House Panel Weighs Property, Gun Rights
UPDATED: Business groups are weighing in on gun legislation, trying to preserve a business owner's rights to ban guns from private property. A House committee took up the question up Tuesday. Full Story
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Bid for Rainy Day Fund Changes Moves Forward
The Texas House on Tuesday approved a resolution calling for a constitutional election over whether to send surplus dollars from the Rainy Day Fund into a new account to pay down state debt. Full Story
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![House Appropriations Chair John Otto explains a budget amendment to a colleague during House Bill 1 debate March 31, 2015.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich -
Lawmaker's Bill Aims to Prevent Another Fertilizer Plant Blast
State Rep. Kyle Kacal has introduced legislation that he hopes would prevent another accident like the explosion of a West fertilizer plant in 2013 that killed 15 and injured more than 200. Full Story
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![A vehicle near the remains of a fertilizer plant burning after an explosion in West, Texas, near Waco.]()
Credit: Mike Stone / Bay Area News -
Rand Paul Announces Presidential Run
Rand Paul, the maverick first-term senator and Texas native who rode a tea party wave from a Kentucky ophthalmology practice to Congress, on Tuesday formally announced a bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Full Story
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![U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks at the opening of his Austin office at downtown startup incubator incubator Capital Factory on March 16, 2015.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
Video: A Conversation With Nichols and Pickett
Full video of my 4/7 conversation with state Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, and state Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso — the chairmen, respectively, of the Senate and House Transportation Committees. Full Story
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Uncertainty Haunts Commissioner Kyle Janek
Two reports have criticized Health Commissioner Kyle Janek’s leadership. Three state lawmakers have called for his resignation. And a contract awarded to a vendor on his watch is under investigation. What's a new governor to do? Full Story
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![Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Kyle Janek whispers to an aide at a hearing of the Sunset Advisory Commission on Jan. 14, 2015.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich -
The Brief: April 7, 2015
A Senate subcommittee hearing legislation that would repeal the state's 2001 law offering in-state tuition to certain undocumented Texas high school graduates lasted well past the midnight hour as dozens of witnesses testified against the bill. Full Story
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![Dreamer Jesus Trevino, waits his turn to testify during the Senate committee hearing on April 6th, 2015]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
Bill Would Put Agency Budgets Under Closer Scrutiny
The Texas Legislature has spent much of the current session scrutinizing state agency budgets. A bill up in the House on Tuesday would add an additional layer of review to make sure state revenue is being spent correctly. Full Story
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![State Rep. John Otto, R-Dayton, carries literature laying out House Bill 1 as he prepares to discuss the appropriations bill on the House floor March 31, 2015.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich -
GOP Takes First Step to End In-State Tuition for Undocumented
After a marathon hearing that stretched well into Tuesday morning, a Senate subcommittee approved Sen. Donna Campbell's bill to repeal Texas law that allows some undocumented students to pay in-state tuition at colleges and universities. Full Story
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![Dreamer Cristina Lizeth Urdiales was born in Monterrey, Mexico and brought to the US at the age of 5, listens during the Senate committee hearing on April 6th, 2015]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
House Bill Would Untangle Hair Braiding Rules
For nearly two decades, the state of Texas has been trying to shut down Isis Brantley's hair braiding business. Prodded by a federal court, state lawmakers are now considering exempting hair braiders from regulation and leaving Brantley alone. Full Story
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Rand Paul Keeping a Close Eye on Texas
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is readying his presidential campaign — and his political play for the Lone Star State. Full Story
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![Sen. Rand Paul speaks to supporter after briefly addressing public at the opening of his new office at the downtown Austin, Texas incubator Capital Factory on March 16th, 2015]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
At Citadel, Perry Fuses Foreign Policy With Biography
Former Gov. Rick Perry visited South Carolina's military college on Monday in a bid to show that his military background undergirds his foreign policy. Full Story
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![Former Gov. Rick Perry poses with cadets after delivering a foreign policy speech at The Citadel, South Carolina's military college, earlier this year.]()
Credit: Patrick Svitek -
Senate Panel Advances Sanctuary Cities Bill
A bill banning so-called sanctuary cities in Texas – the common term for local entities that do not enforce immigration laws — advanced out of a Senate subcommittee on Monday. Full Story
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![Sen. Charles Perry R-Lubbock answers questions regarding his bill SB #185 which relates to to the enforcement of state and federal laws governing immigration during Senate Subcommittee on border security on March 16th, 2015]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
Budgetline: The Spending Cap
In this episode of Budgetline, an occasional TribCast series on the Texas Budget, Aman and Ross explore the state's fuzzy limits on how fast the state budget can grow, what counts and what doesn't, and how the politics work. Full Story
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UT Regents Call Special Meeting on New Wallace Hall Requests
The meeting comes after UT System Regent Wallace Hall asked to visit with one of the investigators from Kroll Associates, which found that UT-Austin President Bill Powers helped secure admittance for some students over the objections of the admissions office. Full Story
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![Regent Wallace Hall, Jr. at a regular meeting of the University of Texas Board of Regents in Ashbell Smith Hall in Austin.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich -
Analysis: Moving Integrity Unit Won't Curb Conflicts
Legislators frustrated and angry with public corruption prosecutions in Travis County want to move them somewhere else. But the problems are likely to tag along: It's always hard to prosecute the people who pay for the prosecutors. Full Story
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The Brief: April 6, 2015
The House's chief tax writer is dropping some clues on how his chamber's approach to tax relief this session will differ from their counterparts in the Senate. Full Story
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![State Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, confers with State Rep. John Otto, R-Dayton, during a point of order called on House Bill 11 on March 18, 2015.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich -
Inside Texas Politics: Religious Freedom Laws
On this week's edition of WFAA-TV's Inside Texas Politics with host Jason Whitely, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Bud Kennedy and Tribune Executive Editor Ross Ramsey, talk turns to religious freedom laws. Full Story
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![Tribune Executive Editor Ross Ramsey on WFAA-TV's "Inside Texas Politics" on April 5, 2015.]()
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How a Football School Like UT Landed Smart
Why would Shaka Smart take a basketball job where football is king? For one, Texas is swimming in cash as one of the few schools that actually makes money off its athletic programs. Full Story
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![New UT basketball coach Shaka Smart.]()
Credit: Rickster2/T. Wiseman / A. Miscoe / Bill Oriani -
GOP Gun Measures Could Backfire With Minorities
Republican lawmakers backing open carry and guns on campus are heading in the wrong direction for many black and Hispanic Texans who would prefer stricter gun laws, polling shows. It's another disconnect with minorities the GOP might regret. Full Story
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![Gun rights supporters participate in an open carry march during South by Southwest led by the Austin chapter of Come and Take It on March 12, 2014.]()
Credit: Erika Rich