Potential presidential candidate Rick Perry announced on Thursday that he has pulled together the backing of more than 80 major donors, heavily weighted toward Texans. Perry, who stepped down as governor last month, has also landed a seat on the corporate board of pipeline company Energy Transfer Partners.
Gov. Greg Abbott and Comptroller Glenn Hegar said they would seek authorization from the Legislature to move the Major Events Trust Fund, an incentive program to lure high-profile sporting events to Texas, from the comptroller's office to the governor's division of economic development and tourism.
Abbott told business leaders Tuesday that he'd veto a budget that doesn't contain tax cuts for business.
John Otto and Dennis Bonnen, key lieutenants of House Speaker Joe Straus, were tapped this week to lead the Appropriations and Ways & Means Committees. The 19 members who voted against Straus for speaker — many of whom were freshmen or sophomores — mostly received assignments to lower-tier committees.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Senate Transportation Chairman Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, unveiled a plan Wednesday to boost transportation funding by dedicating some of the sales tax already collected on car sales to road work. Nichols estimated the move would provide about $2 billion a year to transportation beginning in 2018. That figure is expected to grow to $3 billion over the next decade.
Michael K. Young, president of the University of Washington, was named the sole finalist to become the next president of Texas A&M University.
In an interview Thursday, University of Texas System Chancellor William McRaven defended a law that provides in-state tuition for undocumented students, calling it the "morally right thing to do."
More than 38,000 Texas students — about 0.75 percent of the state's overall school-age population — had nonmedical exemptions to school immunization laws in the 2013-14 school year. Just 10 years prior, that figure was just under 3,000 — or 0.09 percent of the overall school-age population.
Disclosure: Texas A&M University is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.