Republican Texas lawmakers have justified their efforts to limit how racism and current events are taught in school by saying that critical race theory judges people by the color of their skin. Martin Luther King III and experts disagree.
Texas Legislature 2021
The 87th Texas Legislature approved hundreds of new laws during its regular session that ended in May 2021, including a near-total ban on abortions. Lawmakers then returned to Austin for three special sessions aimed at passing additional conservative priorities. Although House Democrats fled the state for weeks, lawmakers eventually passed new voting restrictions. They also approved new political maps and a proposed constitutional amendment that could lower property tax bills.
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Texas Legislature 2021
GOP senator says Gov. Greg Abbott should lose line-item veto after cutting Legislature’s funding, jeopardizing staffers’ jobs
The bill is largely symbolic, as the Legislature is currently at a standstill, unable to move any legislation because House Democrats broke quorum two weeks ago when they fled to Washington, D.C., to block GOP voting bills.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Speaker Dade Phelan signs civil arrest warrant for Texas House Democrat who returned to Washington
The warrant to apprehend state Rep. Philip Cortez is the first one signed by the speaker since more than 50 House Democrats left the state to block Republicans from having the quorum needed to pass legislation during the special legislative session.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texas lawmakers to testify as U.S. House oversight committee plans hearing on Texas voting bill
Three of the Democratic legislators who went to Washington, D.C., to deny the Texas House a quorum have been invited to detail their concerns at a specially called hearing on the contentious legislation that includes new restrictions on voting.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Analysis: In Texas, sports can be a religion. Thankfully, politics are not involved. Oops…
Nothing offers a better distraction from nasty political fights over serious subjects than nasty political infighting over Texas college sports.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texas lawmakers file bill to block UT-Austin from leaving Big 12 for SEC
The move is largely symbolic as the legislative session has been ground to a halt by the quorum-busting Democrats who fled Texas 11 days ago. Even if the Democrats returned, Abbott would have to add the item to his special session agenda for it to have a chance at passing.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Beto O’Rourke group gives $600,000 to Texas House Democrats’ stay in Washington, D.C.
Members left Texas about 10 days ago and have said they plan to stay out of state until after the special session ends Aug. 6.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texas Supreme Court may decide next plot twist in the Democratic walkout, and the fate of 2,100 state employees
The state’s highest civil court has been asked to decide if Gov. Greg Abbott has the power to cut off funding for legislative staff, a move Abbott hoped would keep Democratic lawmakers from leaving the state and shutting down a special legislative session.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Sixth Texas Democrat in Washington, D.C., tests positive for COVID-19
The Texas House Democratic Caucus, which has said it plans to not identify lawmakers who test positive, has started additional precautionary measures, such as providing daily rapid tests.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Surgery kept one longtime Democratic lawmaker from fleeing Texas. He fears missing a moment in history more than arrest.
Houston state Rep. Garnet Coleman has been at the forefront of voting and social justice battles for decades and helped lead the 2003 flight of Democratic legislators to Oklahoma. Not being with his colleagues who went to Washington, D.C., has been agonizing, he says.
