The leaders of both legislative chambers say they will be united this year — even if cities and counties push back — and that local officials should come to Austin with solutions in hand if they don’t like new proposals.
Dan Patrick
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Texas Legislature 2019
Political hardball, committee assignments spark joy and drama alike in the Texas Legislature
In this episode of our documentary series “Under the Dome,” House and Senate leaders make their highly anticipated committee assignments — and one longtime lawmaker ends up in the doghouse.
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Texas Legislature 2019
In the Texas House, they’re seen as lobbyists. In the Senate, they sit at the press table.
Two employees of the influential conservative group Empower Texans have been granted media credentials in the upper chamber. In the past — and in the House — they were rejected.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Analysis: A Texas senator’s reputation, in a word
What began as a lieutenant governor’s unusual admonishment of a state senator has turned into something else: a smear campaign.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Analysis: Dan Patrick sends a message to Kel Seliger — and 30 other Texas senators
A Republican senator criticized by an aide to the lieutenant governor came back with a rebuke — a jab that cost him his best committee assignment. There’s a lesson in that for the other 30 senators, and a new landscape in the Senate.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick pulls Sen. Kel Seliger’s chairmanship after Seliger suggested Patrick aide kiss his “back end”
Patrick cited a “lewd comment” by Seliger in explaining the move. The two have been tussling over committee assignments in recent days.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Analysis: Unfunded state mandates have a new enemy — the governor of Texas
Gov. Greg Abbott and his partners in office want to impose limits on the size of local property tax increases, and the governor has added a twist those local governments might like: He has targeted unfunded state mandates.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Dan Patrick announces Senate committee assignments, making a few noticeable shifts
Two Democrats and 14 Republicans will chair the upper chamber’s committees.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Analysis: Property taxes in Texas are high. Don’t expect the Legislature to change that.
Texas leaders are promising property tax relief during this year’s legislative session. It’s unlikely that will lower your taxes, but it might slow future increases.
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Texas Legislature 2019
As presumptive House speaker, Dennis Bonnen raised $4 million in a month
In July, Bonnen was a House member with $707,000 in his war chest. After he announced for House Speaker and became the favorite to succeed Joe Straus, he was getting more than $150,000 in donations per day.
