It was a mostly new cast of characters in the Texas Senate, a chamber historically ruled by seniority, that flexed its political muscle to stop a statewide texting-while-driving ban this year.
Judith Zaffirini
Posted in
Contract High
Limited Contracting Fixes Moving Forward
Amid a series of scandals, most lawmakers say they want to reform the way Texas hands out billions in state contracts. Discussion has narrowed to a handful of bills that some warn are merely first steps.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Guardianship Reform Could Offer New Freedoms
Dawn Carlton is intellectually disabled, but she says she manages fine on her own. The 38-year-old woman is pushing for a series of bills this legislative session to change the way court-appointed guardians are used in Texas.
Posted inState Government
The Brief: March 11, 2015
State contracting has become one of the signature issues of the legislative session, but finding a fix won’t be easy.
Posted in
Contract High
Lawmakers Vying to Bring More Transparency to State Contracting
Texas lawmakers consider different approaches to transforming the state’s unwieldy, loophole-ridden system of contract oversight into something that can be properly tracked, analyzed and, when needed, restrained.
Posted in
Energy
The Brief: Feb. 4, 2015
The ability of Austin tech firm 21CT to secure a $20 million Medicaid fraud software contract through a no-bid program run by the state’s Department of Information Resources drew intense scrutiny from Senate budget writers on Tuesday.
Posted in
Energy
The Brief: Dec. 18, 2014
The awarding of a no-bid Medicaid fraud detection contract to the 21CT company continues to draw scrutiny with three separate news reports published Wednesday evening.
Posted in
Economy
Video: The Battle over the Budget in the 84th Session
Here’s video of our 84th Legislature preview session on the budget debate. Panelists included state Sens. Judith Zaffirini and Kel Seliger and state Reps. Drew Darby and Donna Howard.
Posted in
Politics
The Brief: Nov. 24, 2014
Multiple political vacancies create opportunities, and risks, for several politicians in the run-up to the legislative session.
Posted in
Higher Education
Bill Restricting Regents’ Authority Re-emerges
The ongoing tension between Texas legislators and the University of Texas System Board of Regents looks likely to bleed into the 2015 legislative session.
