Guest Column: Texas Should Leave Redistricting Alone
Republican leaders in Texas want the Legislature to take up redistricting this session. That's a bad idea, writes Matt Angle, director of the Lone Star Project. Full Story
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Straus: House Will Find Way to Fund Water
UPDATED: The morning after a major bill to authorize spending billions of dollars on state water projects faltered in the House, Speaker Joe Straus' office released a statement saying he wouldn't "let a technicality seal the debate." Full Story
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The Polling Center: Public Opinion Creates Rough Sailing for Water Policy
The rough seas that sank the Texas House's attempt to fund the state water plan on Monday night with a $2 billion draw on the Rainy Day Fund highlighted the limits of consensus on both how to pay for water development and whether it's a top priority. Full Story
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Law Enforcement Officials Raise Concerns About Drone Bill
State Rep. Lance Gooden’s bill to prevent unmanned drones from capturing indiscriminate surveillance — a measure that has more than 80 co-authors in the House — is facing opposition from some law enforcement officials. Full Story
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![Micheal Cincienne of Absolute Aerospace and Texas A&M Corpus Christi, engineering student Adam Ersepke, and lab coordinator Jack Edward Esparza carry the University’s RS-16 unmanned aerial vehicle, otherwise known as a drone, back to the command center after a test flight over the Kennedy Ranch near Sarita, Texas on January 18, 2013.]()
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Democracy and Texas Voters — By the Numbers
Texas politicians can easily represent the people who elect them without necessarily representing the people of Texas. To get re-elected, they have to please their voters, not the general population. Full Story
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Plenty to Spend, and Plenty of Anxiety About It
Two years ago, lawmakers couldn't find the money they needed to run the government they had promised their voters. Now they have the money — and a completely different set of political problems. Full Story
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Video: Perry Talks About Priorities for Rest of Session
With less than a month remaining in the legislative session, Gov. Rick Perry met with the Texas House GOP Caucus and talked to reporters about his support for a bill that would draw $2 billion from the Rainy Day Fund for water infrastructure needs. Full Story
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Debate Over Water Bill Could Spur Bigger Fight
A bill that would draw $2 billion for water projects from the Rainy Day Fund is set to hit the House floor Monday afternoon. The debate could turn to focus on what it means to be a fiscal conservative in the Tea Party era. Full Story
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TribuneFest: Health Care and the 83rd Session
At the Trib's April 25 symposium on higher education at the University of Texas at Austin, state Reps. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, and John Zerwas, R-Simonton, talked about Medicaid, mental health and more. Full Story
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Texas Weekly Newsreel: West, the Lottery and the Rainy Day Fund
In this edition of the Newsreel: The conversation in West turns to regulation, the Senate wants to ask voters to use Rainy Day Fund money, the House undoes the state lottery and then puts it back together, and some Texas prosecutors are in hot water. Full Story
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Hot Seat: A Conversation With Farney and Schwertner
At our 4/26 Hot Seat conversation at Southwestern University in Georgetown, state Rep. Marsha Farney, R-Georgetown, and state Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, talked about public education, water, the budget and other issues in play in the 83rd session. Full Story
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Perry Willing to Call Special Session
Gov. Rick Perry is warning state legislators that it could be a long, hot summer in Austin if they don’t pass his top priorities: funding water and transportation projects and cutting business taxes. Full Story
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The Evening Brief: April 26, 2013
Your evening reading: House OKs budget bill after wide-ranging debate; Castro, Wolfowitz pen op-ed in support of gay marriage; lawyers defend Lehmberg Full Story
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House Backs $875 Million Budget Bill After Hot Debate
A debate in the Texas House on a supplemental budget bill Friday veered into debates on the Travis County district attorney's drunken driving charge and the murder of two Kaufman County prosecutors. Full Story
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Cash for Road Repair in Shale Areas Proves Elusive
Efforts by state lawmakers to find money to repair South and West Texas roads torn up amid a drilling boom appear to be stalling, according to some officials working on the matter. Officials warn about the hazards of not maintaining these roads. Full Story
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![A road in the Eagle Ford Shale area in South Texas. The natural gas drilling boom is straining the region's rural roads. More than 1,000 loaded trucks are needed to bring a single well into production.]()
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House Backs Bill Limiting Mail-In Ballot Collection
The Texas House on Thursday tentatively approved a measure that would make it a Class A misdemeanor for someone to collect and deposit 10 or more mail-in ballots from other voters during an election. Full Story
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Senate Backs Limits on Subsidies for Event Trust Funds
Promoters say tax subsidies are needed to lure events that otherwise wouldn't be held in Texas. Critics say the practice is corporate welfare. The Texas Senate on Thursday backed legislation that keeps the subsidies going but with new restrictions and oversight. Full Story
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Labor Bill Spurs Gender Discrimination Debate in House
A debate over equal-pay legislation in the Texas House on Thursday sparked a suggestion that a vote against the labor bill would be a vote against equality for men and women. Full Story
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Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man, Lawmaker
Giving up 20 weeks of every other year to serve in the Texas Legislature is a lot easier if you don't have to worry about the paycheck you're missing at home. It is easier, in other words, if you're rich. Full Story
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Video: Lottery Commission Bill Moving Forward
After an unexpected debate that spanned two days, House members passed House Bill 2197 - to continue the Texas Lottery Commission — with a key provision that could ultimately lead to its demise. Full Story
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Credit: Todd Wiseman
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