Bill May Boost Bond Rating for Charter Schools
The Senate approved a bill today that would help charter schools borrow money by allowing them to use the state’s Permanent School Fund as a bond guarantee Full Story
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Senate OKs School Guidelines for Food Allergies
A bill that would create a committee of experts, school officials and parents to develop guidelines for schools to use to craft food allergy protocols passed the Senate today. Full Story
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Update: The Texas Budget Cycle
Confused about the state's budget process? Trust us — you’re not alone. Check our flow chart to help understand where we are in the process (highlighted in yellow) and what steps are next (highlighted in gray). Full Story
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House Gives Helmet Safety Bill Early Approval
With a football helmet in hand, Rep. Eddie Lucio III, D-San Benito, won preliminary approval from the House today for a bill to ensure school districts keep close tabs on how often helmets are checked and repaired. Full Story
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Texplainer: Are All Committee Meetings Televised?
Generally, committee meetings are open to the public and recorded — one way or another. Full Story
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Video: House Gives "Pork Chopper" Bill Early OK
The aptly nicknamed "pork chopper" bill — which authorizes hunters to shoot feral hogs and coyotes from helicopters — passed a preliminary vote in the Texas House today, 137-9. Full Story
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Senate OKs Renaming, Shrinking RR Commission
The Senate approved a bill today that would change the name of the Railroad Commission to the Texas Oil and Gas Commission and reduce the size of the commission from three elected members to one elected commissioner. Full Story
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House Gives "Pork Chopper" Bill Early OK
The aptly nicknamed "pork chopper" bill — which authorizes hunters to shoot feral hogs and coyotes from helicopters — passed a preliminary vote in the Texas House today, 137-9. Full Story
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Texplainer: How Real Is the Feral Hog Menace?
Feral hogs are a fast-growing — and destructive — problem. Does that mean recreational hunters in helicopters should shoot them? Full Story
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TribLive: Thompson on Gambling, Race and the Democrats
For our most recent TribLive conversation, I interviewed state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, about gambling, how Democrats can regain their mojo and whether being black and being Republican are incompatible. Full Story
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TribLive: Thompson on Gambling
At last Thursday's TribLive, State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, made the economic development case for legalized gambling in Texas. Full Story
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Inside Intelligence: The Best and Worst Legislators So Far...
For the latest installment of our nonscientific survey of political and policy insiders, we asked how the state's top leaders are doing so far this session and which lawmakers — and which freshmen lawmakers — are standing out, for better or for worse. Full Story
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House Budget Shrinks Spending, Slashes Services
The Texas House started with a $164.5 billion budget and ended with the same total. But lawmakers spent the better part of a weekend making changes inside the budget for 2012-13 before giving it their approval, 98 to 49. Full Story
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Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
VIDEO: Lawmakers Debate "Western Civilization"
In an ugly debate late Friday night, Rep. Wayne Christian proposed requiring that colleges and universities getting state funds should make sure that at least 10 percent of their courses "provide instruction in Western Civilization." Full Story
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TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Tan's wall-to-wall coverage of the budget (with more from the rest of the Trib crew, interviews with some of the freshmen seeing this up close for the first time and a map of how it works), Philpott on the similarities between budget worries in Texas and those elsewhere, M. Smith explains school finance, Ramshaw on the dwindling insurance options for orphans, Grissom on legal fights over the drugs used for state executions, Aguilar on the run-up to the debate over sanctuary cities, Stiles maps the diversity of Texas counties, Galbraith on efforts to recycle plastic bags and Hamilton on calls for "entrepreneurship" at the University of Texas: The best of our best content from March 28 to April 1, 2011. Full Story
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The Week in Texas Politics Recap: March 28—April 1
No time to follow every twist and turn of the Texas Legislature? We've made it easier for you with our weekly recaps of the action under the dome. Full Story
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Budget Fun: Guess the Signature [Updated]
If the signatures of state representatives on the hundreds of amendments to HB1 are any indication, possession of legible handwriting is not a prereqisite for holding elective office. Full Story
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Liveblog: House Debates HB 1
We liveblogged the full debate over HB 1, the House version of the general appropriations bills for the next biennium, which passed late Sunday night 98 to 49. Full Story
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Guest Column: Of Course We Can Cut the Budget
Today, as we vote on House Bill 1, we are in the position of squeezing water out of rock, and the process is hard and dirty work. Democrats will say there is no water in the rock. They are wrong. Full Story
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Guest Column: A Last-Minute Plea to Minimize Harm
We cannot solve this budget crisis with blind, across-the-board cuts. There are better choices. If we return to the pragmatic political approach that once defined our politics, we will keep alive the tradition of each generation sacrificing for a better Texas. Full Story
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