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U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso

U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, came off the House floor sleep deprived, on a sugar high and possibly battling carpal tunnel syndrome.

The sophomore congressman took center stage, sort of, during the Democrats’ marathon protest in the House chamber Wednesday and Thursday. Thanks to the shutdown of in-house cameras by the House leadership, O’Rourke broke House rules and livestreamed from his iPhone most of the 26-hour demonstration aimed at forcing House Republicans to agree to votes on gun control legislation.

Outside the U.S. Capitol Thursday afternoon, he was hopeful, jubilant, and headed for a sugar crash.

"In the last 24 hours, I’ve eaten two Pop-Tarts and two chocolate donuts and a couple of cups of water," he said. "I feel incredibly invigorated by all of this."

"That kind of thing hasn’t happened in here in I don’t know how long," he added. "That’s my dream of how Congress was going to be, and three-and-a-half years in, it’s finally coming true."

But the question on many minds was this: How did he keep his phone charged that whole time?

"So, John Meza, right here, has tons of spare batteries and was constantly coming and changing out batteries,” O’Rourke said, pointing to his spokesman. “He’d give me a fresh battery, I’d pop it in, and I would assume this position for another 90 minutes.”

O’Rourke then held up a cramped hand and laughed at suggestions he might be headed to the orthopedist for carpal tunnel syndrome.

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Chatter about Hillary Clinton possibly tapping Housing Secretary Julián Castro for the veep slot on the Democratic national ticket is surging. A new Monmouth University poll out today, though, raises some skepticism about what Castro brings to the ticket.

Ten percent of survey respondents said the inclusion of Castro would make them more likely to support the ticket while 17 percent said his inclusion would make them less likely to support the ticket.

A solid majority of those respondents — 63 percent  — said Castro wouldn’t have an impact on their choice.

The phone survey of 803 registered voters was conducted late last week and over the weekend.

The Democratic veep candidates seen as making the most positive impact for the ticket were Bernie Sanders (39 percent more likely to support vs. 20 percent less likely to support) and Elizabeth Warren (24-21 on more likely/less likely to support)

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The Sunset Advisory Commission met Thursday to discuss the future of some of the state's more obscure governmental entities, including four river authorities and regulatory boards that work with pharmacists, physical and occupational therapists, and dentists.

Sunset staff members, who identify inefficiencies in state government and recommend state agencies for closure, singled out river authorities for a lack of transparency.

It was also the first hearing attended by conservative firebrand Allen West, a former Florida congressman and prominent Fox News contributor, who was appointed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to the advisory commission last year.

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Alamo license plates are now available, just the thing for Texas patriots to demonstrate further their regard for their state.

Proceeds go to preservation efforts and educational programs at the Texas landmark.

Enlarge Delcia Lopez

School children at Cantu Elementary in San Juan, Texas, eat their free breakfast, Wednesday April 24, 2013.

Texas is among the worst states in the country for children, according to a report released Tuesday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a national nonprofit.

The annual report ranked Texas 43rd on its scale of overall child well-being, slightly worse than the state’s showing of 41st in 2015. A quarter of the state’s children live in poverty, compared to 22 percent of children nationally. The state was tied with Alaska for the highest percentage of children without health insurance — 11 percent, compared to the national rate of 6 percent.

According to the Center for Public Policy Priorities, that figure is likely a reflection of the high uninsured rate among Texas adults, because most kids share their parents' insurance status. In Texas, Latino children are especially likely to lack health insurance: 15 percent lack insurance, compared to 7 percent of white and black children.

The Lone Star State was also in the bottom half of states for all four indicators that comprised the overall scale: 33rd for economic well-being; 32nd for education; 38th for health; and 47th for family and community, which took into account the number of children in single-parent homes, the number whose parents lack a high school diploma, and the number who live in high-poverty areas, as well as the rate of teen births.

The state’s child population grew faster than almost any other between 2000 and 2010, due to a combination of immigration and migration within the U.S.

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A new report says that judges on state courts nationwide are disproportionately white and male, and Texas is no exception.

