The Texas House of Representatives is one arm of the the Texas Legislature, the other being the Texas Senate. It is considered the "lower" chamber, with 150 members who represent districts of 150,000 people each. The primary legislative power is enacting laws, and the most visible function of the Legislature is to make public policy through drafting, considering and ...
Rep. Scott Hochberg is good at a couple of the most important issues lawmakers will tackle in 2013: school finance and school curriculum. But he's bailing out of the Texas House after 20 years. The longtime lawmaker, though, plays down his role: “Holes in the Legislature are kind of like holes on the beach. They fill up pretty quickly.”
Full StoryPending any legal intervention, the three court-issued redistricting maps (House, Senate and Congress) and the State Board of Education map drawn up by the 82nd Legislature are now in effect. Use our interactive to see which district you live in now and who represents you.
Full StoryState Rep. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, won't seek a 10th term in the Texas House. He's the 24th incumbent to either quit or decide not to return to the House next year.
Full StoryMonday's the day candidates can begin filing for office, and after a flurry of legal activity over the holidays, they now know what districts they're seeking to represent. Probably.
Full StoryState campaign news, candidate announcements, retirements and rumors from the past week.
Full StoryFederal judges proposed new political maps for the state late Thursday and hope to have new congressional and legislative maps in place for Texas on the Monday after Thanksgiving.
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A panel of federal judges in San Antonio proposed new redistricting maps for the Texas Senate and the Texas House late Thursday, asking for comments by noon on Friday. They're trying to finish maps before candidates start filing on November 28 — a date set by the court.
Full StoryA panel of federal judges in San Antonio proposed new redistricting maps for the Texas Senate and the Texas House late this afternoon.
Full StoryState Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Plano, won't seek an 11th term in the Texas House, he told the Tribune this afternoon.
Full StoryNext year's congressional and legislative elections in Texas will probably be conducted using political maps drawn by federal judges instead of those drawn by lawmakers.
Full StoryOn last night's episode of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert "defended" state Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, who came under fire last week for using an ethnic slur in a legislative hearing.
Full StoryEvery time a student drops out of public school, taxpayers save money. That’s one fewer student, at an annual savings of more than $11,000 per year from state and local sources.
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The House's interim charges are out, starting with instructions to everyone to consider ways to improve the state's manufacturing capability and increase the "transparency, accountability, and efficiency" in state government.
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Another veteran is retiring from the Legislature, special election candidates are flinging endorsements at each other, and a doctor is leaving the House.
Full StoryThe redrawing of political district lines — which ideally happens just once a decade after a federal census — could create a series of crazy election cycles for Texas voters and candidates. It happened in the 1990s, and it could happen again now.
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A looming special election in Bryan, and movement in Fort Worth and El Paso top the list of political moves this week.
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Lost track of who's leaving and who's staying in legislative office?
Full StoryState campaign news, candidate announcements, retirements and rumors from the past week.
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Chris Harris and Will Hartnett say they won't be back, but the horde of candidates for state and federal legislative seats is growing.
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State Rep. Will Hartnett, R-Dallas, said this afternoon that he won't seek another term in the Texas House.
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Rep. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, will run for Steve Ogden's Senate seat. Ogden isn't running, and Williamson County has become the 300-pound gorilla of that district in terms of population. Rep. Larry Gonzales, R-Round Rock, won't run.
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General elections in Texas will be less competitive than ever under the redistricting maps approved by the Legislature earlier this year. The political threats to incumbents, if any, will come in primaries and not in general elections.
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The U.S. Justice Department said Monday that new political maps for the Texas House and the state's congressional delegation don't protect the electoral power of the state's minority populations as required by the federal Voting Right Act.
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Lots of things affect election outcomes. Candidates. Money. Issues. Surprises. But some of the results are wired into district maps, through redistricting. Here's our charting of the political atmosphere — Republican or Democratic — in each of the House, Senate and congressional districts drawn by the Legislature this year.
Full StoryThe freshman Republican state representative on what he liked about the legislative session, what's wrong with the process, the press, politics and why he'd be coming back for more if a local job hadn't opened up.
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Gov. Rick Perry has said the Rainy Day Fund should be preserved as an insurance policy against natural disasters, but Texas can't actually dip into it until the next legislative session — in 2013.
Full StoryAnother House freshman won't be back: Lanham Lyne, R-Wichita Falls, says he won't seek re-election to the Texas House in 2012.
Full StoryThe state's new political maps are now in the hands of the federal government. An army of lawyers lined up before the start of federal hearings on Tuesday, lugging boxes of papers and briefcases bulging with the scribbled notes and other arguments they'll present over the next two weeks.
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