The money had been included in a previous version of the state’s supplemental budget, and legislators had intended for President Donald Trump’s administration to repay the funds.
Edgar Walters
Edgar Walters worked at the Tribune from 2013 to 2020, most recently covering health and human services. Before that, he had a political reporting fellowship with the Berliner Zeitung, a daily newspaper in Berlin. He is a graduate of the Plan II Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin, where he worked as an editor for The Daily Texan. When not in the newsroom or at the Capitol, he could be found on the volleyball court, standing 6 feet, 7 inches tall.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Behind closed doors, Texas budget writers add $100 million for border surge
The money would come from the state savings account, and Texas officials anticipate getting reimbursed by the federal government.
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Texas Legislature 2019
This session’s biggest mental health bill got killed on a technicality — then resurrected
Senate Bill 10, focused on connecting children to mental health services, was knocked out of contention with a parliamentary maneuver Tuesday night but was revived as an amendment to another bill hours later. It’s one of several measures the state’s GOP leaders championed in the wake of the deadly shooting last year at Santa Fe High School.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Did the Texas Legislature accidentally imperil billions of dollars in business taxes?
In their effort to make a future state income tax all but impossible, Texas lawmakers used terminology that experts believe could inadvertently gut the state’s franchise tax.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Texas tax collectors predict another $500 million for the state budget
The announcement Tuesday from Comptroller Glenn Hegar came amid lawmakers’ closed-door haggling over the two-year budget, which includes funds for public schools and property tax relief.
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Texas Legislature 2019
How would lawmakers’ plan to hike sales taxes and drop property taxes affect Texans?
The so-called tax swap wouldn’t make a big difference in average Texans’ tax bills, according to a new analysis. But it would shift the tax burden from higher-income households to the less well off.
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Texas Legislature 2019
After Supreme Court ruling, Texas bills would bring in $850 million in online sales tax
Lawmakers moved to apply the state’s sales tax to goods sold by remote vendors who don’t have physical operations in Texas.
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Texas Legislature 2019
A Texas sales tax increase would hit poor people the hardest
Top Republican leaders have proposed raising the sales tax and using the money to lower local property tax rates. Wealthier Texans and businesses would likely benefit, while poorer Texans would likely pay more.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Texas Senate passes two-year budget with money for property tax cuts — but no plan for how to spend it
The Senate budget also includes a $6.3 billion boost for public schools, about $4 billion of which would increase teachers’ and librarians’ annual salaries by $5,000.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Texas reports on state government efficiency were kept secret. We’re publishing them.
Since 2005, state lawmakers have received the agency’s biennial report detailing inefficiencies in government, but this year the report was not made public.
