The latest Texas Senate news from The Texas Tribune.
It took a series of often rancorous debates this session to reach agreement on how to finance public education for 2012-2013. Use the Trib's latest interactive to track what lawmakers said about Texas education. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TranscriptAppArt_2.jpg)
Use the visualization and transcript highlights provided below to find what lawmakers said during the tensest days of budget negotiations as lawmakers worked to cut $15 billion in spending for 2012-2013. Full Story
The Trib captured every debate, tirade and joke uttered into the mikes in the House and Senate during the 82nd legislative session in our online transcripts. Our latest data apps help you identify when important debates occurred by visualizing the frequency of keywords. Full Story
That exhibition of musical chairs is contingent on the outcomes of several lawsuits filed against this or that piece of the new political maps drawn by the Legislature earlier this year. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/RedistrictSwellings.jpg)
The legislative session is over, the new maps have been drawn, and candidates are starting to make their decisions about whether to run, and for what offices. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/122209_vote001_go.jpg)
Aguilar on a change in law that affects applications for state-issued IDs, Galbraith on how the drought is taking its toll on wildlife, Hamilton on an outsider's attempt to lower the cost of higher ed, Murphy visualizes the partisanship of House members, Ramsey on who becomes Lite Guv if David Dewhurst takes another job, Ramshaw on life in the colonias and three stories about Rick Perry — Grissom on how his death penalty stance might play in a 2012 presidential race, Root on how he cemented his reputation as one of the state's most powerful governors and Tan on the growing demand for him to speak elsewhere: The best of our best content from July 4 to July 8, 2011. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Tribweek_07042011.jpg)
If Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst moves into another job — and he’s got two ways to do that — the 31 senators will elect one of their own to serve the rest of his four-year term. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/_KCA0524.jpg)
Hey Texplainer: What happens to the bills that Perry doesn't sign or veto? Gov. Rick Perry has vetoed and signed a multitude of bills this year, but to date there have been 27 he allowed to become law by default. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/_KCA9930.jpg)
Lawmakers filed a whopping 5,796 bills during the 82nd legislative session and approved nearly a quarter of them. Use our updated data visualizations to take a closer look at how bills performed in the upper and lower chambers, how each political party and committee fared, and how many bills Gov. Rick Perry vetoed. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/DataVizSessionBills.jpg)
At this morning's TribLive conversation, the authors of Texas Monthly's biennial Best and Worst Legislators story explained why they put Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on the Ten Worst list. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/videos/TribliveBestWorst.jpg)
Gov. Rick Perry is not shy when it comes to using his veto pen. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/7e780d0c5f9e8a7e7bbd8dd2466b2e5f/BD%20INC%20Trio%2001%202011)
Tuesday's contentious debate on the state Senate floor over a proposed congressional redistricting map, which passed on a party line vote, was just a hint of why graduate students at Texas A&M University — and even some lawmakers — are studying alternative ways to handle the process. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Redistrict_by_Students_1.jpg)
The 82nd Texas Legislature’s regular session ends as it started, with lawmakers arguing about a shrunken state budget and redistricting. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/20110524-_CBM4523-Edit.jpg)
At this morning's TribLive conversation, I interviewed three veteran lawmakers — state Rep. Myra Crownover, R-Lake Dallas, state Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, and state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands — about how they and their GOP colleagues fared this session. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/d4cde9da3dd7c68fe4b5df21f5ed510f/TT%20Event%20Crownover%20Taylor%20Williams%2005%202011)
At this morning's TribLive conversation, I asked Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, if sanctuary cities legislation could still be approved in the 82nd Legislative Session. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/videos/Republicans3_1.JPG)
At this morning's TribLive conversation, I interviewed three veteran lawmakers — state Rep. Myra Crownover, R-Lake Dallas, state Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, and state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands — about how they and their Republican colleagues fared this session. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/f423fffa4d96c4b834980b4853641004/TT%20Event%20Crownover%20Taylor%20Williams%2007%202011)
At this morning's TribLive conversation, I interviewed three veteran lawmakers — state Rep. Myra Crownover, R-Lake Dallas, state Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, and state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands — about how they and their Republican colleagues fared this session. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/videos/Republicans7.JPG)
State Sen. Dan Patrick, a radio talk show host who has been courting Tea Party activists, is promising to tell reporters Friday whether or not he will try to make a jump to the U.S Senate to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/7b04eaeae1c0f3138a9e5d061a7bc7cd/BD%20INC%20Patrick%2002%202011)
Notorious radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones led a raucous protest at the Capitol over the Legislature's failure to criminalize invasive airport pat downs. "Every one of [those senators] is an enemy of the Republic and the Republic of Texas!" he bellowed. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/24ae4a42dc5080752b936dc1db0f0f47/BD%20INC%20Jones%20Senate%202011)
At Thursday's TribLive conversation, I interviewed three veteran lawmakers — state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, state Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, and state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio — about how they and their Democratic colleagues fared this session. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/6f53bfb54e615637654097a2c388de69/TT%20Event%20Elis%20Turner%20VandePutte%202011)