The latest Texas House of Representatives news from The Texas Tribune.
Texas lawmakers on both sides of the aisle talked schools, abortion and guns in advance of next year’s session in a range of panels at The Texas Tribune Festival. Full Story
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At the 2022 Texas Tribune Festival, the Texas House speaker also signaled willingness to consider exceptions to the state’s abortion ban. Full Story
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A pregnant Texas woman said her fetus should count as a person in an HOV lane. That legal question is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the thorny question of “personhood.” Full Story
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White, the only Black Republican in the Legislature, leaves office after 11 years and a failed run for agriculture commissioner. Full Story
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In a letter to the Texas House committee investigating the state’s deadliest school shooting, Robb Elementary principal Mandy Gutierrez says school leaders weren’t complacent about security. Full Story
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The House committee investigating the Uvalde school shooting said it intended to publish the report in both languages but was unable to get it translated before a meeting last Sunday when the English version was released. Full Story
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The department’s officers made up nearly one-fourth of the 376 law enforcement members who responded to Texas’ deadliest school shooting. Announcement of the inquiry came one day after a report criticized police response to the massacre. Full Story
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Lt. Mariano Pargas was the acting city police chief the day of the shooting. Mayor Don McLaughlin said the city is investigating Pargas’ role in the delayed confrontation of the shooter. Full Story
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Frederick Frazier’s runoff opponent accused him of posing as a city code compliance officer to get campaign signs taken down. Frazier said his opponent is to blame in the case. Full Story
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Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick had asked House leaders to support his push for arming school police officers with bulletproof shields after the Uvalde shooting. House Speaker Dade Phelan is also asking for more money for mental health and school safety programs. Full Story
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State Rep. Dustin Burrows, the chair of the investigating committee, said he couldn’t promise a timeline for the review and that witnesses will be questioned in private. Full Story
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Phelan said it is an “outrage” that officials still do not have a clear picture of what happened during the shooting. The committee’s findings will inform the House’s legislative response. Full Story
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The pricey fights illustrate how much of the action in Texas politics has shifted back to the primary after redistricting dramatically reduced the number of competitive seats. Full Story
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Democratic primary runoffs for two congressional districts and two legislative seats in South Texas highlight the candidates’ divergent visions for the party in a region the GOP is heavily targeting. Full Story
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A group of young women have teamed up with a prestigious Houston law firm to get the state to stop charging sales tax on menstrual products, arguing they qualify as “wound care dressings.” Full Story
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The Grand Prairie lawmaker has led the minority party’s House caucus since 2017. Full Story
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Texans who don’t vote in primaries and primary runoffs are missing a chance to choose who goes to Congress and the Texas Legislature. Thanks to the political maps drawn by lawmakers last year, only a handful of those contests will be competitive in November. Full Story
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Despite substantive doubts surrounding the cause of her child’s death and a suspect “confession” obtained after hours of interrogation, Lucio is set to be executed next month for killing her 2-year-old daughter. Full Story
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In the Texas House, the biggest intraparty attack on Republican leadership came from the Defend Texas Liberty PAC, led by former state Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford. Backed by hard-right donors like Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, West Texas oil tycoons, the group spent at least $5.2 million from January onward. Full Story
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Almost all the preferred candidates of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan nabbed enough votes to head into the November general election. And nearly all sitting House and Senate members seeking to return to the Texas Capitol kept their seats. Full Story
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