Texas Senate

As a political outsider, radio launched Dan Patrick's career. But now that he's mostly off the airwaves and in the lieutenant governor's seat, Patrick's station continues to push his conservative agenda.

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The measure would allow citizens targeted by annexation to vote on city proposals. A similar bill died in the final moments of regular session debate.

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The Senate on Wednesday gave initial approval to legislation that would roll back local mobile phone ordinances that go beyond the recent statewide ban on texting while driving. 

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After 140 days, what did Texas lawmakers actually accomplish? Here's our guide to what happened with the regular session’s most high-profile measures.

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Gov. Greg Abbott has vetoed 50 bills that were passed during the regular legislative session, his office announced Thursday.

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The 85th legislative session came to a close Monday amid uncertainty over whether Gov. Greg Abbott would call lawmakers back for overtime. Tensions ran high up until the session's end. 

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Under the bill, any crime against either group that results in serious bodily injury would be a first-degree felony, which carries a sentence of up to 99 years or life in prison.

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The Texas Senate has approved its version of House Bill 3016, which would make it easier for people to apply for jobs if they have low-level offenses on their records. Such applicants would not be required to disclose their offenses.

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The House left an important bill in a dangerous spot, lost it, and might have created an advantage for their institutional rivals on the other end of the Texas Capitol.

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If you're in favor, Texas lawmakers will meet with you and put your legislation on the fast track. Others have to wait, sometimes for weeks, for a chance to talk for a few minutes in a committee hearing room in the middle of the night. 

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A proposal to substantially weaken the Top 10 Percent Rule took an important step forward Wednesday. 

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At this point in the session, there are a lot of bills on the Senate’s “intent calendar.” How can you tell which bills will be considered on a given day?

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The Texas Senate voted 29-2 to freeze tuition for two years, and then cap tuition increases at 1 percent plus inflation after that. The idea will now go to the House, where leaders are skeptical of tuition freezes. 

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The legislation pushes back against two 2015 Texas Supreme Court rulings that have enabled private companies involved with government contracts to keep parts of those contracts secret.

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Phillip Huffines, whose twin brother Don already serves in the Senate, submitted paperwork to begin raising money for a campaign for Senate District 8. 

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The denizens of the Texas Capitol are already talking about the possibility of a special session if lawmakers haven't finished the budget and other bills by Memorial Day. They might be worried, but you shouldn't be.

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In a radio interview Thursday, House Speaker Joe Straus said Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has a different audience than he does. "He’s an entertainer, a talk show guy. And a statewide elected official. I’m not," Straus said.

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By delaying a diversion of sales tax money for transportation projects, Texas Senate leaders said they had an additional $2.5 billion to spend on needs such as health care and schools.

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The Senate voted 18-12 in favor of bill that would require an election if a local government entity wanted to increase some of its tax collections by 5 percent or more. 

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In an attempt to make major changes in how higher education is  funded, the Senate Finance Committee is proposing major cuts to each state university. 

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