Some plumbers are calling for a special session after the Texas House ended the state plumbing code and a plumbing regulation agency that has dozens of employees.
Elizabeth Byrne
Elizabeth Byrne was a reporting fellow at The Texas Tribune in 2019, covering health and human services issues. She graduated from Northwestern University, where she studied journalism and sociology. Elizabeth previously served as the summer editor in chief and campus editor for The Daily Northwestern, where she covered local and campus news. If she's not in the newsroom, then she's enjoying the outdoors or searching for the perfect mac and cheese.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2019
Despite bipartisan support, Texas bill tackling intellectual disability in death penalty cases fails
Negotiators in the House and Senate couldn’t come to an agreement on a bill addressing how Texas handles capital murder defendants who may be intellectually disabled. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executing people with intellectual disabilities amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
Posted in
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.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2019
Critics say bill moving through Texas Legislature designed to aid GOP reelection bids
Supporters of the bill say it would expand ballot access. But some critics argue that the real goal is to make it tougher for Libertarians to get on the ballot and easier for Green Party candidates to do so.
Posted in
Health care
Texas House passes bill classifying fertility fraud as sexual assault
The legislation comes after Dallas resident Eve Wiley discovered that her mother’s fertility doctor used his own sperm during an insemination procedure instead of the donor her mother selected.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2019
Texas House votes to raise legal smoking age to 21
The bill already passed the Senate but will require another vote in the upper chamber due to minor changes made in the House.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Texas narrows law barring contractors from boycotting Israel
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill weeks after a federal judge blocked the existing state law in response to a lawsuit.
Posted in
Politics
Texas House passes bill to include parents with young children in curbside voting
Current Texas law only allows curbside voting for voters with disabilities. The new legislation would allow — but not require — polling places to accommodate parents with young kids.
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Health care
Texas Senate advances bill requiring pre-abortion counseling
Supporters say the measure would prevent women from regretting an abortion after they have the procedure. But abortion rights advocates fear the bill lacks key protections, like a requirement for the counselor to be a licensed medical professional.
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Higher Education
Gov. Greg Abbott signs bill creating University of Houston medical school
The medical school is projected to accept a class of 30 students for Fall 2020.
