The latest Texas Legislature news from The Texas Tribune.
Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday he isn’t worried that a failure to increase the nation’s debt ceiling would trigger an economic catastrophe. He also says that it should be up to the states to decide whether abortion is illegal — or legal. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday he isn’t worried that a failure to increase the nation’s debt ceiling would trigger an economic catastrophe. He also says that it should be up to the states to decide whether abortion is illegal — or legal. Full Story
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Mental health service provider Bluebonnet Trails escaped budget cuts that would have shut off services to more than 2,000 people. That number turned out to be less than 500, but as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, the cuts still hurt. Full Story
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State Rep. Beverly Woolley, R-Houston, says her current term — her ninth — will be her last; she's not running for re-election next year. Full Story
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Maybe it’s because he was a mayor, a position with some executive authority and a low need for rhetorical flame throwing. But Lanham Lyne, a freshman member of the Texas House, is seriously reconsidering his decision to work in the Capitol. Full Story
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Ramshaw on the lioness of the Texas House, Dehn and Tan review 20 years of Rick Perry's political ads, Murphy's latest database includes the governor's political accounts over the last decade, Aaronson's visualizations of what was said in the biggest legislative debates, M. Smith on the woman in the middle chair at the State Board of Education, Galbraith on how the drought is forcing ranchers to sell their herds, Grissom has the story on a cattle rustler who's asking the courts to give him an old-fashioned sentence, Hamilton covers Rick O'Donnell's latest salvo at higher education, Aguilar on whether and how the sanctuary cities issue will translate at the ballot box next year, yours truly on Ron Paul's candidacy and the candidate in his own words: The best of our best from July 18 to 22, 2011. Full Story
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Comptroller Susan Combs isn't a 2014 candidate yet, but she wants you to know that some of the Republican Party's money people are on board and that she's got a pile of cash in her campaign treasury. Full Story
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State Rep. Senfronia Thompson is the longest-serving woman, African American and Democrat in the Texas House, where her career spans nearly four decades. Here's a photographic look back at her tenure in the Legislature's lower chamber. Full Story
Rep. Senfronia Thompson’s almost 40-year House tenure is defined by her defense of the underserved. But her legislative career is peppered with occasional paradoxes. Full Story
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State Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, says that he won't be a candidate for Congress in the seat opened by Ron Paul's decision not to seek another term — but he might run for the state Senate. Full Story
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An amendment that conservative state lawmakers hoped would wipe out the only taxpayer-funded elective abortions in Texas ultimately might not do much at all. Full Story
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Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst dribbled out his U.S. Senate announcement Tuesday, letting a preview for a relatively small group of supporters and activists slip into wide circulation on the internet before his campaign geared up for a big public show later in the week. Full Story
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Jerry Patterson confirmed Tuesday night that he will run for lieutenant governor in 2014, making that announcement just hours after Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said he'll run for U.S. Senate in 2012. Full Story
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Texas bypassed the Obama administration's Department of Justice on Tuesday, opting to ask a panel of federal judges in Washington, D.C., to review the state's new maps for congressional, legislative and State Board of Education districts. Full Story
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The Trib captured every debate, tirade and joke uttered into the mikes in the House and Senate during the 82nd legislative session in our online transcripts. Our latest data apps help you identify when important debates occurred by visualizing the frequency of keywords. Full Story
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Bennett Ratliff, son of the former lieutenant governor and brother of the State Board of Education member, is jumping into the race to replace Rep. Jim Jackson, R-Carrollton, in the Texas House. Full Story
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This week, Secretary of State Hope Andrade conducted a lottery that determined the order of the 10 new proposals on the November ballot. Each amendment already won approval from two-thirds of the House and Senate and now needs a nod from a majority of the voters. Here's the rundown... Full Story
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That exhibition of musical chairs is contingent on the outcomes of several lawsuits filed against this or that piece of the new political maps drawn by the Legislature earlier this year. Full Story
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The legislative session is over, the new maps have been drawn, and candidates are starting to make their decisions about whether to run, and for what offices. Full Story
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It may be hard to believe now, but Gov. Rick Perry got his start in politics as a Democrat, representing Haskell in the Texas House from 1985-1991. It's a period likely to be scrutinized by his Republican opponents should he run for president. Full Story
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