The House takes up the budget: a day in pictures
After more than 15 hours of debate, the Texas House passed its budget proposal early Friday morning, 131-16. Here's the story in pictures. Full Story
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![The Texas House of Representatives takes up the budget on April 6, 2017.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
How to testify before lawmakers at the Texas Capitol
Nervous to testify before a House or Senate committee? Texas lobbyist Blake Rocap explains how to make your voice heard — even if you can’t make it to Austin. Full Story
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Analysis: Texas budget writers have the cash, but won't let go of their tricks
The state has a Rainy Day Fund with billions of dollars in it, but Texas lawmakers would rather use accounting tricks to balance their next budget. Full Story
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House passes budget after more than 15-hour debate
After 15 and a half hours of debate on hundreds of amendments to the Texas House budget, lawmakers in the lower chamber passed the two-year, $218 billion document, with 131 votes in favor and 16 votes against. Full Story
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![State House Speaker Joe Straus on the floor as the House takes up the budget on April 6, 2017.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
As lawmakers try to fix city pensions, personal and business ties emerge
Several Texas lawmakers have personal or business ties to the Houston and Dallas pension systems, as the Legislature considers bills aimed at fixing both cities' pension problems. Full Story
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![Texas House Pensions Committee Chairman Dan Flynn, R-Canton, listens to testimony on April 3, 2017.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for the Texas Tribune -
Dan Patrick asked for a House vote on school choice. He got it.
Top House education official Dan Huberty has said private school choice is dead in the House. Representatives showed they overwhelmingly support that sentiment, in a 103-44 budget amendment vote. Full Story
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![Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick speaks during a rally at the Capitol for school choice January 24, 2017. Both Gov. Greg Abbott and Patrick spoke in favor of expanding school choice options. Students, educators, activists and parents marched on the south lawn to show their support for expanding school choice options during National School Choice Week.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
Amid clash over procedure, Texas House moves to defund Enterprise Fund
While the Texas House on Thursday voted to defund a controversial economic development program and put the money toward services for vulnerable children, a group of Tea Party Republicans complained about the way the vote was handled. Full Story
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![As the state House debates its $218 billion budget on April 6, 2017, Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, tells a packed house that he is upset about a procedural battle that caused his voice to be silenced.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
House delivers rebuke to TABC, cuts travel budget
The Texas House on Thursday voted unanimously to cut the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission's travel budget and restrict its use of money from outside groups. Full Story
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![This graphic humorously references a trip that top state liquor regulators took to the National Conference of State Liquor Administrators in 2015 at a cost of more than $7,000 in taxpayer money. The illustration was created by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission during work hours on a state computer with input from top agency officials, records show. Pictured from left to right are TABC Director Sherry Cook, Licensing Director Amy Harrison, Analyst Jesse Valdez and then-TABC technology contractor Jim Andrews.]()
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Texas families fear closure of state homes for people with disabilities
Legislators are considering a bill that would create a commission tasked with determining the fate of Texas’ 13 state supported living centers by 2018. Full Story
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Texas lawmakers might let community colleges offer bachelor's degrees
More than a dozen bills have been filed this session that would let more two-year colleges offer four-year degrees. Full Story
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Three things to know as the Texas House kicks off a marathon budget debate
If history is any guide, the Texas House is poised for a long day with its fair share of drama as the chamber takes up a $218 billion budget that has drawn 400 proposed amendments. Full Story
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![With less than a week before lawmakers convene, preparations are underway to welcome members of the state House of Representatives for the 85th session of the Texas Legislature.]()
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Texas senators mull eliminating Top 10 Percent Rule
The Senate Higher Education Committee on Wednesday reviewed the state's automatic college admissions rule, which is popular among minorities but loathed among many suburban students and parents. Full Story
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![The Texas Capitol on the left, and the University of Texas tower on the right.]()
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Bills aimed at controversial Dallas-Houston bullet train sail out of Senate committee
Five bills approved by the Senate Transportation Committee Wednesday would impact or hinder a private company's plans to build a bullet train from Dallas to Houston. Full Story
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![The Japanese Shinkansen is a high-speed trail used by JR Central in Japan. A private company is planning to build a rail line between Dallas and Houston using the same trains.]()
Credit: Norihiro Kataoka -
House committee backs banning most sex offenders from living on college campuses
Most registered sex offenders would be barred from living on college campuses under a bill unanimously approved by a House committee Wednesday. Full Story
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![State Rep. John Raney, R-College Station, lays out his bill HB 355 in the House Higher Education Committee on March 22, 2017. Raney's bill would forbid registered sex offenders from residing in college dorms to help curb the crime o sexual assaults on Texas college campuses.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for the Texas Tribune -
Planned Parenthood supporters rally for reproductive health access
The rally comes as Planned Parenthood affiliates in Texas and around the country vie for funding and survival now that Republicans control both chambers of Congress, the White House and many state legislatures. Full Story
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![Supporters of Planned Parenthood gather at the the Capitol in Austin on April 5, 2017.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Four things Texans want the Legislature to know about special education
Last month, The Texas Tribune asked parents and educators what they think lawmakers should do before the Legislature adjourns. Here’s what they said. Full Story
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![Kara DaRocha of Houston was among several parents who attended The Texas Tribune's roundtable discussion event on public education at the University of Houston-Downtown. DaRocha urged legislators to reach out to their constituents. “We can’t always go to them, especially if we don’t live in Austin,” DaRocha said. “That’s just not a realistic expectation for many of us parents.”]()
Credit: Spike Johnson for The Texas Tribune -
Texas House backs crowdfunding measure to test more rape kits
A bill that would crowdfund money from Texans to deal with a state backlog of thousands of untested rape kits tentatively passed the Texas House Wednesday on a voice vote. Full Story
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![State Rep. Victoria Neave, D-Dallas, authored a House bill that would allow crowdfunding for rape kit testing in Texas.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: A teen’s death — and a failure of policy
The death of a teen on the run from the state's foster care system stirs deeper questions: Why aren't these programs working, and who will be held to account for that? Full Story
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How the Texas "bathroom bill" compares to North Carolina's revised law
After North Carolina revised its controversial bathroom law last week, the NCAA announced it would again consider the state for future championship games. So is the proposed Texas bill more like the new North Carolina law or its predecessor? Full Story
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![Bathroom stall at the Austin Convention Center.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senators to debate bill that would narrow definition of "psychology"
A Texas Senate committee will take up a bill Wednesday that would redefine "psychology" in response to a court ruling that found parts of the state's current definition are unconstitutional. Full Story
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Credit: Illustration by John Jordan