The latest state government news from The Texas Tribune.
The Senate's version of a starting state budget is, at $158.7 billion, $2.3 billion bigger than the House's, but still would chop overall state spending by $28.8 billion, or 15.4 percent, from current levels. Full Story
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Whatever budget lawmakers eventually approve will serve as the working blueprint for the state for the two years starting in September. But the budget released last week isn’t a blueprint — it’s a political document. It marks the shift from the theoretical rhetoric of the campaigns to the reality of government. Full Story
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Texas public schools are facing what could be $10 billion less in state financing — a stark prospect that could empty school buildings across the state as districts consolidate campuses to reduce costs. What should happen to these structures, which are built with taxpayer money? Full Story
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The budget draft filed last week provided the first glimpse at the kind of deep cuts that state agencies could see in the next biennium. As Matt Largey of KUT News reports, advocates are particularly worried about what the final budget could hold for the agency that protects children from abuse and neglect. Full Story
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A proposal by the Obama administration that would grant Mexican truckers greater access to Texas roadways would be a boon for business in the state, supporters say, since three of the top five ports for trade between the U.S. and Mexico are Laredo, El Paso and Houston. But unions contend the plan would cost American jobs. “This cheap-labor program comes at too high a risk and at too large a cost to middle-class American workers who work long, hard hours to help maintain a safe commerce system in our nation,” says a spokesman for the Texas AFL-CIO. Full Story
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The Trib staff on the sweeping cuts in the proposed House budget, Grissom on what's lost and not found at the Department of Public Safety, Galbraith on the wind power conundrum, Hamilton on higher ed's pessimistic budget outlook, Stiles and Swicegood debut an incredibly useful bill tracker app, Ramsey interviews Rick Perry on the cusp of his second decade as governor, Aguilar on a Mexican journalist's quest for asylum in the U.S., Ramshaw on life expectancy along the border, M. Smith on the obstacles school districts face in laying off teachers and yours truly talks gambling and the Rainy Day Fund with state Rep. Jim Pitts: The best of our best from January 17 to 21, 2011. Full Story
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Take a look back at the top political news from Jan. 17 to Jan. 21. Full Story
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Texas officials have enough execution drugs to carry out the death sentences of two inmates scheduled for lethal injection in February. But they will have to find another sodium thiopental supplier or a different drug to use after March. Full Story
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Members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission expressed concerns today about the progress — or lack thereof — in the case of convicted arsonist Cameron Todd Willingham before ending a yet another meeting without a decision about the evidence that was used to send the Corsicana man to the death chamber in 2004. Full Story
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Hey, Texplainer: Who becomes lieutenant governor if David Dewhurst resigns? Well, it's a little complicated. But the bottom line is, you don't get to decide. Full Story
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Or a $74,000 piece of radio equipment? Or more than 150 handguns and rifles? Those are just a few of the nearly 1,500 items that the Texas Department of Public Safety reported stolen or lost in the last decade. Some of the assets might still be in the possession of DPS or possibly were sold, but the agency’s inventory system is so poor that it's hard to know what's actually missing. Full Story
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What happens if Gov. Rick Perry or Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst decide to run for federal office and win, creating a vacancy — or two — in Texas? That sound you hear is a herd of GOP pols rushing to update their resumes. Full Story
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During a meeting today of the Public Utility Commission, chairman Barry Smitherman said that the Environmental Protection Agency was attempting to "disarm the U.S. economy," with a raft of rules covering everything from fly-ash waste from coal plants to new rules on greenhouse gases. Full Story
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Today, Gov. Rick Perry added two more issues — voter ID legislation and a call for a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget — to his list of "emergency items" that state legislators can begin deliberating on right away. Full Story
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In case you missed it, we mashed up Wednesday's speeches for and against the Texas Senate's hallowed "two-thirds rule," which senators ultimately preserved. Members voted to keep an exception to the rules that allows a simple majority to consider changes to voter identification laws. Full Story
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In a case that could directly affect Texas' planned budget cuts, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether states have the legal right to reduce the rates they pay to health care providers who accept Medicaid patients. Full Story
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Every chancellor of a university system in Texas knows — down to the exact, excruciatingly precise percentage point — how much worse higher education fared than other agencies when their current budgets were cut. With the state facing a massive budget shortfall in the next biennium, the chancellors know they're in for another round. But this time they're adamant that they not bear a disproportionate share of the pain. Full Story
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The Texas judicial system can do a better job handling the cases of kids in long-term foster care, according to a study released today by Texas Appleseed. Full Story
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As House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, laid out the first grim round of proposed cuts on Wednesday, even some of his Republican colleagues couldn't stifle their objections. House Democrats went a step further, calling the cuts "akin to asking an anorexic person to lose more weight." Full Story
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In this week's TribCast, Ross, Elise, Ben and Reeve discuss budget numbers, Senate rules, the U.S. Senate race and the inaugural buzz heard around Austin. Full Story
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