Texas lawmakers are expecting to find a hole in the state budget — anywhere from $11 billion to $17 billion, maybe even more — when they return to Austin a year from now. That’s the worst forecast since 2003, when they responded to a $10 billion shortfall with reductions in major programs and hikes in various fees. The Texas Tribune’s Julian Aguilar reports on how cuts back then could guide the Legislature’s work in 2011.
Budget Cuts, Then and Now
Posted in
Politics
Primary Color: HD-66
The race to replace state Rep. Brian McCall, R-Plano, has it all: the high price of ambition, reruns of a 2006 campaign ad, a bikini-clad beauty and a fight over conservative bonafides.
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Health care
This Might Hurt: A Dose of Politics
Immunization advocates want to expand our vaccination database, but the well-educated, middle-class parents who oppose them are organized and driven — and could force lawmakers to take sides in the tussle between personal freedom and public health.
Posted in
Economy
The Last Time Around
How will lawmakers deal with a budget shortfall of at least $11 billion — and maybe several billion more — in the next legislative session? In all likelihood, by doing what they did in 2003, when things were almost this bad.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
On the Records: Case Open, File Closed
Getting a look at correspondence, documents, reports, etc. related to death row inmate Hank Skinner’s case is proving more difficult than I imagined.
Posted in
State Government
TribBlog: Terri Hodge’s Farewell Letter
On the same day she publicly announced that she would drop her reelection bid and plead guilty in federal court to making false statements on an income tax return, State Rep. Terri Hodge, D-Dallas, wrote a letter to her House colleagues to say good-bye and apologize.
Posted in
Politics
2010: Medina Catching Kay?
A new poll shows GOP gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina within striking distance of second place — and a spot in a runoff.
Posted inState Government
Ads Infinitum: Perry’s “1993”
Gov. Rick Perry’s latest TV spot marks the first appearance of “liberal Barney Frank” in Texas’s GOP primary race ad wars.
