Senate Finance Chairman Steve Ogden tried, and failed, to get 20 state senators to vote with him on a proposed state budget Tuesday. On Wednesday, he’s going to see if he can find 15.
May 2011
Posted in
Public Education
Anti-Bullying Bill Tentatively Passes House
On Tuesday night, House Bill 1942 by state Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, which seeks to reduce bullying in schools by providing what the bill analysis calls “a minimal framework” for how to address incidents of bullying, was tentatively approved by the House with a vote of 102-34.
Posted in
State Government
Senators Compromise on Alamo Bill
Compromise isn’t the first word that comes to mind when you think of the Alamo. But today, state senators from San Antonio reached an agreement on a bill to improve how Texas’ most historic site is managed.
Posted in
Health care
Update: House Gives Early OK to Rural Hospitals Hiring Docs
The House has tentatively voted to let rural, critical-access hospitals in counties with populations of 50,000 or less hire doctors — partially lifting a long-standing ban on hospitals directly employing physicians.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Update: First Texas Execution Done With New Drug Protocol
Less than a month before his scheduled execution, Cary Kerr had no attorney. And the ones he had had up to that point, he argued, didn’t do him much good. Tonight, his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his execution was turned down.
Posted in
Health care
Patient Privacy Bill Gets Early House Approval
House lawmakers have given an early endorsement to Rep. Lois Kolkhorst’s bill to protect Texans’ private medical information.
Posted in
Health care
House Gives Early OK to “Choose Life” License Plate
A bill directing the Department of Motor Vehicles to create an anti-abortion license plate to raise money for crisis pregnancy centers got an early OK from the House — and staved off a flurry of amendments from Democrats.
Posted in
Higher Education
Campus Carry Fails to Pass the Senate — Again
When the Senate approved an amendment to state Sen. Judith Zaffirini’s higher education bill that would permit the carry of concealed handguns on university campuses by a vote of 19 to 12, the Laredo Democrat killed her own legislation to prevent it from going through.
Posted in
Economy
Liveblog: Senate Debates Budget Bill
The Texas Tribune is liveblogging the Senate’s debate over its substitute for House Bill 1, the proposed budget for the next biennium.
Posted in
T-Squared
T-Squared: Trib is 9th Most Innovative Media Company
Nice to discover — belatedly — that Fast Company magazine named the Tribune one of the 10 most innovative media companies in the world in its March 2011 issue, which is all about the most innovative companies of 2011.