The report from the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy is based on the research of two law professors, Tracey E. George and Albert H. Yoon, who looked at the race, ethnicity, and gender of 10,000 sitting state court judges. The report gave Texas a D grade and ranked it 22nd among states for how closely its state judges reflect the diversity of its population.

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U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, pulled herself out of the running for chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee last week, according to Politico.

Instead, she threw her support behind New Jersey Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, who outranks her in seniority.

Granger will likely have another shot at the chairmanship in six years, thanks to the House Republican term-limit rules on committee chairs.

Her fellow Republicans consider her a powerful behind-the-scenes player in House politics. She will continue to have a serious shot at the Appropriations chairmanship — one of the most coveted positions in the House — if the position opens up again. That will most likely happen in six years, assuming Republicans continue to control the House and the next chairman exits in the next round of chairman term limits.

She will, however, be closing in on 80 years old at the time, and could be mulling retiring from Congress by then.

Granger’s trajectory is important to the state. Currently, seven Texans hold chairmanships in the House. But they will begin to cycle out in the coming years thanks to that term-limit rule.

Granger is currently the Texan best positioned for a future chairmanship.

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A group of 20 state lawmakers filed an amicus brief Tuesday in a lawsuit challenging the city of Laredo's plastic bag ban.

State Rep. Matt Rinaldi, R-Irving, argued in the brief that the ordinance violates the state's health and safety code. A lower court previously ruled that the bag ban does not violate state law.

"Cities need to understand that the Legislature can and will step in when authority delegated to them by the sovereign state of Texas has been abused to restrict liberty and constrain the free flow of commerce," Rinaldi said in a statement.

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The conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity-Texas is supporting a lawsuit against the city of Austin over an ordinance that regulates short-term rental units.

Specifically, the ordinance prohibits guests staying in short-term rental units from hosting "outdoor assemblies" during certain hours. AFP-Texas argued in a news release that the regulation effectively prevents guests from holding "backyard birthday parties, summer barbeques, or games of pickup basketball without risking thousands of dollars in fines."

In a statement, the group's state director, Jerome Greener, called the ordinance an "unconstitutional violation of the rights of property owners in Austin."

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Texas Democratic Party officials are planning on using Donald Trump's controversial campaign rhetoric about women and immigrants to draw contrasts and unseat some House GOP incumbents who support the businessman's presidential bid.

Their remarks during a conference call on Wednesday came in response to a partisan poll the party released, which says that Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presumptive presidential nominee, is "poised to top" President Barack Obama's vote in 2008.

Even though the poll found Trump leading Clinton 37-29 percent, it said 52 percent of self-identified Republicans said they may vote for candidates not on the Republican ballot. Twenty-seven percent said they may not vote Republican because of their doubts about Trump.

“The poll suggests that Texas is a single digit state, and we see it offers [an opportunity] to win down-ballot races," said state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, who predicted that Democrats could win about three seats in the North Texas area.

"It's not suggesting we'll be a swing state, but it's setting us up for the long-run,” she added.

Leland Beatty, an Austin-based pollster, conducted the poll. Nine hundred and ninety-eight people, a random sample of Texas voters balanced to the likely 2016 general election turnout, were surveyed on June 13 and 14. It has a 3.1 percent margin of error.

Disclosure: The Center for Public Policy Priorities has been a financial sponsor of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.

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Former presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at the state Republican convention in Dallas, Texas on May 14, 2016.

Should delegates to the Republican National Convention have a chance to dump presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump?

One of his former rivals, Ted Cruz, is not saying either way.

The U.S. senator from Texas was asked Monday if delegates should stop organizing against Trump, an effort that appears to be gaining momentum as the billionaire stumbles through the first few weeks of the general election.

"What the delegates do is a decision for the delegates," Cruz said in an interview with the Denver Post. "I'm not an elected delegate, so I'm going to let the delegates come to their own conclusions about what they should do at the convention." 

