Voting as a partisan bloc might let a majority party pick the next Texas Speaker of the House, but something like it has been tried before. It didn’t work.
82nd Legislative Session
Posted inState Government
Analysis: Texas Legislators, Not Local Voters, Have the Final Say
Less than 24 hours after an Austin vote on ride-hailing regulations, state lawmakers lined up to countermand efforts there that get in ride-hailers’ way. Maybe they’re right. But politicians should overrule voters cautiously.
Posted in
State Government
Analysis: Sitting Pretty, Even Without Old Friends
Many of the legislators who originally elevated Joe Straus into the House speaker’s chair four legislative sessions ago are gone. But as he enters another election cycle with his eye on another term, Straus is in remarkably good political shape.
Posted in
Bidness As Usual
For Lawmakers, Ethics Reform is Complicated
It’s easier, it seems, for lawmakers to regulate others than to regulate themselves. Ethics and transparency legislation has had a bumpy ride in the current legislative session.
Posted in
State Government
Year in Review: The Hot Seats Across Texas
For more than a year, Evan Smith has traveled all over Texas to interview state legislators back home, in their districts, in front of hundreds of their constituents. At university campuses from Corpus Christi to Tyler and in between, lawmakers talked about issues that affect every one of us in Texas, from education and health care to water and immigration.
Posted in
State Government
Now What? Capitol Press Vets Look Ahead
On Nov. 8, the Tribune and the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Politics Project asked four veteran members of the Capitol press corps to forecast the coming controversies in the 83rd session.
Posted in
Health care
Now What? Public Policy in the 83rd Session
On November 8, the Tribune and the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Politics Project asked four experts on state health, water, transportation and education policy to preview the fights over those issues in the 83rd session.
Posted inState Government
Now What? A Conversation About 2012 and 2013
On Nov. 8, the Tribune and the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Politics Project asked four political strategists to talk about what the 2012 election means for the 2013 session and beyond.
Posted in
Health care
The Hot Seat: A Conversation with Villarreal and Campbell
At our Hot Seat conversation at Trinity University in San Antonio, state Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, and state Sen.-elect Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, sparred about public education, health care and other issues in play in the upcoming 83rd session.
Posted in
Higher Education
TribLive: A Conversation with Kel Seliger
Full video of my December 6 TribLive conversation with state Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, the chairman of the Senate Higher Education Committee.