The developments came two days after Abbott announced an executive order requiring Texans to wear masks in most public places.
Charles Perry
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Marijuana in Texas
Texas was warned its hemp law would complicate marijuana prosecutions. Lawmakers didn’t listen.
Crime labs repeatedly told lawmakers and budget officials that they couldn’t distinguish between hemp and marijuana without new testing resources. The issue got almost no attention.
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Texas Legislature 2019
This year, Texas passed a law legalizing hemp. It also has prosecutors dropping hundreds of marijuana cases.
The new law changed the definition of marijuana, and prosecutors and crime labs say they don’t have the resources to test if a substance is legal hemp or marijuana.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Texas House passes bill to spend more than $3 billion to help pay for flood control projects
With the damage from Hurricane Harvey in mind, lawmakers approved two bills aimed at better preparing the state for natural disasters.
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Texas Legislature 2019
In wake of Houston-area chemical fires, Texas Senate panel weighs input on stronger storage tank regulations
The Senate Committee on Water and Rural Affairs took public testimony on a bill that would strengthen state oversight of above-ground tanks that hold hazardous hydrocarbons.
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Politics
After helping defeat the “bathroom bill” in 2017, business groups are back to oppose “discriminatory and divisive measures”
The groups are targeting two priority bills in the Texas Senate.
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Texas Legislature 2019
After Hurricane Harvey, Texas senator eyes using state’s savings for flood control
State Sen. Charles Perry, chairman of the Senate Committee on Water and Rural Affairs, has a package of bills that could create Texas’ first statewide flood plan. He says coastal Texans aren’t the only ones at risk of property loss.
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Blocked Out
Section 8 vouchers are supposed to help the poor reach better neighborhoods. Texas law gets in the way.
Under Texas law, landlords cannot be punished for discriminating against families with federal housing vouchers. The impact is clear in Houston, where one in four families who receive housing assistance never gets to use it.
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Health care
Senate gives early OK to bill regulating do-not-resuscitate orders
The Senate gave early approval to a measure Tuesday night that would require physicians to take certain steps before issuing do-not-resuscitate orders to patients.
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Demographics
El Paso County files lawsuit seeking to halt Texas “sanctuary” law
A lawsuit in federal court charges that Senate Bill 4, if enacted, would violate several provisions of the U.S. Constitution.
