The Rio Grande City lawmaker was the least liberal Democrat in the Texas House this year, according to a political scientist’s rankings of lawmakers.
Dade Phelan
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Texas Legislature 2021
Five takeaways from Texas’ third special legislative session
Gov. Greg Abbott’s office says there’s no plan for a fourth special session at this time. If this was the final special session of the year, what did we learn from it?
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texas voters will decide whether to lower their property tax payments after Legislature completes last-minute Hail Mary
If voters approve the measure next year, it will raise the state’s homestead exemption from $25,000 to $40,000 for school district property taxes, netting the average homeowner about $176 in savings.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texas bill restricting transgender student athletes’ sports participation has enough votes to pass, House Speaker Dade Phelan says
Three times this year — in the regular session and in two subsequent special sessions — legislation targeting transgender student athletes sailed through the Senate only to falter in the House.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texas’ second special session of the year is over. Here are five things you need to know.
Lawmakers will return to Austin at least one more time this year to redraw the state’s political maps. Only Gov. Greg Abbott knows when that will be and if there will be additional special sessions beyond that.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texas House speaker says “absolutely no deals made” to bring back absent Democrats
Navigating the quorum break, Speaker Dade Phelan said he was especially mindful of not doing “un-repairable harm” to the chamber, indicating that could have happened if members were physically detained and brought to the chamber.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Analysis: Texas lawmakers have two contentious voting fights ahead — if they can stay in the same room
After a standoff that lasted more than a month, the Texas House appears to have enough state representatives in Austin to conduct business. The divisions are deep, relationships are frayed and redistricting lies ahead.
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Texas Legislature 2021
The threats of state troopers arresting House Democrats have yet to materialize
As of Wednesday, there were no known cases of absent Democrats being arrested, and the chamber was still shy of the 100 members it needs for a quorum to conduct official business. That is despite its Aug. 10 vote to proceed with the arrests.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texas Supreme Court says House Democrats can be arrested and brought to the Capitol, siding with Republicans trying to secure a quorum
In a bid to block a voting restrictions bill, House Democrats for weeks have denied the lower chamber the number of present members needed to pass legislation. House Speaker Dade Phelan has already signed dozens of civil arrest warrants.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Signed warrants produce no arrests of Texas Democrats for now, but perhaps a hardened resolve to stay away
It’s unclear how far Republican leadership plans to take the arrests, and there remains debate about the limits of law enforcement’s authority to detain lawmakers who are not accused of committing crimes.
