The Legislature is expected to return soon for another special session focused on redrawing the state’s political maps.
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
Texas Senate too late with hastily conjured bill allowing party officials to trigger audits of 2020 election
The bill, approved by the Senate and never considered by the House, would have allowed state and local party chairs to file requests to launch audits, but Republicans say the legislation would not have spawned a debacle akin to the controversial review underway in Arizona.
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Texas Legislature 2021
GOP bill targeting how race, slavery and history are taught in Texas schools heads to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk
Before the second special session ended, lawmakers sent the GOP-backed bill for the governor’s signature.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Analysis: Texas legislators, with an assist from the U.S. Supreme Court, open a Pandora’s box
The country just noticed what Texas was doing, and although Texans have been watching the debate over this anti-abortion law all year, even some of them were surprised at how quickly the legally protected right to abortion disappeared.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Social media companies can’t ban Texans over political viewpoints under new law
The law requires social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram to produce regular reports of removed content and disclose their content regulations procedures.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Analysis: New laws reflect Republican lawmakers’ focus on their right flank
From abortion restrictions to guns, the Texas Legislature’s regular session Republican victories were just the beginning.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texas House advances bill to restore money to pay salaries for 2,100 state workers after Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed Legislature funding
The legislation will need another stamp of approval in the House before it heads to the Senate, which has not yet debated its version of the proposal on the floor.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texas Senate approves spending nearly $2 billion on border security
Proponents of House Bill 9 denounced the Biden administration’s approach to border security, saying the state had no choice but to step in to ramp up enforcement.
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Texas Abortion Restrictions
Texas law banning abortion as early as six weeks goes into effect as the U.S. Supreme Court takes no action
One abortion provider said it was “engulfed” in treating more than 100 patients at one clinic before the law took effect Wednesday.
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Redistricting Texas
Barely underway, Texas redistricting draws its first lawsuit challenging Legislature’s authority to redraw legislative maps
Two Democratic state senators filed the federal suit arguing the Texas Constitution does not allow lawmakers to meet in special session to draw up state House and Senate districts. They’re asking the courts to do it instead.