The Texas Ethics Commission's board has approved an advisory opinion that stops short of recommending against lawmakers soliciting contributions for nonprofit organizations they are employed by. 

The first budgets from the House and Senate are out, marked by their authors as mere starting points. Here's how they compare to each other, and to the current budget.

The members of the Texas Senate have been placed in their committees, but where in the state do the committee members come from? Use this interactive to explore the geographic distribution of committee members in the Senate.

Texas finished 2012 with an unemployment rate of 6.1 percent, a significant improvement from two years ago, but still a long way away from the 4.6 percent unemployment in 2000. Explore the numbers all the way back to 2000 with this interactive.

Ethics reformers are looking to overhaul the personal financial statements state lawmakers must file. The form doesn’t ask for much detail, hasn’t been updated in years and has led to confusion and varying interpretations about what must be revealed.

The state's unemployment rate fell for the fourth month in a row in December, capping off a drop of more than 1 percentage point in the rate since December 2011, the Texas Workforce Commission announced Friday.

The Texas Senate and House have released their first drafts of the state's next two-year budget. Use this interactive to explore how state spending has grown since 2004.

The state Legislature is diverse in some ways and homogenous in others. Here's a look at Texas' 83rd class of lawmakers, from their employment and higher education to their age, gender and demographics.  

With plenty of fodder from the elections, redistricting, the ongoing drought, massive cuts to family planning and major expansions in toll projects, the Trib development and data teams was busy in 2012. Here's the best of what we built.

In November, for the third month in a row, the Texas unemployment rate dropped, falling to its lowest level since December 2008.

Congressional candidates recently had to file their post-general election campaign finance reports with the Federal Election Commission. This interactive includes the contribution, expenditure, cash-on-hand and debt totals gleaned from those reports.

Lawmakers have stockpiled nearly $5 billion in more than 200 dedicated revenue funds, using the money to help balance the budget rather than for its intended purposes, according to estimates from the Texas comptroller's office. Our interactive shows you which accounts hold all the money.

Our interactive map highlights every existing toll road in Texas and all toll projects currently in development. Charging drivers for the ability to avoid traffic is spreading from the state's biggest cities to every corner of the state.

The 2012 election marked the rise of Super PACs, which can raise and spend unlimited funds from individual and corporate donors. These groups spent more than $17 million in Texas, and received more than $100 million from Texas donors. Use our interactive to learn more.

Much of Texas voted less Democratic and more Republican in 2012 than 2008. Use our interactive to see the differences, by county, between the 2012 and 2008 vote totals.