The latest Texas Legislature news from The Texas Tribune.
When state Rep. Sid Miller, R-Stephenville, introduced a bill last legislative session to allow licensed hunters to shoot feral hogs from helicopters, Texas lawmakers jokingly passed out “pork chopper” buttons. They're not laughing anymore. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TxTrib-PorkChoppers-005.png)
It turns out you can do a lot of damage with nothing more than a rule book, which is hazardous in a place that often runs like a schoolyard: Conduct trumps content. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/737347e59c6e2ef045653947ad08675a/BD%20INC%20Demos%202011)
In what may be the Democrats' first concrete victory of the session, the House at last sent HB 400 to its grave when it failed to take up the controversial education legislation before its midnight deadline. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/c9f171bcd97fd450645a7a5fdda75a80/BD%20INC%20Miles%20Eissler%20785%202011)
In keeping with Republican lawmakers' promises to strengthen state voting laws, the House today tentatively passed a bill that would make it a separate punishable offense for an illegal immigrant or non-citizen to vote or attempt to vote. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Vote_Aqui.jpg)
Synthetic pot, also known as K2, is one step closer to being outlawed in Texas. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/k2_syntheticMarijuana.jpg)
A controversial bill that would require parental permission before school administrators are allowed to paddle unruly public school children passed the House today after failing on Wednesday. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Paddlin.jpg)
Texas' Women's Health Program may be circling the drain. Sen. Bob Deuell says he doesn’t have the votes in the Senate to bring up a bill to renew the family planning and preventative care program — and Rep. Garnet Coleman says his House bill is stuck. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/deuell-at-senate.jpg)
At this morning's TribLive conversation, Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples talked about his plans to run for lieutenant governor in 2014 — and offered his assessment of the other likely candidates in the race, Comptroller Susan Combs and Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/videos/TxTribLive-ToddStaples066.jpg)
The House appears set to pass a bill that would compel companies to disclose substances they use in fracking, a process used to harvest natural gas. As Mose Buchele of KUT News reports, the bill could bring Texas a step closer to determining fracking’s environmental impact. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Fracking_diagram.jpg)
Several bills working their way through the legislative process are likely to send Texans' utility bills up, consumer advocates say. But legislation that would make it easier for ratepayers to decide how to choose their electricity provider appears to be stalled. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/GlowingMoneyLightBulb.jpg)
In this week's episode of the TribCast, Evan, Reeve, Julian and Ben discuss the meltdown in the House, the debate over sanctuary cities, and the latest in higher education. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Tribcast_2.jpg)
It would be illegal to watch a cockfight, to own cockfighting paraphernalia or to raise roosters for the purpose of fighting under a bill the Texas House tentatively approved tonight. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Cocks_0004_TXT_7314.jpg.jpg)
Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards, a native Texan and daughter of former Gov. Ann Richards, visited the Capitol on Wednesday to defend funding for womens' health services. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/videos/PP_Still.jpg)
Texas lawmakers voted against parental approval for corporal punishment Wednesday, allowing schools to spank students with or without parents' say. Full Story
The Texas House took a step toward tougher regulation of payday lenders Wednesday, tentatively approving a bill that would require lenders to make more detailed disclosures to their borrowers. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/111809_padayloans001_jv.jpg)
Texas hospitals have a pointed message for the lawmakers hashing out the final details of the 2012-13 budget: The proposed cuts hit them too hard. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Hospital-Scene.jpg)
Travis County would get two new out-of-town senators, and Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, would be squeezed into a district designed for a Republican, in political maps proposed by Senate Redistricting Chairman Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/6c026886d0560ad2640aafb6ec248f8c/BD%20INC%20Selinger%2001%202011)
The newest competitive sport coming to Texas just might be pork choppering. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/FeralHogs_3.jpg)
Advocates for the elderly and disabled are fighting a proposal in the Legislature that they say would reduce the wages of the personal care attendants who provide services through the Medicaid Community-Based Alternatives waiver program. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/MEDICAID_CEDARVIEW.jpg)
Charles Chatman and other former prisoners who have been exonerated of their crimes are joining state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, in urging House lawmakers to act quickly and pass bills intended to reduce wrongful convictions. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/CharlesChatman_1.jpg)