To solve the state’s budget crisis, lawmakers are considering sweeping cuts to almost everything, from school funding to child welfare services. But a $300-million-a-year cancer institute championed by Gov. Rick Perry and Lance Armstrong has so far escaped the budget knife.
Griffin Perry
Posted in
Public Education
Battle Over Rainy Day Fund Heating Up
Texas, like many other states, is proposing billions of dollars in cuts to help close a budget gap. But as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, one thing Texas has that nobody else does is $9 billion in a piggy bank called the Rainy Day Fund — and lawmakers are divided over whether to crack it open.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Religious Leaders Advocate for Ex-Veteran’s Clemency
Today, a week before his son is scheduled to die, Columbus Adams and a host of religious leaders asked the state to forgive Timothy Adams. His son, he said, never committed a crime before the day he lost control during an argument with his wife and killed their son.
Posted in
Economy
What’s at Stake in the Texas-Amazon Fight Over State Sales Taxes?
The fight over Amazon’s taxes isn’t just about the giant online retailer. State officials say Texas is losing $600 million annually on taxable items purchased online. And as they work to close a budget gap of up to $27 billion, they’re chasing every penny.
Posted in
Guides
Texplainer: Can the Lege Overrule Perry on Education Money?
Gov. Rick Perry has said he can’t sign an application to receive $10 billion in federal education aid because it requires an assurance he cannot constitutionally make: that the Lege will not use the money to offset state funding of public education.
Posted in
Economy
Budget Cuts Trickle Down to Local Governments
One lawmaker has proposed a constitutional amendment blocking lawmakers from passing so-called unfunded mandates on to local governments. But as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, cities and counties worry the costs will come anyway.
Posted in
Demographics
Bill Would Prevent Immigration Inquiries by Peace Officers
Freshman state Sen. José Rodríguez, D-El Paso, filed SB 600 on Friday, which would prevent law enforcement from asking the immigration status or nationality of a witness to or victim of a crime “except as necessary to investigate the offense.”
Posted in
Health care
Rick Perry at CPAC: Local Government Governs Best
In a rock concert-like setting, at times reaching Howard Dean-like volumes, Gov. Rick Perry used his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington to deliver his resounding message: The government closest to the people is the one that governs best.
Posted in
State Government
The Week in Texas Politics Recap: 2/7 to 2/11
No time to follow every twist and turn of the Texas Legislature? We’ve made it easier for you with our weekly recaps of the action under the dome.
Posted in
Economy
The Governor’s Symbolic Cuts and His Real Ones
The proposed budget cuts Gov. Rick Perry laid out in his State of the State speech are more symbolic than lucrative and trivialize the cuts that are being made elsewhere in state services and programs.
