Texas Legislature 2019

As Confederate monument supporters said history shouldn't be erased, Democratic state Rep. Jarvis Johnson of Houston asked if markers depicting slaves hanging from trees should be erected. Full Story 

It’s unlikely Texas will become the next Colorado or California anytime soon. But when it comes to loosening criminal penalties or expanding medicinal use, how much of what each side says is true? Full Story 

Tax policy and state policy get mixed in unexpected ways in the Texas Legislature. Lawmakers are considering tax bills that would regulate vaping and trying to work out the social policy kinks in what could be the largest tax proposal of this legislative session. Full Story 

The Senate budget also includes a $6.3 billion boost for public schools, about $4 billion of which would increase teachers’ and librarians’ annual salaries by $5,000. Full Story 

The Senate on Monday passed a bill that would remove a cap on the number of school personnel that can carry firearms at schools. It is the chamber's latest tweak to the marshal program since last year's mass shooting at Santa Fe High School. Full Story 

Since 2005, state lawmakers have received the agency's biennial report detailing inefficiencies in government, but this year the report was not made public. Full Story 

How would lawmakers' proposals to provide property tax relief affect tax bills? It depends on where you live and what kind of home you own. Full Story 

In a session where middle-of-the-road issues like school finance and teacher pay dominate the conversation, the Texas Senate has returned to familiar — and conservative — ground. Full Story 

"I refuse to act like it is still a possibility and continue to provide false hope to my constituents," state Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, said in a statement. Full Story 

The "Tax Man," a Republican senator from Houston, has his best chance yet to shake up Texas' property tax system. But it's going to be an uphill battle. Full Story 

Texas lawmakers pass resolutions all the time. They can make the folks back home happy and commemorate people, places and things. And resolutions can serve — as one did for Senate Republicans this week — as a form of political advertising. Full Story 

Bonnen called the man's move "gutless," according to media reports. The Angleton Republican was in Austin when the man visited his home. Full Story 

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Executive Director Toby Baker told a special panel of state senators on Thursday that first responders are still actively managing an incident at a Houston-area petrochemical facility that began last month. Full Story 

In the latest episode of our podcast about the 86th Legislature, Evan Smith talks to Mike Wilson, editor of The Dallas Morning News, and Debbie Hiott, general manager of Austin public radio station KUT, about the romantic ideal and precarious reality of the Capitol press corps. Full Story 

Some business groups who thought they had a slam dunk bill on employment benefits are now worried that LGBTQ opposition they tried to prevent could kill one of their priorities. Full Story 

Eliminating the lockbox requirement for school marshals was one of many suggestions Gov. Greg Abbott outlined for the Legislature in a 43-page plan released weeks after last year's deadly shooting at Santa Fe High School. Full Story 

The two-year plan, which must still pass the full Senate, includes a $9 billion infusion for public schools and property tax relief and up to $900 million in cuts to Medicaid. Full Story 

"I never anticipated that I would take a summer job at Wendy’s just so that I could replace a broken dishwasher,” said one high school English teacher who makes $45,000 per year. Full Story 

Texas lawmakers want to fix school finance, but they can't avoid looking for voter-pleasing side dishes, like property taxes and teacher pay raises, that could undermine the public education fixes. Full Story 

The bill passed on a 19–12 vote, with one Republican voting against it and one Democrat voting for it. It requires one more approval in the Senate before it heads to the Texas House. Full Story