state government

Discharged?

By Emily Ramshaw Jan. 7, 2011

Advocates for shuttering Texas' institutions for people with disabilities say they have a big plus in their column this session: the state’s giant budget crunch. Full Story

Credit: Todd Wiseman
Mental Breakdown

By Erika Aguilar, KUT News Jan. 7, 2011

Mental health providers are bracing themselves for brutal budget cuts. Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports. Full Story

Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman
The Carbon Conundrum

By Kate Galbraith Jan. 7, 2011

In Texas, the largest oil producer in the United States, the demand for carbon dioxide is soaring, because it can help squeeze oil out of formations deep in the earth. That's why the idea of of capturing it and pumping it underground is gaining traction in the power sector. It sounds like an exercise in environmental idealism: Take the heat-trapping gas — belched prolifically from coal plants, which generate 45 percent of the nation’s electricity — and bury it, benefiting the atmosphere and combating global climate change. Of course, it is something of an environmental conundrum that stowing the greenhouse gas underground can also help to produce more fossil fuels. Full Story

Credit: Wenjing Zhang
Green House

By Ross Ramsey Jan. 7, 2011

The biggest caucus in the Texas House is the Republicans', now with 101 members. Next? The Democrats', at 49. And then there’s the freshman class — one of the biggest in years — with 38 members. All but six are Republicans, and many of them replaced Democrats. They face some challenges. Full Story

Credit: Justin Dehn
TribBlog: Proposed Immigration Laws Create Unlikely Alliances

By Julián Aguilar Jan. 6, 2011

Proposing state enforcement of immigration laws can produce strange bedfellows. "Who would imagine that after 28 years of law enforcement the ACLU would be talking so nicely about me,” Sheriff Richard Wiles joked after being introduced as a common-sense sheriff by ACLU of Texas Executive Director Terri Burke for his opposition to proposed legislation patterned on Arizona’s. Full Story

Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller
Gonzales on Being a Hispanic Republican

By Evan Smith Jan. 6, 2011

At this morning's TribLive conversation with three incoming members of the Texas House, state Rep.-elect Larry Gonzales, R-Round Rock, explained why being Hispanic and being a Republican are not incompatible. Full Story
On the Records: The Bills So Far

By Matt Stiles Jan. 6, 2011

A new word cloud visualizes the bills filed so far according to their Texas Legislative Council assigned categories. After education, which accounts for more than a quarter of the bills, the top categories are elections, criminal procedure, vehicles and traffic, and taxation. Full Story

Credit: Graphic by Wordle.net
The Revenue Guesstimate

By Ross Ramsey Jan. 6, 2011

Lawmakers are waiting for Comptroller Susan Combs to forecast exactly how much money the state will collect between now and August 2013 so they can write a two-year budget that spends no more than that. It's not exactly like opening the envelopes at the Oscars, but the Capitol community will be hanging on her every word. If history is a guide, her estimate of revenues will be closer to the bull's eye than the Legislature's estimate of spending. But this is a dark art; accuracy can be elusive. Full Story

Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman/Bob Daemmrich
The Weekly TribCast: Episode 61

By Elise Hu Jan. 5, 2011

In this week's skirmish, we preview the session ahead with a last look at the speaker's race and a closer look at 2011's budget struggles. Full Story
TribBlog: Coalition Urges "Balanced" Budget Approach

By Brandi Grissom Jan. 5, 2011

A wide-ranging coalition of education, criminal justice, religious and charitable groups today called on Texas lawmakers to use more than a machete to balance the state budget this year. Full Story

Credit: Jacob Villanueva
A Taxing Problem

By Ben Philpott, KUT News Jan. 4, 2011

It's not hard to find strange bedfellows in the Texas Legislature when the bills start flying. Republicans and Democrats frequently cross the aisle to support legislation that they feel will help their constituents. As Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, the same could be true as lawmakers try to figure out how to balance the state budget. Full Story
Unfunded But Vital?

By Morgan Smith Jan. 4, 2011

Get acquainted with a phrase that will be oft-repeated in the upcoming 82nd Legislature’s brawls over public education: unfunded mandate. To help schools cope with any reduced funding, lawmakers will look to relax state regulations that create costs local school districts bear on their own or with limited help from the state. But will dropping these requirements hurt educational quality? Full Story

Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman, Brent Hoard/Elizabeth Albert
A Taxing Problem

By Ben Philpott, KUT News Jan. 4, 2011

It's not hard to find strange bedfellows in the Texas Legislature when the bills start flying. Republicans and Democrats frequently cross the aisle to support legislation that they feel will help their constituents. As Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, the same could be true as lawmakers try to figure out how to balance the state budget during the upcoming legislative session. Full Story
Michele Deitch: The TT Interview

By Brandi Grissom Jan. 4, 2011

The jail conditions expert and professor at the University of Texas' LBJ School of Public Affairs on why maintaining treatment programs that keep offenders in their communities and reducing some of the harsh, long-term jail sentences often doled out in Texas' notoriously tough criminal justice system could be more cost-efficient and allow Texas to close prisons. Full Story

Credit: Justin Dehn
Memories Lost

By Emily Ramshaw Jan. 3, 2011

When foster kids bounce from placement to placement, they leave their belongings with state child welfare workers — where advocates say they often get misplaced, given to the wrong child or even stolen. Full Story

Credit: Callie Richmond
Now What?

By Ross Ramsey Jan. 3, 2011

Texas alternates election years with governing years, with legislative sessions set in the odd-numbered years after voters choose their leaders. There are variations, but it’s got a rhythm: Choose them, watch them govern, choose, watch. The elections behind us, it’s time to see what this particular bunch will do. Full Story

Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

By Evan Smith Jan. 1, 2011

Galbraith on why the Lege meets only every two years, Hu picks the year's best political moments on video, Ramsey on the personalities who mattered in 2010, Stiles on lobbyists with conflicts of interest and what the census means for redistricting, yours truly on the new Cameron Todd Willingham documentary, Grissom on cockfighting and Trillin on Sissy Farenthold: The best of our best from Dec. 23 to 27, 2010. Full Story
Biennial Blues?

By Kate Galbraith Dec. 31, 2010

Come January, as Texas lawmakers begin work to pass bills and tackle the yawning budget gap, they will go up against a simple but implacable barrier: time. Texas is one of a dwindling number of states whose legislatures hold scheduled meetings only every two years. Just three other, far smaller states — Montana, North Dakota and Nevada — still have biennial legislative sessions. Lawmakers differ on whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, especially for budgeting. Regardless, Texas seems unlikely to change anytime soon. Full Story

Credit: Todd Wiseman
Confidential Conflicts

By Matt Stiles Dec. 31, 2010

Lobbyists are required by law to notify their clients if they represent two or more groups with clashing agendas. They are also required to notify the Texas Ethics Commission. Scores of lobbyists have done so in recent legislative sessions. What is not required is for the public or elected representatives to be informed. Full Story

Credit: Matt Stiles
Face Time

By Ross Ramsey Dec. 31, 2010

2010 didn't turn out like it looked a year ago. Unexpected people showed up. The political environment bloomed red instead of blue. The Tea was strong. And big shots turned into paper tigers. Here are some of the political personalities who mattered. Full Story

Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman