They are uncontested pieces of legislation that seemingly pass without much consideration. But the lawmakers, staff and various groups who have a hand in local and uncontested bills say the measures are “well vetted.”
Austin
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.
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Politics
Texas Weekly Newsreel: Budget, Ethics and 2014
In this edition of the Newsreel: Will lawmakers finish the budget? Will the governor call for a special session? And when this is over, who will be running for office in 2014?
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Transportation
Infrastructure Constraints Loom as Texas Grows
Texas’ drought and water-supply problems have captured headlines. But with the state’s rapid population growth projected to continue, other infrastructure problems also loom, including clogged roads and a strained power grid.
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State Government
Newsreel: Deadlines, Tax Cuts, Special Session
In the latest Texas Weekly Newsreel: With less than three weeks left in the legislative session, the deadlines are coming fast and furious, raising the stakes and prompting whispers of a special session if things don’t get finished.
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State Government
A Well-Timed Budget Note From the Attorney General
Greg Abbott’s letter doesn’t have any new information in it, but the timing takes away what some — probably those further from the budget conversations than closer — saw as a possible solution for the Legislature’s financial logjam.
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Politics
Guest Column: An Early Look at Legislative Partisanship
A political scientist’s analysis of Texas legislators’ votes through April, and where those votes locate lawmakers on the partisan scale. Spoiler alert: The Republicans and the Democrats don’t overlap much.
Posted inState Government
News App: Updated House Bill Tracker
Another major House deadline has gone by, ending that chamber’s consideration of major legislation filed by its own members. We’ve updated our House Bill tracker, showing which bills stalled in committee and which ones stalled in the full House.
Posted in
Bidness As Usual
Judicial Pay Raises Bring a Little Something Extra
Lawmakers are talking seriously about a 21.5 percent pay raise for state district judges, which would increase the pensions of those same lawmakers by that same amount.
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State Government
Abbott: Spending Limit Includes Rainy Day Fund
Spending from the state’s Rainy Day Fund does, in fact, count against a constitutional limit on growth in the state budget, Attorney General Greg Abbott advised on Thursday.
