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Ross Ramsey co-founded The Texas Tribune in 2009 and served as its executive editor until his retirement in 2022. He wrote regular columns on politics, government and public policy. Before joining the Tribune, he was editor and co-owner of Texas Weekly. He did a 28-month stint in government with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Before that, he reported for the Houston Chronicle, the Dallas Times Herald, as a Dallas-based freelancer for regional and national magazines and newspapers, and for radio stations in Denton and Dallas.
Politically, bathroom bans are in the same category as requiring voters to show photo IDs — a favorite on the right — and renaming buildings and things after historical figures who haven’t fallen out of favor — a current liberal favorite. Full Story
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If state Rep. Larry Phillips gets his way, the Sunset Advisory Commission could be up for the sort of operational review it's used to dishing out to other state agencies — forcing the agency to justify its existence. Full Story
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House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, is trying to rescue legislative reviews of state agencies from poachers in the lobby and in the Legislature itself. He says they've "made a mockery" of the process. Full Story
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Buried in a couple of vanilla announcements this week, House Speaker Joe Straus gently telegraphed some of his plans for next year’s legislative session. If you weren’t listening carefully, you probably missed it. Full Story
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Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller's itch for public attention earned him his latest headline, aided by his overdeveloped political reflex for deflecting blame. But the attention comes at an inopportune time. Full Story
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Texas doesn’t have a cabinet form of government, but in Gov. Greg Abbott’s case, it might soon have the next best thing. Full Story
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Anyone trying to influence public policy will move where the public’s attention takes them, into the edges of the spotlight around events that might make their arguments for them. Full Story
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The younger part of the state’s population doesn’t look like the older part, and a new report suggests we should have a look at that before we make a big mess. Full Story
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Some of the state officeholders elected in 2014 face struggles to gain control of their government, political and legal duties. They're looking like the gang that couldn’t shoot straight, or the 1962 Mets. But the stakes are more serious than that. Full Story
The contest between current Texas Republican Party Chairman Tom Mechler and his opponent, Jared Woodfill, is about purity, about which kinds of conservatives the Texas GOP represents and about what the party is supposed to be doing. Full Story
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