At this morning’s TribLive conversation, I interviewed three veteran lawmakers — state Rep. Myra Crownover, R-Lake Dallas, state Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, and state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands — about how they and their Republican colleagues fared this session.
Joe Straus
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Updated: Wentworth Blasts Straus Over Campus Carry
State Sen. Jeff Wentworth charged today that his San Antonio colleague, House speaker Joe Straus, used undue influence last night to strip an amendment allowing concealed handguns on college campuses out of a fiscal matter’s bill.
Posted in
Demographics
VIDEO: Ellis, Turner and Van de Putte at TribLive
At last Thursday’s TribLive conversation, I interviewed three veteran lawmakers — state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, state Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, and state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio — about how they and their Democratic colleagues fared this session.
Posted in
Demographics
TribLive: Three Veteran Democrats on the 82nd Session
At Thursday’s TribLive conversation, I interviewed three veteran lawmakers — state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, state Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, and state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio — about how they and their Democratic colleagues fared this session.
Posted in
State Government
TribLive: Turner on Straus
At Thursday’s TribLive conversation, state Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, critiqued the leadership of GOP Speaker Joe Straus during the 82nd Legislative Session.
Posted in
State Government
Disarray Over Fiscal Bills Causes Delay, Confusion
The House was expected to take up two controversial fiscal matters bill today, but from the start representatives were not sure the lower chamber was prepared to pass them. The apparent holdup? Whether some of the revenue measures amount to the “accounting gimmicks” that the governor warned against Tuesday.
Posted in
Politics
Guest Column: My Lege in a Box
Call it the Justin Timberlake Treatment: The Legislature has found itself boxed in as it searches for a way out of the budget divide.
Posted in
State Government
House Meltdown Ends in GOP Show of Force
A day of parliamentary chaos in the House ended with the passage of Gov. Rick Perry’s newest emergency item: a tort reform bill. And a powerful message from Republicans to Democrats: mess with us at your own peril.
Posted in
Higher Education
Interview: Speaker Joe Straus on the Budget and Session
House Speaker Joe Straus was interviewed eariler this week by Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, government prof and half of the Tribune’s polling team, about the session so far, the budget, gambling, rewriting state taxes, federal stimulus money and what he thinks about the tempest over research and teaching at the state’s top universities.
Posted in
State Government
The Weekly TribCast: Episode 73
In this week’s TribCast, Evan, Ross, Reeve and Ben discuss statements by the Legislative Budget Board, the situation with gambling bills, and the saga of Willie Nelson.