At Thursday's TribLive conversation, state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, and ethics and campaign finance lawyer Randall "Buck" Wood talked to the Tribune's Ross Ramsey about transparency in political giving.

With just four weeks remaining in the legislative session, there has been little to no pressure from the top — including key committee chairs — to pass measures that would force greater transparency upon Texas’ elected officials.

One Texan's transparency is another’s right to privacy, and people in politics generally find it easier to demand openness than to provide it.

Politically active nonprofits, which are playing an increasingly important role in state elections, would no longer be able to hide the identity of their major donors under a bill making its way through the Texas Legislature. 

Ahead of the 83rd legislative session, the state’s 10 leading health care associations gave more than $4.6 million to Texas candidates. This interactive shows how much — and to whom — health care associations donated in 2011 and 2012.

With the death this weekend of Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, Texas Republicans lost one of their stalwarts, and one of their biggest and most reliable donors. So did a few Democrats.

Charity fundraisers give lobbyists and political donors a way to show their support to officeholders during legislative sessions — when the law prohibits direct contributions.

For this week's nonscientific survey of insiders in government and politics, we asked about officeholders who leave government and join the lobby, about what they should report and about whether they ought to sit out for a while first.

Texas' financial disclosure practices for lawmakers may not be as thorough as ethics experts would like them to be. But the path Texas has taken to reach its guidelines puts it ahead of many other states. Use our interactive to see how Texas stacks up.

In this edition of the Newsreel: The House and Senate have announced their starting budget proposals, and campaign funding numbers foreshadow the 2014 races for statewide offices.

Criminal prosecutors are investigating allegations that Kenneth "Buddy" Barfield, a top aide to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from Dewhurst's campaign accounts.

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.

The "late train" — the rush of supplicants making kiss-and-make-up contributions after an election — ended this weekend with the beginning of a blackout that outlaws political donations during a legislative session.

This week in the Texas Weekly Newsreel: Who's in – or thinking of jumping in – the race for House speaker? And the legislative session blackout on campaign contributions starts this weekend — after a flurry of fundraising over the last two weeks.

On Oct. 25, federal candidates filed their pre-general reports, the last campaign finance reports before the Nov. 6 general election. These reports are our last look at how much money each candidate had on hand before the big day. Use our interactive to view the contribution, expenditure, cash on hand and outstanding loan totals for each candidate.

On Oct. 29, state candidates filed their eight-day reports, the last campaign finance reports before the general election. Use our interactive to view the contribution, expenditure, cash on hand and outstanding loan totals for each candidate.

Our latest look at the hottest races on the Texas ballot includes the money those candidates reported in their latest campaign finance disclosures. 

New campaign finance reports filed this month show that Texans gave another $5 million to Super PACs, bringing the overall total to $83.1 million.