While members of the Texas Legislature can no longer act as lobbyists before state agencies, plenty of lawmakers still manage to lobby local governments. Others find work that critics would classify as lobbying by another name.
Harold Dutton Jr.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Thompson Feeds Her “Little Dogs” and Throws a Bone to Bigger Ones
Rep. Senfronia Thompson’s almost 40-year House tenure is defined by her defense of the underserved. But her legislative career is peppered with occasional paradoxes.
Posted in
Public Education
A Battered Texas Education Agency Faces Competing Demands
Even as it is coping with deep reductions to its own budget, the Texas Education Agency faces criticism from school districts and lawmakers, although not necessarily for the same reasons — vivid evidence of the pressure on the TEA.
Posted in
Public Education
Anti-Bullying Bill Tentatively Passes House
On Tuesday night, House Bill 1942 by state Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, which seeks to reduce bullying in schools by providing what the bill analysis calls “a minimal framework” for how to address incidents of bullying, was tentatively approved by the House with a vote of 102-34.
Posted in
State Government
Representatives Move Back Redistricting
House lawmakers will get another day to pore over redistricting maps, after Democratic members vehemently opposed an effort to change the deadline for submitting amendments.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Counting Convicts
Almost 157,000 inmates in the Texas prison system were counted by the U.S. Census Bureau as living where they’re incarcerated and not as residents of their home counties — a policy that some opponents argue has dire political and economic consequences.
