/https://static.texastribune.org/media/profiles/ramsey-ross_TT.jpg)
Ross Ramsey co-founded The Texas Tribune in 2009 and served as its executive editor until his retirement in 2022. He wrote regular columns on politics, government and public policy. Before joining the Tribune, he was editor and co-owner of Texas Weekly. He did a 28-month stint in government with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Before that, he reported for the Houston Chronicle, the Dallas Times Herald, as a Dallas-based freelancer for regional and national magazines and newspapers, and for radio stations in Denton and Dallas.
The Texas Senate's proposed budget, with one exception, is a carefully assembled conservative start to a 20-week legislative spending negotiation. But they finished off their work with a chainsaw. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2016/09/15/UP9A5191.jpg)
A recent study of mayoral races — those important but rarely epic meat-and-potatoes exercises in civic responsibility — revealed some ugly facts about voters in general and Texas voters in particular. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2016/11/03/Early_voting_DeWitt_BD_TT.jpg)
For lessons in how to speak positively about bad news — without telling lies — you might consider studying at the feet of the people who write the Texas budget. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/BudgetTexas.jpg)
In their first-day numbers, the Texas Legislature's two chambers didn’t even agree on the size of the current budget. The House baked in some supplemental expenses that the Senate left that out. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2013/02/01/Money-Capitol-3d-Budget.jpg)
Not everything is stuck in silos, but following particular groups is a way to cut through the sheer volume of good and bad ideas that steam up the Texas government’s windows every two years. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2017/01/04/Texas_House_pre_85.jpg)
In the midst of all the gloomy state budget news, this stuck out like a gold nugget in a cow patty: Rising property values in the state’s school districts translate into higher local tax revenue, cutting the state's obligation to education. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2015/08/24/Austin-PropTax.jpg)
House Speaker Joe Straus won a fifth term in that post on the first day of the legislative session. And unlike his predecessors, he's more secure politically now than when he started in 2009. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2017/01/10/Straus_swearing_inTT.jpg)
The so-called "bathroom bill" unveiled by Republican leaders last week is the latest piece of legislation that would overwrite local laws with state regulations cooked up in Austin. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2017/01/05/__A95I8410_corrected2.jpg)
The state of Texas lost a lawsuit over business franchise taxes on Friday, but lost the way officials had hoped — without a significant change in an arcane accounting definition that could have cost billions. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2016/01/21/6F6A0511.jpg)
The Legislature goes to Austin on Tuesday, but lawmakers will find out a day before that what kind of budget they're going to write. Spoiler alert: Money is tight. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2015/01/12/_S3R7679HegarCU.jpg)