The latest Texas Legislature news from The Texas Tribune.
Cutting $10 billion public education funding could push more than two-dozen school districts from the group that receives state financing into the group that writes checks to the state to even things out between richer and poorer districts. Full Story
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The best of our best content from Feb. 14 to 18, 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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Triblive: Evan Smith interviews Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams. Full Story
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Nothing scares the good men and women of state agencies more than one word: Sunset. But where did the Sunset Commission get its name? Full Story
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Texas' explosive growth during the past decade was fueled by a boom in its minority population, which accounted for 89 percent of the total increase in population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Full Story
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Brewpubs want to be able to sell their distinctive beers in stores, restaurants and other bars and are fighting for the right to expand. The major beer distributors like things the way they are. Full Story
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Only months ago, Texas lawmakers threatened to drop out of Medicaid. Now, Texas and other financially strapped states are asking Washington for permission to operate the program as they see fit. Full Story
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What’s in a name? The Texas Railroad Commission — and the elected officials who run it — may soon find out. Full Story
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Abortion sonogram legislation passed the Senate 21 to 10, and is moving to the House, where the overwhelming Republican majority is expected to pass it. Here's a look at the floor debate. Full Story
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Abortion sonogram legislation passed the Senate 21 to 10, and is moving to the House, where the overwhelming Republican majority is expected to pass it. Here's a look at the floor debate. Full Story
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Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott just released two opinions expected to force Planned Parenthood out of the state's Women's Health Program, which provides family planning, but not abortions, to Medicaid patients. Full Story
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Law enforcement authorities worry that some immigration-related legislation would silence immigrant crime victims and witnesses, who may stop cooperating with the police out of fear that their undocumented status will be discovered. Full Story
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Chaplains have been a part of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice since at least 1910, providing spiritual guidance and programs. Under the proposed House budget, all 121 Texas prison chaplains would lose their jobs. Full Story
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New U.S. census data shows the Hispanic population in Texas increased by 42 percent since 2000 and makes up 38 percent of the population. The state's total population increased by 4,293,741 since 2000. Full Story
The controversial abortion sonogram bill has passed the Senate by a vote of 21-10. Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, got the two-thirds vote needed to bring it to the floor, effectively ensuring it would pass. Full Story
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The 2010 official state musician of Texas sat down with the Tribune to talk about Gov. Rick Perry's proposal to suspend funding for the Texas Commission on the Arts and what it could mean for the state's students. Full Story
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Texas, like many other states, is proposing billions of dollars in cuts to help close a budget gap. But as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, one thing Texas has that nobody else does is $9 billion in a piggy bank called the Rainy Day Fund — and lawmakers are divided over whether to crack it open. Full Story
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To solve the state’s budget crisis, lawmakers are considering sweeping cuts to almost everything, from school funding to child welfare services. But a $300-million-a-year cancer institute championed by Gov. Rick Perry and Lance Armstrong has so far escaped the budget knife. Full Story
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