The Texas Senate passed two handgun measures this week. The bills — one to allow permitted handgun owners to carry openly and another to allow permitted handgun owners to carry on college campuses — passed on party-line votes.

Texas House members overwhelmingly gave approval this week to a sweeping border-security measure that would increase the number of state troopers on the border and establish a catchall intelligence center in Hidalgo County.

Senate Finance voted Tuesday to send proposals cutting property taxes and business taxes to the full Senate, though some senators questioned whether the property tax cuts could be better spent in other ways. Taken together, the proposals would provide more than $4.5 billion in property and business tax relief.

Amid an ongoing scandal over how the state awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to a private company, the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday approved legislation that would overhaul the state’s contracting processes.

House budget writers would add $433 million to the current two-year budget with a supplemental bill laid out Thursday, though some lawmakers expressed concern with plans for millions in leftover funds from some state health programs.

Time to cross that name off the short list: The leading candidate to be the next president of the University of Texas at Austin, University of Oxford Vice Chancellor Andrew Hamilton, has been named the next president of New York University.

San Antonio U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro has landed a spot as a chief deputy whip, making him one of the House Democratic leadership's top vote counters on the House floor.

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Monday opened the Austin outpost of his likely 2016 presidential campaign after spending the weekend courting SXSW crowds. An announcement is expected sometime in the next few weeks.

Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.