After Taylor Swift Eras Tour glitch, Texas bans bots that buy concert tickets
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn hopes to take the issue on in Congress. Full Story
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![Taylor Swift accepts the "iHeartRadio Innovator" award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles, California on March 27, 2023.]()
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Abbott, Patrick, Phelan race to negotiate priority issues as deadlines loom
Seeking to avoid a special session, the state leaders discuss school choice, property taxes and grid reform. Full Story
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![Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in the governor's office on Monday, May 22, 2023.]()
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Texas Senate passes revamped school funding bill in last-minute bid to implement voucher program
Texas senators have latched education savings accounts to a school funding bill in a last-ditch effort to avoid a special session. But some House members are furious at the revamped version and have vowed not to let it become law. Full Story
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![Bonham Elementary School in San Antonio is an in-district charter with a lottery system. Third graders jump rope on the playground on May 9, 2018.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
Time runs out for taxpayer-funded private school tuition bill as special session looms
Gov. Greg Abbott has already signaled he would call a special session if lawmakers failed to pass a voucher-like program open to all students. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during an event held by the Parent Empowerment Coalition at Annapolis Christian Academy on Jan. 31, 2023, in Corpus Christi.]()
Credit: Angela Piazza/Corpus Christi Caller-Times via REUTERS -
A ban on Texas public universities’ diversity offices inches closer to becoming law
Republicans are at odds on whether to advance, contest or even toss out the House’s amended version of the bill banning diversity, equity and inclusion offices. Full Story
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![Students on the University of Texas at Austin campus on Nov. 29, 2021.]()
Credit: Jack Myer for The Texas Tribune -
TribCast: Is a special session of the Texas Legislature inevitable?
In this week’s episode, we discuss the long odds facing the school choice bill and the possibility of Gov. Greg Abbott calling lawmakers back for a special session. Full Story
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![People walk into the House gallery at the Capitol in Austin on April 06, 2023.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Key supporter of Texas school chaplain bill has pushed for evangelism in schools
Rocky Malloy, a self-described former drug-smuggling pirate saved by divine intervention, has led a group that promotes chaplains as a tool to proselytize to schoolchildren. Full Story
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![Passing period at United South High School in Laredo.]()
Credit: Rachel Zein for The Texas Tribune -
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.]()
Credit: Illustration by Ben Hasson -
Texas expected to ban puberty blockers, hormone treatments for trans kids
Gov. Greg Abbott said he will sign Senate Bill 14 into law, which will make Texas one of over a dozen states that restrict transition-related care for transgender minors. Legal groups have already pledged to challenge it in court. Full Story
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![People gathered on the stairs across from the House floor to protest against SB 14, which seeks to ban puberty blockers and hormone therapies for transgender youth, before it is heard for debate in the House at the state Capitol in Austin on May 12, 2023.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Texas House approves bill to improve background checks on child-welfare workers
The action came after The Refuge, a Bastrop foster care facility, hired a caretaker without knowing her history of misconduct. Full Story
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![The Refuge in Bastrop on Apr. 12, 2022]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
House waters down some of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s priorities, adding to late-session uncertainty
Although the lower chamber backed the Senate’s action on gender-affirming care, it has been less accepting of school choice and attempts to rein in higher education. Full Story
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![Lt. Governor Dan Patrick presides over the Senate at the Capitol in Austin on April 06, 2023.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Bill to protect against hairstyle discrimination sent to Texas governor
The CROWN Act would ensure protection for Texans who wear their hair in natural styles such as braids, locs, twists or knots. Full Story
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![State Rep. Ron Reynolds urges the passage of the CROWN act during a press conference held by the Texas Legislative Black Caucus in the state capitol on April 13, 2023.]()
Credit: Leila Saidane/The Texas Tribune -
Effort to allow casinos falls short in Texas House
Facing a rigid deadline, gaming supporters were unable to get the supermajority support needed to move the legislation forward. Full Story
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![A cup with the message "I'd rather be a the casino" sits on the desk of state Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, on the House floor at the state Capitol on April 6, 2023.]()
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Bills by the handful perish as Texas House hits crucial late-session deadline
It was a night of frustration, retaliation and, for some, elation as the stroke of midnight spelled doom for a lot of legislation. Full Story
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![House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, surveys the chamber during a break in the action on deadline day May 11, 2023.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Bill striking unconstitutional state law that criminalized homosexuality fails to meet critical deadline in the Texas House
In a landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Texas’ law banning sodomy in 2003. It took almost 20 years for Democrats to get a bill to repeal the defunct ban on the House calendar. Full Story
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![State Rep. Venton Jones, D-Dallas, speaks with fellow lawmakers on the House floor on April 6, 2023.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
In dramatic vote, Texas House approves online sports betting measure
A resolution to let voters decide whether to legalize casino gambling, however, was delayed for a day while supporters worked to find enough support for passage. Full Story
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![A gambler stacks chips at a roulette table during the reopening of Bellagio hotel-casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada, on June 4, 2020.]()
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Bryan Slaton’s Texas House downfall could complicate GOP fight against “groomers”
Republicans were so busy policing drag artists and transgender Texans that they missed so-called “grooming behavior” by one of their own, LGBTQ advocates say. Full Story
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![State Rep. Bryan Slaton, R-Royse City, on the House floor at the state Capitol during session in Austin on April 25, 2023.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Thwarting Democratic efforts, House Republicans revive border policing unit in early-morning vote
The proposed unit would let those who are not law officers arrest or detain suspected undocumented immigrants in border-region counties. Full Story
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![A member of the Texas Army National Guard holds a flashlight as migrants crawl over rocks after wading across the Rio Grande into the United States from Mexico, in Roma, on March 4, 2022.]()
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Texas House’s version of the Senate’s voucher bill would change eligibility to the program and replace the STAAR test
The Texas House’s education committee is soon expected to discuss the new version of Senate Bill 8, which was heavily modified to sway votes in the lower chamber. Full Story
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![House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, gavels the House into session on the House floor during session at the state Capitol in Austin on April 11, 2023.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Raise-the-age gun bill misses crucial deadline, as Uvalde parents protest outside the Texas House
Days after another mass shooting in Texas, the measure to raise the minimum age from 18 to 21 to purchase semi-automatic rifles appears to have failed. Full Story
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![A vendor table at the SAXET Gun Show at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Robstown on Feb. 26, 2023.]()
Credit: Blaine Young for The Texas Tribune