Lobbyists are competitive creatures, and don't like it when somebody gets an advantage — like political consultants who lobby during the political off-season. But they haven't found a way to regulate the practice.

The Legislature has its own jargon, and it sometimes feels like members are speaking a different language. Blocker bills? WADA? Chubbing? LARS? Here's a guide — in the form of a multiple-choice quiz — to what they're saying.

It's been a long time since the Legislature took a good, hard look at its ethics laws and its own practices. With the Texas Ethics Commission up for review, a restive electorate and a herd of new lawmakers, they have a golden opportunity.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst filled out his committee assignments late Friday afternoon, supplementing the chairmanship shuffle he announced late last year. 

The legislative session just started, but it seems clear that state leaders are running low on what a former president from Texas once called "the vision thing." 

The co-founder of the Hispanic Republicans of Texas political action committee on his first planned run for office, divisions in the GOP, Hispanics and Republicans, and why he's getting into the family business. 

Batheja on growing calls for infrastructure spending, Dehn and Rocha report on voters’ legislative wishes, Murphy counts noses in the new Legislature, KUT’s Philpott sniffs out a push for tax relief, M. Smith tracks House Speaker Joe Straus after his re-election, Kalifa’s lovely time-lapse look at the Legislature’s first day, Aaronson on the Medicaid expansion, Aguilar on hopes for immigration reform, Grissom on the tribulations of Kerry Max Cook, Hamilton looks into a college curriculum battle, and E. Smith’s TribLive interview with Michael Williams: The best of our best for the week of Jan. 7, 2013.

The two-year-old revenue forecast used to justify massive cuts in the current state budget was wrong — and not by a little bit. But the conservative Legislature elected in 2010 wasn't complaining.

In a wide-ranging interview, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst talked about the state budget, education, immigration, water, transportation, and his hopes and plans for the legislative session that began this week.

House Speaker Joe Straus won another term in that position after his challenger, Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, withdrew from the race.

The Legislature is back for the 83rd time, and we've refreshed our directory of statewide officials and legislators. Many of the old names are here, and so are the names of the numerous freshmen.

House Speaker Joe Straus faces a challenge on the first day of the 83rd Texas Legislature, and the Senate gets another run at a rule that empowers political minorities and sometimes frustrates majorities.

It feels like the 2013 legislative session, which gets under way Tuesday, is a five-month interruption of the election season. At some point, elections expanded to fill all of the space between the biennial sessions.

The Texas congressional delegation has eight new members — four resulting from retirements and elections, and four because the state’s growth increased the size of the delegation to 36 from 32. We've updated our congressional directory to mark the delegation's start. 

Some state lawmakers don't trust themselves not to spend more money than they really think they should spend. They want a law that would tie their own hands.