End-of-session dinners are commonplace for legislative committees at the end of the session, and they can be lavish affairs. One this week cost more than $22,000.

A perfect time for speculation: The legislative session isn't quite over, and the political season hasn't quite begun.

Texas lawmakers have 10 days left in the regular session. They haven't embarrassed themselves, spent much time in bitter fights or generated the sorts of headlines that have made voters think so little of Washington. 

On the latest Agenda Texas, from KUT News and the Tribune: Deadlines in the Texas House have come and gone. Now lawmakers are left to pick up the pieces for next session, or to find another way to get their bills passed.

Another major House deadline has gone by, ending that chamber's consideration of major legislation filed by its own members. We've updated our House Bill tracker, showing which bills stalled in committee and which ones stalled in the full House.

On the latest Agenda Texas, from KUT News and the Tribune: We look at the ways Texas lawmakers use legislative technicalities — or points of order — to derail legislation they don't like.

A debate over equal-pay legislation in the Texas House on Thursday sparked a suggestion that a vote against the labor bill would be a vote against equality for men and women. 

It’s a little funny to talk to people at the Capitol who have been steeled in a culture of political warfare about the outbreak of peace. Many differences remain, but those blood veins that were sticking out on everyone’s foreheads and necks in 2009 and 2011 have smoothed out. For the moment, Texas civics is downright civil.

In 2011, state lawmakers fresh from a Tea Party election surge were hypersensitive to the opinions of and instructions from conservative activists. But as Thursday's House budget debate showed, this session isn't quite the same.

Going by the Texas Weekly Index, which is based on the results of contested statewide elections over the 2010 and 2012 political cycles, the state's most conservative districts are in the Panhandle. Use this interactive to see charts that illustrate the political climate of each district.

State Rep. Matt Krause's bill would require public schools to give religious and nonreligious groups the same access to facilities during noneducational time. 

The Texas House is about to hold its first debate, and on a spending bill, to boot. It will pass, because it must. But watch how they work.

Want to know what parts of the state are best represented on certain House committees? Use our interactive map to explore the geographic distribution of the lawmakers appointed to each committee for the 83rd legislative session. 

House Speaker Joe Straus says a new Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations will delve into the finances, compensation packages and public-private partnerships across state government

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.

In his seventh State of the State address, Gov. Rick Perry ignored controversial issues and urged state lawmakers to do the nitty gritty work of government: fund water projects, build more roads and improve education.

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.

Momentum is growing for Texas lawmakers to commit large amounts of money to address the state's long-term infrastructure needs, particularly water and transportation.