ArticleHot List: Day 128 of the Legislature
The Lead: A budget deal appears close. That’s the news yesterday from the budget conference committee—where five reps and five senators are hashing out how the state will spend its money the next two...
View ArticleCombs Approved Tax Breaks for Major Campaign Contributors
Texas Comptroller Susan Combs has approved $1.2 billion in tax breaks to her campaign contributors since 2006, according to the Austin-based nonprofit Texans for Public Justice. According to a report...
View ArticleHouse Declares War on Senate Over Disrespect for the Process
Update 1:00 p.m.: The skirmish over floundering House bills in the Senate has been resolved. Over a lunch recess in both the Senate and the House, lawmakers met to discuss Rep. Harold Dutton and Rep....
View ArticleBudget Deal Finally Reached
After yesterday’s budget mess, it looks like a deal has been reached. On Thursday the Observer reported that the budget negotiations stalled after pressure from Gov. Rick Perry. The guv wanted to limit...
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