UPDATED: Just over an hour after lawmakers ended their second 30-day special session of the year, Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday called lawmakers back for a third one, with transportation funding the only issue on the agenda.
Texas Senate
Posted in
State Government
Some Democrats’ Political Accounts See Boost in Donations After Filibuster
State Sen. Wendy Davis’ filibuster against abortion legislation gave Democrats across the country a rare red-state rallying point, and some of them responded by opening their checkbooks.
Posted inState Government
Dewhurst Discusses What He Saw at DPS Screening Spot
UPDATED: A week after saying that he saw bottles of urine and bags of feces at a DPS screening station ahead of a Senate debate on an abortion bill, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said Thursday that he wasn’t close enough to see what was in the containers but was told what was in them, the Houston Chronicle reported Thursday.
Posted in
Politics
Guest Column: A (Texas) Liberal in a Red State
State Sen. Wendy Davis raised her public profile with a filibuster on an omnibus abortion bill, but the Fort Worth Democrat didn’t necessarily make herself more electable — at least in 2014.
Posted in
Politics
Guest Column: When Mob Rule Overwhelmed Democracy
The “gallery filibuster” last Tuesday — when loud demonstrations made it impossible for senators to vote on anti-abortion legislation — wasn’t democracy in action. It was mob rule.
Posted in
Health care
How Activists Yelled an Abortion Bill to Death
When efforts by state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, and other Senate Democrats to run out the clock on an abortion bill fell short, protesters made enough noise to grind the Senate chamber to a halt.
Posted in
State Government
For Dewhurst, a Critical Failure With a Large Audience
The state’s lieutenant governor was hoping the special session would revive his support among conservatives. It might have done exactly the opposite.
Posted in
Public Education
Guest Column: What Really Happened With the State Budget
When a fellow senator voted against the state budget because certain programs weren’t funded, he forgot to mention that he was directly responsible for those funding decisions.
Posted in
State Government
TribLive: How’d the Senate Do?
Here’s full video of my May 30 TribLive conversation debriefing the 83rd Legislature with state Sens. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, and Kirk Watson, D-Austin.
Posted in
Public Education
TribLive: Patrick and Watson on Public Education
At Thursday’s TribLive conversation, state Sens. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, and Kirk Watson, D-Austin, talked about the 83rd Legislature’s approach to public education reform.
