Texas Senate unanimously approves tax cuts for homeowners
The marquee proposal would increase the amount of a home’s value exemption from school taxes to $140,000 from $100,000. The legislation must win approval from the House next. Full Story
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![Housing development in Celina on Nov. 13, 2024.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
Texas bill that lets families use tax dollars for private schools swiftly sails through Senate
Senate Bill 2 now heads to the House, where top officials say they have the support to create education savings accounts. Full Story
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![Members of the Texas Senate take up Senate Bill 2, regarding school vouchers, during the 89th Regular Session of the Texas Legislature in Austin on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune -
Texas senators fast-track school voucher bill for full vote
The Senate could vote on the proposal as soon as next week. Democrats on Tuesday criticized the bill saying it fails to prioritize the state’s neediest children. Full Story
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![State Sen. Brandon Creighton, chair of the Senate Committee on Education K-16, lays out the SB2 plan for an education savings account program at a hearing at the Capitol in Austin on Jan. 28, 2025.]()
Credit: Leila Saidane for The Texas Tribune -
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says Legislature should clarify Texas abortion law to protect mothers at risk
Patrick on Sunday said the Legislature should amend the language of the state’s near-total abortion ban to address confusion over when doctors may terminate pregnancies. Full Story
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![Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick speaks at the Texas GOP Convention on Thursday, May 23, 2024, in San Antonio.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
The Texas Legislature is back. Here’s what we’re watching.
From debating school vouchers and improving the state’s water supply to reining in property taxes, the GOP-led body will look to pass its conservative priorities amid fighting within the party. Full Story
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![State Representatives and their families gather on the House floor on the opening day of the 88th Legislative Session at the state Capitol in Austin on Jan. 10, 2023.]()
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Texas Senate to pursue ban on THC products next year, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says
Patrick contends retailers have exploited a law passed in 2019 to sell unregulated and potentially harmful consumable tetrahydrocannabinol products. Full Story
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![Lt. Governor Dan Patrick speaks during the Texas GOP Convention Thursday, May 23, 2024 in San Antonio.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
Could Texas do for Alzheimer’s research what it did for cancer?
Modeled after the state’s $6 billion cancer research fund, the dementia fund — a legislative priority for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — could pump hundreds of millions of dollars into Texas researchers. Full Story
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![The facilities of El Faro Health and Therapeutics clinical research facility count with an infusion room to treat patients with Alzheimer’s disease in Rio Grande City on November 13, 2021.]()
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Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick names private school vouchers as his top legislative priority
School voucher supporters say they have the votes to get a bill across both the Texas Senate, led by Patrick, and the House, which has repeatedly blocked such proposals. Full Story
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![Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick speaks at the 2024 Texas GOP Convention in San Antonio on May 23, 2024.]()
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Adam Hinojosa flips Texas Senate seat, becomes first Republican to represent Rio Grande Valley district since Reconstruction
Hinojosa won the only competitive seat in the Texas Senate this cycle, besting Sen. Morgan LaMantia two years after she narrowly defeated him. Full Story
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![Adam Hinojosa, Texas Senate District 27 Republican Candidate, after a Futuro RGV candidate forum in Brownsville on Jan. 19, 2022.]()
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Election Day updates: South Texas continues dramatic shift toward Donald Trump, GOP
Texas might not be a swing state, but many of its races will have major consequences to the national political landscape and on the lives of everyday Texans. Full Story
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![Voters wait in line at the Houston Community College Southeast voting location in Houston on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
See final results from Texas for the November 2024 election
Texans voted in several races, including for the President, a U.S. Senator, U.S. House members and more. Full Story
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Robert Roberson’s case spotlights Texas’ GOP divide on criminal justice
Texas’ junk science statute has remained hamstrung for the last decade. So too have other criminal justice reforms, despite efforts from the Texas House. Full Story
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![From left: State Reps. David Cook, R-Mansfield, Jeff Leach, R-Plano, and Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, during a House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence hearing on death row inmate Robert Roberson on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024 in Austin.]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune -
Republicans want to flip this last competitive South Texas senate seat
State Sen. Morgan LaMantia, D-Palm Valley, faces off against Republican Adam Hinojosa in the only competitive race for the Texas Senate. Full Story
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![State Sen. Morgan LaMantia, D-Palm Valley, left, and Republican challenger Adam Hinojosa.]()
Credit: The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers signal push to require proof of citizenship from voters
Gov. Greg Abbott gave an inflated number of noncitizens removed from the state’s voter rolls, officials acknowledged, confirming findings by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune, and Votebeat. Full Story
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![Ken Cuccinelli, a former acting director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and former acting deputy secretary of DHS, speaks at a state Senate hearing at the Texas Capitol on Oct. 16, 2024.]()
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Watch: Texas lawmakers discuss noncitizens on the voter rolls
Here’s what you need to know after a ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and Votebeat investigation found that Gov. Greg Abbott likely inflated the number of noncitizens on voter rolls. Full Story
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![Voting signs direct voters outside of the Rolling Fork Castle Club during Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023 in Houston. The castle was built in the late 1970s and has served as a voting location for almost forty years.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers signal openness to expanding film incentive program
Directors, producers and actors say better incentives in other states pull projects away from Texas, which is losing out on millions of dollars. Full Story
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![Writer and director Taylor Sheridan at a Senate Finance Committee hearing at the Texas Capitol, in Austin, on Oct. 9, 2024.]()
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In Texas visit, second gentleman Douglas Emhoff raises more than $1 million
The stop by the husband of presidential candidate Kamala Harris included a rally to boost local Democrats looking to flip seats in the Texas House. Full Story
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![Doug Emhoff, second gentleman of U.S., speaks to supporters for his wife, Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, in The Villages, Florida, on Sept. 13, 2024]()
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Texas’ prison guard shortfall makes it harder for inmates to get reprieve from extreme indoor heat, critics say
About 25% of Texas’ correctional officer positions are unfilled. Inmates say the shortages make it harder for them to get respite during hot summer months. Full Story
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![Mountain View prison in Gatesville on September 19, 2019.]()
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Here’s your ballot for the Nov. 5 Texas elections
Texas voters will elect officials in the presidential, congressional, statewide and legislative races. Full Story
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Dan Patrick starts Texas Senate leadership political action committee
New group plans to support policy goals of the conservative Senate majority. Full Story
![Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick speaks at the Texas GOP Convention on Thursday, May 23, 2024, in San Antonio.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune