Come January, as Texas lawmakers begin work to pass bills and tackle the yawning budget gap, they will go up against a simple but implacable barrier: time. Texas is one of a dwindling number of states whose legislatures hold scheduled meetings only every two years. Just three other, far smaller states — Montana, North Dakota and Nevada — still have biennial legislative sessions. Lawmakers differ on whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, especially for budgeting. Regardless, Texas seems unlikely to change anytime soon.
2010
Posted in
State Government
Confidential Conflicts
Lobbyists are required by law to notify their clients if they represent two or more groups with clashing agendas. They are also required to notify the Texas Ethics Commission. Scores of lobbyists have done so in recent legislative sessions. What is not required is for the public or elected representatives to be informed.
Posted in
State Government
Face Time
2010 didn’t turn out like it looked a year ago. Unexpected people showed up. The political environment bloomed red instead of blue. The Tea was strong. And big shots turned into paper tigers. Here are some of the political personalities who mattered.
Posted inState Government
Interactive: Texas Lobbyist Conflicts: 2005-2010
State law requires lobbyists to disclose to the Texas Ethics Commission any conflicts of interests involving their clients. They also must notify their clients. The disclosure forms aren’t public information, but the commission released a list of lobbyists and the total number of conflicts they’ve reported since 2005. Use this table to sort that list.
Posted in
Demographics
TribBlog: Names, Photos of Prison Escapees Released
The Webb County Sheriff’s Department has released the names and photographs of 151 inmates who escaped from a Mexican state prison on the border this month. So far, he says, there is no evidence the convicts have fled to Texas.
Posted in
Demographics
The Best Political Video Moments of 2010
Politics, like football, is a full-contact sport — and the 2010 election was filled with the kind of brawling you would expect. It also had plenty of bizarre moments of the sort that make the rest of the nation believe Texas really is a different country.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Court Says No to Texas in EPA Case
Texas’s bid to suspend a federal efforts to regulate greenhouse gases hit another roadblock today, when the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals turned down the state’s request for a stay of a move to force states to implement federal plans.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
An Exclusive Excerpt from “Incendiary
An exclusive excerpt from “Incendiary,” a forthcoming documentary about the Cameron Todd Willingham case.
Posted in
Demographics
TribBlog: Slain Activist’s Family Seeks Asylum in Texas
The asylum case of a Mexican family whose matriarch was assassinated during a political protest could “define the politics of refugee detention” and shape how the U.S. weighs future cases of those wishing to flee political persecution in Mexico, an El Paso-based immigration attorney said Tuesday.
Posted in
Energy
Running on Empty?
Gas is hovering just under $3 per gallon in Austin, far short of the record $4.10 per gallon reached a couple of years ago. But as Matt Largey of KUT News reports, that’s not stopping one group from creatively working to wean people off oil because they fear the world will eventually run out of it.
