The regular 2023 legislative session is over. Here’s how the most consequential bills fared.
A look at which bills passed and which failed during the 2023 legislative session. Full Story
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![Four squares with four icons: the top left icon is of the Texas capitol with a yellow question mark over it, the top right icon is of a bill with with a yellow question mark over it, the bottom left icon is of the Texas capitol with a red checkmark over it and the bottom right icon is of a bill with a green checkmark over it.]()
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Texas lawmakers find consensus on bill banning diversity, equity and inclusion offices in public universities
Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill on June 14, making Texas the second state in the country, after Florida, to ban DEI offices at public universities. Full Story
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![Stephen F. Austin University on Oct. 3, 2022, in Nacogdoches.]()
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North Texas lawmakers talk impeachment, property taxes, school choice
At a Texas Tribune event, Republican state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione said his vote to impeach Ken Paxton was akin to being a grand juror who found enough evidence to warrant a trial in the Senate. Full Story
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14 U.S. House Republicans from Texas vote against raising the debt limit
Joined in opposition by four Texas Democrats, the “no” votes weren’t enough to sink the proposal, which next heads to the U.S. Senate. Full Story
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![US Representative Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas, speaks during a press conference alongside other members of the House Freedom Caucus outside of the US Capitol building on May 30, 2023 in Washington, D.C. Congress begins to examine the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 which would eliminate the debt limit for two years alongside other stipulations that Speaker McCarthy and President Biden have reached an agreement on.]()
Credit: Samuel Corum/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect -
Ron DeSantis plans 3-day fundraising swing through Texas next week
The Florida governor’s events in six cities are drawing some of the state’s biggest Republican donors. Full Story
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![Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during a press conference at Christopher Columbus High School on March 27, 2023, in Miami.]()
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Tension over property taxes produces rare public clash between Dan Patrick, Greg Abbott
Always happy to castigate the Texas House, Patrick breaks form to criticize the governor as misinformed and unsympathetic toward homeowners. Full Story
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![From left: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Gov. Greg Abbott, and Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan.]()
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Abbott taps John Scott, former Texas secretary of state, as interim attorney general
Scott, a former deputy attorney general, will run the agency because Ken Paxton has been suspended from office until his impeachment trial before the Texas Senate. Full Story
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![Texas Secretary of State John Scott at a press conference held by Gov. Greg Abbott on April 14, 2022.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Across Texas, a slow and sputtered rollout of foster care privatization
Lawmakers were assured that outsourcing management of foster care services would fix the state’s troubled child welfare agency. But the rollout of the new model, set to be completed by 2029, has been complicated by setbacks. Full Story
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![State Rep. James Frank R-Wichita Falls, answers a question from Rep. Armando Walle D-Houston regarding SB 11 on May 18, 2017]()
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This class president is the model of a successful Texas teen. After a ban on trans health care, she can’t wait to leave the state.
For one Round Rock teen, getting accepted to Harvard was her ticket out of a state that she says is hostile to trans youth. Now Texas will ensure young people like her no longer have access to gender-affirming care. Full Story
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![Topher Malone’s mother helps her put on her graduation attire in their home in Round Rock the morning of the ceremony on May 26, 2023.]()
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Abbott backs Phelan’s property tax cut plan, spurring ire from Patrick
The House passed a bill without Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s preferred increase to homestead exemptions — then abruptly adjourned for the special session. That basically tells the Senate to take the House bill Gov. Greg Abbott backs or leave it. Full Story
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![Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick recaps the 88th Legislative Session with Sherry Sylvester, Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, at TPPF Headquarters in downtown Austin, on May 30, 2023.]()
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Watch a documentary about the Uvalde shooting from The Texas Tribune, Frontline and Futuro Investigates
The film, “After Uvalde: Guns, Grief and Texas Politics,” was broadcast nationally on PBS and is also available for streaming on The Texas Tribune and Frontline’s websites. Full Story
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![Promotional image for a documentary titled "After Uvalde: Guns, Grief and Texas Politics" by Frontline, The Texas Tribune and Futuro Investigates.]()
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6 Texas AG employees take leave of absence to defend Ken Paxton at impeachment trial
The defense team includes the agency’s chief appellate lawyer and head of its general litigation division. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton makes a statement to the press May 26, 2023 a day before a scheduled impeachment vote in the Texas House in a long-running ethics complaint.]()
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Special election to replace expelled Bryan Slaton in Texas House set for Nov. 7
At least five candidates have already announced their intention to run in the solidly Republican North Texas district. Full Story
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![The Sergeant at Arms of the Texas House removes state Rep. Brian Slaton's name card from the House voting board after the House voted to expel Slaton at the state Capitol in Austin on May 9, 2023.]()
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Gov. Greg Abbott calls immediate special session to address property taxes and border issues
Abbott noted many bills that were passed during the regular session, which ended around 6 p.m. Monday, but he added that “many critical items remain” and will require multiple special sessions. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbot gives remarks during a United Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Corpus Christi on April 3, 2023.]()
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In first session after Dobbs ruling, Texas lawmakers provide more support for pregnant and parenting college students
Now that Texas has a near-total ban on abortion, lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle are trying to make sure colleges are serving students who are pregnant or have children. Full Story
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![Isabel Torres works at the welcome desk at Austin Community College at Eastview on May 25, 2023. Torres is a single mother, and while completing her associates degree, needed daycare for her daughter. When she was offered a spot at the campus daycare, “It was like winning the lottery,” she said.]()
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At session’s end, Houston language access advocates clung to one last hope that their voices had been heard
Their dream of passing a bill to improve access to state services for Texans who don’t speak English or Spanish was dashed. Woori Juntos activists fought until the end seeking at least a study of their ideas. Full Story
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![Nicole Ma, Steven Wu, and Quỳnh-Hương Nguyễn of Woori Juntos set up their laptops to catch up on emails and online meetings at the Capitol Grill while they wait for the Senate to convene after trying to meet with the office of Dade Phelan, the House Speaker, and various senators in the state Capitol in Austin on May 22, 2023. The Woori Juntos organizers have shifted focus for the remaining time in the Legislative session, to begin cultivating potential alliances for next session and by trying to get an Interim Charge for their main issue, relating to increasing language accessibility for Texans in state health programs. An Interim Charge, in the Texas House, is a directive to study a certain issue during the interim that is issued by the lieutenant governor to a Senate committee or by the speaker of the House to a House committee.]()
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Watch a Texas Tribune conversation on the 2023 regular legislative session
In a live edition of TribCast, the Tribune’s weekly podcast, we discussed the outcomes of the regular session, what’s happening in the current special session and more. Full Story
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Texas lawmakers fail to reach last-minute deal to cut property taxes
After negotiations that became tense and public, the House and Senate fell short of delivering on one of the biggest legislative priorities for Republicans in the regular legislative session. Full Story
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![An East Austin neighborhood.]()
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The regular Texas legislative session started with a record budget surplus and ended with an impeached attorney general
The 2023 legislative session started with a $32.7 billion surplus. It was mired in Republican infighting and multiple scandals. Then, the House impeached the state’s attorney general. Full Story
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![House Speaker Dade Phelan gavels out the 88th session Sine Die on May 29, 2023.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Texas House names Ken Paxton impeachment managers; Senate trial will start by Aug. 28
Seven Republicans and five Democrats make up the board of managers who will handle the prosecution in the trial. In the Senate, a committee will recommend rules of procedure on June 20. Full Story
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![Rep. Andrew Murr delivers the Articles of Impeachment to Secretary of the Senate Patsy Spaw on May 29, 2023.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune