House Speaker Joe Straus prevailed in the legislative skirmishes over bathroom regulations; now he’s got a fast-track House committee looking at “economic competitiveness.” That could reframe the bathroom issue for 2018’s elections.
Joe Straus
Posted inState Government
Analysis: In the Texas House, winning eclipses party
Voting as a partisan bloc might let a majority party pick the next Texas Speaker of the House, but something like it has been tried before. It didn’t work.
Posted inState Government
Texas House Speaker Joe Straus welcomes challengers: “I don’t own this job”
Texas House Speaker Joe Straus brushed aside complaints that he controls the House and said he is confident that most of the members of the House will support him for a record-breaking sixth term in that post in January 2019.
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Texas Legislature 2019
State Rep. Phil King declares candidacy for Texas House speaker
State Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, announced Friday that he has filed paperwork to run to be the next speaker of the Texas House.
Posted inState Government
Analysis: In politics, you must be present to win
House Speaker Joe Straus wants business to stay the course through 2018’s elections and into the 2019 session, buttressing business-friendly Republicans against a conservative tide. It’s a lot to ask.
Posted inState Government
Texas House Speaker Joe Straus calls for removal of “inaccurate” Confederate plaque
Texas House Speaker Joe Straus asked the State Preservation Board to take down a plaque at the Capitol that asserts that slavery was not the underlying cause of the Civil War.
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In Harvey's Wake
Ahead of 2019 session, Speaker Joe Straus orders Texas House to research Harvey issues
“We know that this is not going to be a normal legislative interim,” Texas House Speaker Joe Straus said Thursday as he directed House committees to research policy issues related to Hurricane Harvey.
Posted inState Government
Straus tells business leaders to keep up fight after “bathroom bill” failure
Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, urged business leaders Tuesday to keep up the fight following the failure of legislative efforts to pass a “bathroom bill” that many of them opposed.
Posted inState Government
Analysis: Firing the opening shots in the 2018 GOP primaries
The differences between the state’s top legislative leaders will inform the coming Republican primaries, because Dan Patrick and Joe Straus represent different wings of the Texas GOP.
Posted inState Government
Analysis: The tyranny of the minority
Republican state lawmakers could decide who’ll be speaker of the Texas House in January 2019 themselves — and then stick together when it goes to a vote in the full House of Representatives. That would be a significant change.