The latest Texas Legislature news from The Texas Tribune.
After failing by one vote on the House floor Wednesday night, a bill to penalize law enforcement agencies that don't report police shootings to the state was reconsidered and passed. Full Story
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Discussion over a bill that would improve the state’s Child Protective Services agency turned into a heated debate over vaccines — and whether they should be required for children placed in foster care. Full Story
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The House substitute of controversial Senate Bill 2 was left pending after state Rep. Dennis Bonnen railed against local leaders still unhappy with changes to the property tax bill. Full Story
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As the Legislature grinds its way through the final three weeks of the regular session, the state's top three leaders are pushing and shoving, figuratively speaking, to the finale and beyond — to the 2018 elections. Full Story
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Once Senate Bill 4 goes into effect on Sept. 1, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said he's prepared to lead a police force that allows officers to inquire about the immigration status of people they detain. Full Story
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Faith-based adoption agencies in Texas would be able to reject prospective parents on religious grounds under a bill the state House approved Tuesday over objections from Democratic lawmakers. Full Story
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The Texas Senate on Tuesday has approved a measure that could keep transgender athletes from competing in high school sports. Full Story
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The Texas Senate on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to legislation that would make it easier for the state to license privately-run detention centers as "family residential centers" in order to hold immigrant families in detention centers longer. Full Story
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A Democratic senator on Tuesday made a last-ditch effort to beef up a bill aimed at reforming and reauthorizing the state’s oil and gas regulatory agency — legislation environmental groups and watchdogs have decried as toothless. Full Story
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Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed Tuesday in a radio interview that he has urged pastors to pressure the Texas House to advance the so-called bathroom bills that have languished there for weeks. Full Story
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Border town El Cenizo and Maverick County have sued the state of Texas over Senate Bill 4, claiming constitutional violations. Full Story
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One of the country’s largest civil rights groups is cautioning against traveling to Texas after Gov. Greg Abbott signed what critics have called an extreme state-based immigration bill. Full Story
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Last week, House lawmakers advanced a bill requiring high school students to pass the civics test that immigrants take when applying for citizenship. We created a similar quiz, and more than 25,000 of you took it. Here's how you did. Full Story
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Check out how each public university in Texas would fare under the House and Senate budgets. Full Story
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Every year, Texans pay $2 on their car insurance to fund auto theft prevention. More than half of that money goes toward balancing the budget instead of the prevention agency. Full Story
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A key deadline passed on Monday without the House "bathroom bill" getting out of committee, meaning the bill won't make it to the House floor this session. But that doesn't mean the issue itself is dead. Full Story
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Houston’s problematic pension funds, which have caused financial woes and spurred political battles for years, just moved closer to getting a massive makeover. Full Story
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The Texas House voted Monday to strip government pensions from elected officials who commit serious acts of public corruption, moving the first major piece of ethics reform toward the governor's office. Full Story
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Here’s everything you need to know about Senate Bill 4, a controversial immigration enforcement measure banning “sanctuary cities” across Texas. Full Story
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House Bill 2107 would expand the “Compassionate Use Act” and allow the use of medical marijuana for qualifying patients with debilitating medical conditions, such as terminal cancer or post-traumatic stress disorder. Full Story
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