The comments are unlikely to deter Cruz supporters who are hoping to keep Trump from securing the nomination at the convention, which is being held next month in Cleveland. Some anti-Trump delegates want a change in rules there that would allow delegates to not vote for Trump due to "conscience" concerns.

*****

The most controversial super PAC supporting Ted Cruz is no more.

Keep the Promise II filed paperwork Monday that terminated the group, refunding nearly $9 million to founding donor Toby Neugebauer. The energy investor had rankled some Cruz allies with his reluctance to spend the $10 million he had initially deposited into the super PAC.

Keep the Promise II started out as one of four groups under the Keep the Promise umbrella. Some pro-Cruz super PACs were ultimately consolidated into a single vehicle known as Trusted Leadership PAC, which still has $425,000 in the bank, according to a disclosure made Monday with the FEC.

Neugebauer now supports Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee. It remains unclear how involved Neugebauer will be in fundraising for Trump.

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On a semi-related note, another super PAC that supported Cruz is getting a makeover now that he is out of the presidential race.

Keep the Promise I filed paperwork Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission to change its name to Make America Number 1. The newly named group, according to its website, is "dedicated to supporting conservative principles, upholding the rule of law, and opposing ethically challenged candidates."

The first project of Make America Number 1 is "Defeat Crooked Hillary," a reference to presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump's nickname for Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Bloomberg Politics reported Wednesday morning that New York hedge-fund magnate Robert Mercer is launching Make America Number 1 as a way of exclusively attacking Clinton in hopes of appealing to donors skeptical of Trump.

As of May 31, the super PAC had $1.3 million cash on hand. Mercer gave $11 million to start the super PAC last year.

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Cruz waded late last week into the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Colorado, throwing his support behind an anti-establishment crusader much like himself.

Cruz's endorsement of Darryl Glenn, a county commissioner, is one of his first forays into down-ballot races since bowing out of the presidential race last month.

"He is a constitutional conservative with the experience to understand what it takes to bring back economic growth and preserve our individual liberties," Cruz said in a statement. "I am confident he will go to Washington to fight for those values, and he won't back down."

Glenn is vying with four other GOP rivals for the chance to take on U.S. Sen. Michael Bennett. He is considered one of the most endangered Democratic Senate incumbents this election cycle.

Cruz is putting himself in familiar company by endorsing Glenn. He is also being backed by the Senate Conservatives Fund, which has a history of working against the preferred candidates of Republican leadership in down-ballot races.

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That wasn’t the only endorsement made by Cruz in the past few days.

The Texas senator announced Wednesday morning that he is supporting U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, in his bid for re-election.

“Marco Rubio is a friend and has been an ally in many battles we have fought together in the Senate," Cruz, Rubio's Senate colleague from Texas, said in a statement. "I'm glad to support him in his bid for re-election."

Earlier Wednesday morning, Rubio reversed his long-held decision not to seek re-election this year, a pledge he made while running for president against Cruz and Donald Trump, now the presumptive GOP nominee. Both Cruz, who is running for re-election in 2018, and Rubio are already eying another shot at the White House in 2020.

"Marco is a tremendous communicator and a powerful voice for the American Dream," Cruz said. "At this time of great challenges, we very much need strong leaders in the Senate who will fight to restore economic growth, to defend our constitutional liberties, and to ensure a strong national security for our nation."

And on Thursday, Cruz made an endorsement in next month's GOP Senate runoff in Georgia.

He threw his support behind Mike Crane, a state senator vying for the Republican nomination in Georgia's 3rd congressional district. He is in a July 26 runoff, hoping to ultimately succeed retiring GOP Rep. Lynn Westmoreland.

Crane is a familiar face for Cruz, having served as a co-chair of Cruz's presidential campaign in Georgia.

*****

And in a final Cruz note, the candidate may have dropped out of the presidential race on May 3, but that did not stop his campaign from raising $2.7 million last month.

That's according to a campaign finance report filed Monday with the Federal Election Commission that accounts for the final three days the U.S. senator from Texas spent in the race. The disclosure also shows Cruz's campaign spent $5.2 million in May and ended the month with $6.8 million in the bank.

