The Evening Brief: June 14, 2013
Your evening reading: Davis says Perry vetoed equal pay bill; Senate backs court-drawn redistricting maps; committee approves omnibus abortion bill Full Story
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Your evening reading: Davis says Perry vetoed equal pay bill; Senate backs court-drawn redistricting maps; committee approves omnibus abortion bill Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry issued more than two dozen vetoes Friday, including a line-item veto that wipes out funding for the Travis County prosecutors who investigate government fraud and public corruption. He also vetoed a bill that would have had Texas law mirror gender wage protections in the federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. Full Story
UPDATED: After hearing impassioned testimony, a Senate committee has given tentative approval to an omnibus abortion regulation bill. The legislation now goes to the full Senate. Full Story
Though Senate Democrats argued that their objections and the testimony from public hearings were being ignored, the Texas Senate approved redistricting maps Friday. Full Story
The Senate on Friday approved a measure that would require judges and juries to sentence 17-year-olds convicted of capital murder to life in prison with the chance of parole after 40 years. Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry has signed into law Senate Bill 21, a measure that will subject Texans applying for unemployment benefits to a drug test if their responses to a screening questionnaire indicate possible drug use. Full Story
Special sessions are for emergencies — for finding solutions to problems that can't wait for the next regular session. Sometimes, the emergencies are beyond anyone's control. Sometimes, like now, they're manufactured in Austin. Full Story
The federal government has approved 1,100 experimental projects that could transform health care delivery to the state’s poor and uninsured. But the plan has a big catch: Local health care entities have to pony up to get the federal dollars. Full Story
As the drought continues to blanket most of the state, demands for water are increasing from a growing population and industrial base. These pressures are squeezing Texas waterways, whose average streamflow remains well below normal. Full Story
Texas plans to launch 1,100 experimental projects using a transformational Medicaid waiver. The goal: to change the way health care is delivered to the state’s poor and uninsured. This interactive shows how $3.2 billion for those projects will be spent. Full Story
Lawmakers' special session to-do list grew fourfold this week, but according to Gov. Rick Perry, it's not getting any bigger. Full Story