Juvenile detention, imported shrimp, forever chemicals among hundreds of bills cut off by House deadline

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• It’s not just about vouchers and school funding. Here are other Texas public education bills you should track.

  By Sofia Sorochinskaia Updated: 46 minutes ago

  Student discipline, uncertified teachers and school bans on DEI and cellphones are some of the topics being debated at the Texas Legislature this session. Full Story 

• Texas businesses feel the pinch from Trump’s tariffs, Fed survey finds

  By Joshua Fechter 3 hours ago

  The higher taxes on imports will shrink Texas businesses’ profits and raise costs for consumers, business owners say. Full Story 

• Long-running lawsuit against Texas’ foster care system appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court

  By Eleanor Klibanoff 3 hours ago

  Lawyers representing foster children asked the high court to reinstate a contempt order against the state, and the judge who issued it. Full Story 

• SpaceX wins federal approval to launch more rockets in South Texas

  By Berenice Garcia 4 hours ago

  The federal approval comes after vote from residents — mostly SpaceX employees — to form a new city at the Rio Grande Valley beach. Full Story 

• Texas Senate panel advances bill that gives schools more latitude to discipline students

  By Sneha Dey Updated: 7 hours ago

  House Bill 6 is a response to reports of more violent classroom disruptions after the pandemic. It lowers the bar for when schools can discipline for the state’s homeless and youngest students. Full Story 

• Texas House votes to repeal ban on “homosexual conduct”

  By Eleanor Klibanoff Updated: 7 hours ago

  An unlikely group of Republican allies joined Democrats to approve repealing the ban, which has been unenforced since 2003. It is the first time the bill has made it to the House floor since it was first proposed decades ago. Full Story 

• Texas adds just 9 new measles cases this week, the lowest since February

  By Terri Langford, Yuriko Schumacher and Stephen Simpson Updated: 7 hours ago

  Three new counties have been added to the outbreak area, which has seen nine more cases over the past week, according to state data released on Friday. Full Story 

• Texas lawmakers push to enforce election transparency law after newsrooms found school districts failed to comply

  By Lexi Churchill, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica May 16, 2025

  ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found nearly three dozen school districts were missing required campaign finance reports online. Now lawmakers are pushing to impose steep penalties on local governments that fail to abide by the law. Full Story 

• These are the proposals lawmakers hope will save Texas’ water supply. Track them here.

  By Jayme Lozano Carver and Alejandra Martinez Updated: May 15, 2025

  Most lawmakers — as well as Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — want to invest big in water. Here are the proposals that would do it. Full Story 

• Bill that would give the Texas Lottery “a two-year lease on life” gets Senate approval

  By Ayden Runnels May 15, 2025

  Senate Bill 3070 would allow the Texas Lottery’s games to continue under a new department, abolish the agency and create restrictions on ticket purchases. Full Story 

• Abbott wants to stop allowing federal benefits in Texas to be spent on unhealthy, high-processed food

  By Katharine Wilson May 15, 2025

  Texas’ governor joins other Republican governors making similar requests to ban purchases of candy and soda through the SNAP program. Full Story 

• Texas House bill allowing online voter registration got a public hearing — after missing deadline to become law

  By Natalia Contreras, Votebeat and The Texas Tribune May 15, 2025

  Texas is one of eight states without universal online voter registration. A lawmaker pushing for it says he’ll continue the fight. Full Story 

• As the Rio Grande runs dry, South Texas leaders look to new water supplies to sustain growth

  By Berenice Garcia May 15, 2025

  Leaders hope to treat groundwater and capture more rain as the water from one of the nation’s most iconic rivers becomes less reliable. Full Story 

• The fastest-growing city in the U.S. is in Texas, and it’s not the one you’re thinking of

  By Joshua Fechter, Graphics by Yuriko Schumacher May 15, 2025

  With Princeton leading the Texas pack, the state continues to set the pace for the rest of the nation, with seven of the 15 fastest-growing cities. Full Story 

• Clock is ticking for Texas lawmakers to settle differences on $8 billion public school funding package

  By Jaden Edison and Jasper Scherer Updated: May 14, 2025

  Senators will hold a hearing Thursday on their counterproposal to the House's school funding bill. House Democrats and public education advocates have criticized the upper chamber for not moving faster to advance the legislation. Full Story 

• Proposal to enhance Texas’ pioneering junk science law approved by Texas House

  By Kayla Guo May 14, 2025

  Last year, lawmakers waded into a dramatic feud over the case of death row inmate Robert Roberson, seen as the embodiment of the failures of Texas’ junk science law. Full Story