Ironically enough, Cruz's campaign has more than five times more cash on hand than the campaign of the man who beat him: Donald Trump, whose campaign reported Wednesday that it has only $1.3 million in the bank.

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For this week’s nonscientific survey of insiders in government and politics, we asked about possible economic headwinds, legislative priorities with the budget and the boundaries of local control.

We kicked off this week's survey with a question keyed off of last Friday's job report, which revealed that the state economy added a total of just 200 non-farm jobs in the month of May. Two-thirds of the insiders said that figure signals larger concerns with the overall health of the state economy.

With the second question, we asked about where lawmakers' budget priorities might be next year now that two major suits on school finance and sales tax exemptions on oil exploration equipment were decided in favor of the state. A third of the insiders thought lawmakers would focus on social issues with 20 percent each saying lawmakers would focus on regulatory issues or on tax cuts/economic incentives. Another 12 percent thought the focus would be on future investments in children and the labor force.

With the final two questions, we focused on the brewing pushback by some lawmakers against municipalities like Austin, which are attempting to regulate aspects of the sharing economy, such as ride-hailing or short-term rental outfits. Close to half of the insiders thought it was likely that lawmakers would create a statewide regulatory framework for the sharing economy.

Slightly more than half, meanwhile, thought lawmakers would move to further take away local jurisdictions' ordinance authority.

We collected comments along the way, and a full set of those is attached. Here’s a sampling:

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The Texas economy added just 200 jobs in May. Does this signal any larger concerns with the health of the state economy?

• "Of course. The oil business is down, but it's going to recover eventually. Tax revenues are going to be down, too. It will be a tough session in 2017."

• "Things are worse than government agencies (federal and state) are acknowledging. Look for a fuller story to unfold after the elections and before the session."

• "Oil is lagging behind projections. Sales taxes are down. Commercial real estate is in crisis. Get ready, people."

• "Population growth (from a high birth rate) will continue creating lots of low-paying service jobs with few or no benefits. Communities that actually have manufacturing or oil/energy sector jobs will have fewer people employed in higher-paying occupations."

• "The economy is in the tank. The economy sucks. But wait, maybe we won't have all of those lefties from California and other states moving here! See, dad taught me to make lemonade out of the lemon."

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Texas lawmakers have received a few gifts from the Supreme Court in recent rulings on school finance and a tax case involving the oil and gas industry. If worries of a revenue crunch are receding, what’s the focus of next year’s session?

• "I think it will all hinge on who wins the presidency."

• "The middle class continues to complain about the high cost of property taxes. We are about to witness the beginning of a push to end property taxes and substitute them for a state income tax. Yes, I said a state income tax. This will hurt the poor but help the families that are keeping the state economy afloat."

• "I checked 'tax cuts' ... which will hopefully be balanced with an adult discussion regarding investment in the future of the state."

• "Which bathroom does Uber use?"

• "There will still be focus on budget as Legislature has to contend with impact of the actions taken last session to end diversions and some high cost items like foster care, mixed in with the social agenda and property tax issues some members are pushing."

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What are the chances that lawmakers create statewide regulations for the sharing economy, like Uber and Airbnb?

• "Unless Uber & Lyft shoot themselves in the foot again..."

• "The city of Austin always seems to find a way to screw TML... without even trying."

• "Uber may have an easier time than Airbnb because the hotel lobby is stronger than the taxi lobby. If we have to be in Austin, we have to have Uber."

• "Uber and the sharing economy leaders better realize government and politicians are going to crawl up their rear end and regulate and tax them. YES, even in Texas."

• "Screw local control. Republicans need to amend their platform to take that part out."

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What are the chances that lawmakers continue next session to take away local jurisdictions’ ordinance authority?

• "HB 40 was a heavy lift, that's going to make it even tougher for other industries."

• "Cities throughout the state have taken a liberal approach to further regulating all industries. The state cannot continue to allow the small dogs to do the state's job. It'll be a busy session for TML and muni lobbyists."

