The Big Men on Campus in the school known as the Texas Legislature have the unenviable job of finding money that might alleviate the massive cuts outlined in House Bill 1, the general appropriations bill for the next biennium.
April 2011
Posted inState Government
The Brief: Top Texas News for April 13, 2011
Texas may have just secured $832 million in education funding. So why isn’t everyone happy?
Posted in
State Government
Bill Pushes for Single-Member Council Districts
A House committee is set to consider a bill requiring cities with populations of more than 500,000 to have single-member city council districts. As Ryland Barton of KUT News and ReportingTexas.com reports, the bill’s supporters say it would more effectively incorporate minorities and less densely populated areas.
Posted in
State Government
Data Breach Stirs Blame Game, Internet Privacy Concerns
News that the state comptroller’s office exposed the personal data of 3.5 million Texas has many wondering, as Mose Buchele of KUT News reports, whether the state should be doing more to assure internet privacy — and how the comptroller’s office will be held accountable.
Posted in
Health care
From Texas to D.C., Debate Over Medicaid Funding Rages
If congressional Republicans’ proposed solution to cutting health care costs — giving states block grants to fund Medicaid — sounds familiar, it’s because it is.
Posted in
Energy
Wildfires in West Texas Could Creep Eastward
A string of wildfires has charred about 400,000 acres in drought-stricken West Texas. But as Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports, areas further east, also thirsting for water, may be just as vulnerable as the west.
Posted inState Government
Interactive Map: Which Counties Could Lose The Most In Health, Medicaid Funding
Visualize the health care and Medicaid cuts in the House version of the proposed 2012-13 state budget, by county and per capita, with data compiled by the Center for Public Policy Priorities.
Posted in
State Government
Lawmakers Debate “Treat Till Transfer”
Families and doctors testified Tuesday on the grief and tough decisions surrounding Texas’ advance directives law, which allows hospitals to cease treating terminally ill patients after a 10-day waiting period if an ethics panel agrees there is no hope for recovery.
Posted in
Guides
Texplainer: Why Are There Two Calendars Committees?
With more than 3,000 bills and only 140 days to pass them, somebody’s got to set priorities and make a schedule. Those somebodies are on the calendars committees.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Senate Panel Mulls Jailer Turnover Measure
State jail officials would get a clearer picture of potential problems in county lockups under a bill a Senate panel considered on Tuesday that would require counties to report the monthly turnover rate among jailers.
