The latest Texas Legislature news from The Texas Tribune.
In an ugly debate late Friday night, Rep. Wayne Christian proposed requiring that colleges and universities getting state funds should make sure that at least 10 percent of their courses "provide instruction in Western Civilization." Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/videos/ChristianCMS.jpg)
Tan's wall-to-wall coverage of the budget (with more from the rest of the Trib crew, interviews with some of the freshmen seeing this up close for the first time and a map of how it works), Philpott on the similarities between budget worries in Texas and those elsewhere, M. Smith explains school finance, Ramshaw on the dwindling insurance options for orphans, Grissom on legal fights over the drugs used for state executions, Aguilar on the run-up to the debate over sanctuary cities, Stiles maps the diversity of Texas counties, Galbraith on efforts to recycle plastic bags and Hamilton on calls for "entrepreneurship" at the University of Texas: The best of our best content from March 28 to April 1, 2011. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Txtribweek_20110401.jpg)
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
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/videos/CapitolDome.jpg)
If the signatures of state representatives on the hundreds of amendments to HB1 are any indication, possession of legible handwriting is not a prereqisite for holding elective office. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/a155f7074621e6de264e404e0bda4ee3/BD%20INC%20Aycock%20Otto%2001%202011)
We liveblogged the full debate over HB 1, the House version of the general appropriations bills for the next biennium, which passed late Sunday night 98 to 49. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/aa4fded594e15a55298b809f4c814a97/BD%20INC%20Pitts%2002%202011)
It’s not just that state Sen. Robert Duncan doesn’t like gambling. He doesn’t think he could get legalized casinos approved. But Duncan's got a mission: Find $5 billion to $6 billion. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/SpotlightMoney.jpg)
Today, as we vote on House Bill 1, we are in the position of squeezing water out of rock, and the process is hard and dirty work. Democrats will say there is no water in the rock. They are wrong. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Blue_Jacket.jpg)
We cannot solve this budget crisis with blind, across-the-board cuts. There are better choices. If we return to the pragmatic political approach that once defined our politics, we will keep alive the tradition of each generation sacrificing for a better Texas. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/82_20110225_TA_0011.jpg)
Heated debate over the state budget is already under way, but as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, similar fighting has been playing out for at least three years across the country. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2011_Budget_Cut.png)
State Reps. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, and Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, react to the passage of HB4 and HB275, and preview of the upcoming battle over HB1, the House's bare-bones general appropriations plan for the next biennium. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/videos/Screen_shot_2011-03-31_at_9.00.31_PM.png)
House lawmakers are considering a plan to privatize all of Texas' state jails for low-level felony offenders, a move they say could save the state up to $40 million. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/e6192f23e25477079043e3d2444b00d6/.BD%20Jail)
Heated debate over the state budget is already under way, but as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, similar fighting has been playing out for at least three years across the country. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/2084e9b6fda792950d3bd2e5dea6863e/BD%20INC%20Pitts%2012%202011)
With the strum of a guitar and the whine of fiddle strings, Ray Benson and two other members of his band Asleep At The Wheel kicked off a rally Thursday to support the Texas Historical Commission, which faces deep budget cuts. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TxTrib_SaveOurTexasHistory_4.jpg)
House lawmakers voted this afternoon to preliminarily pass HB 4 and HB 275, two bills that together will balance the state's budget for the remaining months of the fiscal year through a mix of spending cuts and use of the Rainy Day Fund. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/6f4ac7fe11d95a5494d235a5364eae8d/BD%20INC%20Pitts%2013%202011)
Numbers aren’t all that’s buried in the budget. Lawmakers have filed hundreds of amendments that are political in nature, from repealing in-state tuition for illegal immigrants to trying to push Planned Parenthood out of the family planning business. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/65d98a203c021360e833818836ecc85c/BD%20INC%20Pitts%2014%202011)
The Senate Criminal Justice Committee today approved a controversial bill that would allow students to carry concealed handguns on college campuses. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/ConcealedCarry_1.jpg)
At this morning's TribLive conversation, state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, the longest-serving woman, African American and Democrat in the Texas House, forcefully argued that state funding of public education should not be cut — unless school districts are made to tap into their own reserves. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/videos/Senfronia_screencap.jpg)
We're liveblogging from the House floor, where lawmakers are expected to vote on HB 4 and HB 275, two bills that would balance the Fiscal Year 2011 budget and authorize lawmakers to withdraw $3.1 billion from the Rainy Day Fund. Full Story
Thirty new GOP state lawmakers took office this year, promising their constituents they'd cut the fat out of government. As the House prepares to vote on a slew of budget bills on Thursday and Friday, this freshman bloc is showing some clout. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/videos/voter_ID_1.jpg)
With budget deliberation looming in the Legislature, Gretch Sanders of KUT News reports that funding cuts to one health program could mean a death sentence for some. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/HIV-Drugs-in-Hand.jpg)