The latest Texas Legislature news from The Texas Tribune.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, trying to build enough support to bring the budget up for consideration this week, appealed in writing to state senators, supporting the plan and a provision that would allow the state to spend $3 billion from the Rainy Day Fund. Full Story
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State Sen. Jeff Wentworth surprised his colleagues and brought the Senate to a standstill today when he tried to tack his controversial campus carry bill onto another measure. Full Story
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Texas state representatives will choose their voters today — grabbing the ones they want, ditching the ones they don't — as the decennial drawing of political maps reaches the floor of the House. Full Story
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The House was set to debate a bill that would scrap a 27-year-old law mandating a 22-to-1 student-teacher ratio in kindergarten through fourth grade today — but before it got the chance, state Rep. Borris Miles, D-Houston, derailed the legislation with a point of order. Full Story
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House Bill 127 would make middle and high school students leave campus if they want to satisfy their soda fix. Full Story
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Thousands of untested rape kits could be examined for DNA evidence, but a bill considered today by a Senate panel carries a hefty price tag. The result could be that the boxes remain stacked on shelves in police storage rooms across the state. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry says he is unswayed by estimates that the state's Rainy Day Fund may end up being more flush than previously anticipated and blasted the Legislature's budget office as an unreliable source of numbers. Full Story
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Dog breeders would be regulated for the first time in Texas under a bill the House tentatively approved today. Full Story
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Dear federal government: Texas needs help covering the cost of border security. Signed, the Texas Senate. A resolution adopted by the state Senate today is intended to send a message to Washington demanding more action on illegal immigration. Full Story
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Holdup? What holdup? Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, says he's got the votes to send abortion sonogram legislation back to the House — but the timeline for doing it depends on how quickly the Senate passes the budget. Full Story
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If the House has its way, there will be 7.8 billion fewer state dollars headed to Texas public schools. Here's our searchable database built from state Rep. Scott Hochberg’s projections of how the funding cuts would hit 1,024 school districts across the state. Full Story
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With the Senate set to debate the state budget this week, Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports that several outside groups want to shape the conversation. Full Story
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One day after the Senate passed its version of the budget for the next biennium, the Texas Public Policy Foundation expanded its media campaign for a "conservative budget." They produced a series of new ads now running on statewide television. The timing appears to be strategic, as the Senate and House prepare to reconcile their spending plans in conference committee. Full Story
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At Thursday's TribLive conversation, I interviewed Lance Armstrong about the need to protect cancer research funding in austere times and his advocacy on behalf of an indoor workplace smoking ban. Full Story
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At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, Lance Armstrong talked about his advocacy on behalf of an indoor workplace smoking ban. Full Story
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At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, Lance Armstrong talked about the need to preserve cancer research funding in austere times. Full Story
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Troy Fraser lost a redistricting fight 20 years ago. Now he's in another redistricting battle — with another Republican and based more on what part of the state is shrinking (his area's population) than on politics. He's determined not to lose. Full Story
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For the latest installment of our unscientific survey of political and policy insiders, we asked whether lawmakers or the courts will end up drawing political maps and who they think is angling for the four new seats in the congressional delegation. Full Story
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Aaronson on a freshman lawmaker's rogue antics, Aguilar on how cartel violence affects tick eradication, Galbraith on Midland's water woes, Hamilton on the exit of a higher ed reformer, Murphy maps voting age by county, Philpott on the data breach at the Comptroller's office, Ramsey on why Susan Combs needs to eat crow, my TribLive interview with U.S. Sen John Cornyn, Ramshaw on Cornyn's refusal to take the "nickel tour" of Planned Parenthood, M. Smith annotates the contracts of superintendents, Stiles on a GOP-friendly redistricting map and Tan on a possible Rainy Day Fund raid: The best of our best content from April 18 to 22, 2011. Full Story
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No time to follow every twist and turn of the Texas Legislature? We've made it easier for you with our weekly recaps of the action under the dome. Full Story
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