The latest Greg Abbott news from The Texas Tribune.
Gov. Greg Abbott set the special election date Tuesday. The race has already drawn several candidates from both parties, and Republicans are eager to make inroads in the San Antonio-area district. Full Story
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On top of redistricting, Abbott wants lawmakers to take up bills on restrictions for transgender student athletes and the allocation of billions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief funds. Full Story
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SB 1 makes up Republicans’ third attempt to pass a far-reaching law that restricts how and when voters cast ballots. It takes particular aim at voting initiatives used in diverse, Democratic Harris County in the 2020 election. Full Story
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As Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton vowed to punish any school district that defied Abbott’s ban on mask mandates, Republican legislators were largely indifferent on the matter. Full Story
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Lawmakers will return to Austin at least one more time this year to redraw the state's political maps. Only Gov. Greg Abbott knows when that will be and if there will be additional special sessions beyond that. Full Story
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Harris County joined a coalition of community and advocacy groups filing lawsuits over Senate Bill 1, arguing the far-reaching rewrite of Texas voting laws violates the U.S. Constitution and numerous federal laws and will suppress voters. Full Story
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Texas’ new near-total abortion ban, one of the most restrictive in the nation, punctuated a week that brought into stunning relief just how far the state’s political pendulum has swung to the right since the 2020 election. Full Story
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Months after the deadly gas killed at least 17 Texans during a massive winter storm, lawmakers have failed to take significant action to protect most of the state’s residents. Full Story
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The Legislature is expected to return soon for another special session focused on redrawing the state's political maps. Full Story
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From abortion restrictions to guns, the Texas Legislature's regular session Republican victories were just the beginning. Full Story
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After two months, the donations had petered out around $1 million. But the effort saw a major boost in August. Full Story
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The legislation will need another stamp of approval in the House before it heads to the Senate, which has not yet debated its version of the proposal on the floor. Full Story
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Senate Bill 1 rewrites Texas election laws to further restrict the voting-by-mail process and outlaw local voting initiatives meant to widen access, namely those pushed by Harris County that were disproportionately used by voters of color. Full Story
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The new laws will affect abortion access, social studies curriculum and cities that trim the budgets of law enforcement. Full Story
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Ida, which made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane Sunday, was downgraded to a tropical storm Monday, but officials warned that flooding from storm surge will continue to affect parts of the state throughout the morning. Full Story
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The bill would nearly triple border security funding from the last biennium. The legislation needs one more vote of approval from the House before moving to the Senate. Full Story
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Abbott says local district attorneys have the authority to enforce his ban on local mask mandates. But urban DAs are unlikely to go after their fellow local officials. Full Story
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Some party activists had worried Rinaldi would be more of the same after West left the chairmanship to challenge Gov. Greg Abbott earlier this summer. Full Story
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The Texas Workforce Commission announced that the U.S. Department of Labor notified the commission that the state’s unemployment rate fell below the threshold needed to continue the benefits. Full Story
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Democrats used every tool they had, fleeing the state en masse and forcing two special sessions, but a Republican bill to rewrite state election laws won final approval in the House on Friday. Once the House and Senate work out some differences, it appears headed to the governor’s desk. Full Story
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