The latest Charlie Geren news from The Texas Tribune.
The revised Texas House sexual harassment policy includes language that strengthens protections against retaliation and provides specific steps to report inappropriate behavior. It comes about two weeks after The Texas Tribune detailed flaws in the former policy that often left victims to fend for themselves. Full Story
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The 93-54 vote fell along party lines and came after one of the slowest moving but most emotional legislative days at the state Capitol. Full Story
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More than 600 people signed up on Wednesday to testify before the House State Affairs Committee on the lower chamber's version of the controversial proposal to outlaw "sanctuary" jurisdictions. Full Story
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After unconfirmed reports that House members were recording private conversations with colleagues, the Republican who oversees internal affairs in the chamber said he's asked members to refrain from any surreptitious taping. Full Story
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Bills targeting "sanctuary cities" failed to pass the Texas Legislature in 2011 and 2015, but similar efforts this session have better chances of making it to Gov. Greg Abbott's desk. Full Story
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Rep. Charlie Geren, the powerful Fort Worth Republican pushing ethics reform in the Texas House this year, is determined not to let a fight over so-called "dark money" torpedo the effort as it did in 2015. Full Story
Lawyers representing Taya Kyle, the widow of famous Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, sent a cease-and-desist letter Wednesday to Texas House candidate Bo French. Full Story
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Will bragging rights in the Republican primaries for Texas House seats go to the management now in place or to those opposed to the current leaders? Watching these races involving incumbents will provide some answers. Full Story
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The Dallas Morning News takes a detailed look at the evolution of the deal on tax cuts this session and finds that at a few critical junctures, the deal almost derailed entirely. Full Story
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The already tortuous path for ethics reform at the Texas Capitol took another sharp turn Wednesday when a powerful House leader criticized the package passed by the Senate and praised by Gov. Greg Abbott two weeks ago. Full Story
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News broke Tuesday afternoon of plans by an activist group to release videos this summer of state lawmakers that purportedly capture "a whole variety of bad behavior" but that lawmakers said was harassment. Full Story
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State Reps. Charlie Geren and Jim Keffer, once among the vanguard as Republicans took control of the House, already have challengers who will try to outflank them to the right in 2016. Full Story
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The word of the day on Wednesday was tension, which infected the traditional weekly breakfast work meeting held by the state's top three leaders and later manifested itself on the House floor as members selected their budget negotiators. Full Story
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Proposed ethics reform legislation underwent a significant overhaul Thursday in a Senate committee. Gone is the plan to take state pensions from lawbreaking lawmakers. Also out: a proposal to stop legislators from cashing in on a piece of the public debt business. Full Story
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Recent episodes highlight a rapidly deteriorating relationship between the cowboy hat-wearing agriculture commissioner and the Legislature that once counted Sid Miller as one of its own. Full Story
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Steelworkers and Shell Oil have struck a tentative agreement on a labor deal that would end a strike at 15 refineries and chemical plants, the Houston Chronicle reported Thursday night. Full Story
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State Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, on Thursday explained why he removed signs at the Capitol identifying some legislators as former fetuses. Full Story
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One lawmaker's protest against Planned Parenthood supporters at the Capitol on Wednesday had turned into something else later in the day: a threat that the gloves were about to come off in his fight against the House leadership. Full Story
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Signs identifying some state lawmakers as former fetuses are generating controversy at the Capitol. Full Story
Gov. Greg Abbott's full-throated embrace of ethics reform, a rarity under the Capitol dome, is breathing new life into the issue of years of failed efforts. But changing the status quo remains very much a work in progress. Full Story