• "It really depends on the extent to which local governments leaders continue to lie awake nights dreaming up ways to convert any business enterprise into a government revenue stream."

• "Local authorities have been using ordinances in an attempt to circumvent state constitutional guarantees. In this environment, cities, a creation of state government, should probably forego that activity less they find themselves with even less authority"

• "They will find a way to do it without doing it."

Our thanks to this week's participants: Gene Acuna, Cathie Adams, Brandon Alderete, Clyde Alexander, Jay Arnold, Charles Bailey, Amy Beneski, Andrew Biar, Tom Blanton, Chris Britton, Raif Calvert, Lydia Camarillo, Kerry Cammack, Elna Christopher, Harold Cook, Randy Cubriel, Beth Cubriel, Denise Davis, Eva De Luna-Castro, Nora Del Bosque, Glenn Deshields, Tom Duffy, David Dunn, Richard Dyer, Jack Erskine, John Esparza, Jon Fisher, Tom Forbes, Dominic Giarratani, Bruce Gibson, Eric Glenn, Kinnan Golemon, Clint Hackney, Wayne Hamilton, Bill Hammond, Steve Holzheauser, Deborah Ingersoll, Mark Jones, Walt Jordan, Robert Kepple, Richard Khouri, Tom Kleinworth, Sandy Kress, Dale Laine, Pete Laney, James LeBas, Luke Legate, Vilma Luna, Matt Mackowiak, Jason McElvaney, Mike McKinney, Steve Minick, Bee Moorhead, Mike Moses, Nelson Nease, Sylvia Nugent, Nef Partida, Robert Peeler, Tom Phillips, Wayne Pierce, Richard Pineda, Allen Place, Gary Polland, Jay Pritchard, Jay Propes, Ted Melina Raab, Patrick Reinhart, David Reynolds, Carl Richie, A.J. Rodriguez, Grant Ruckel, Jason Sabo, Andy Sansom, Barbara Schlief, Stan Schlueter, Robert Scott, Steve Scurlock, Ben Sebree, Nancy Sims, Jason Skaggs, Ed Small, Martha Smiley, Larry Soward, Leonard Spearman, Dennis Speight, Sherry Sylvester, Trey Trainor, Corbin Van Arsdale, David White, Darren Whitehurst, Angelo Zottarelli.

Enlarge Todd Wiseman

Thursday, June 30

• Final day for campaign contributions to state candidates and officeholders to be reported on the July semiannual fundraising reports

Friday, July 1

• Texas Society of CPAs (TSCPA) annual members meeting; Tremont House Hotel, 2300 Mechanic St., Galveston (July 1-2)
  

Dealing a blow to President Barack Obama’s executive immigration order, the U.S. Supreme Court has deadlocked on a lower court's decision to block the plan, which would've provided relief from deportation and work permits to millions of people.

In a major — and surprising — win for affirmative action supporters, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the University of Texas at Austin’s right to give a slight boost to black and Hispanic applicants.

The youngest Texans appear destined to make the state dramatically more diverse as the white share of population drops. More than two-thirds of Texans under age 19 are non-white, according to new census figures.

Nearly every Texas Democrat in the U.S. House contributed in their own way Wednesday to an effort that ground the chamber to a halt with the aim of forcing a vote on gun control legislation.

The uncertainty over where and when the Zika virus might spread has left Texas women and doctors with questions about how best to prepare for an outbreak — questions as personal as whether women should delay pregnancy.

Texas abortion providers say the percentage of women at their clinics opting for drug-induced abortions to terminate early pregnancies has climbed significantly since March — when the FDA updated its rules for the medication.

Nearly a dozen-and-a-half Texans have more cash in the bank than Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Though they disagree on almost every policy issue, from education funding to abortion to immigration, Texas Republicans and Democrats seem to have common ground on a few things, according to their newly approved platforms.

As Trump crisscrossed the state fundraising and rallying supporters this week, Texas Democrats gathered to unite thousands of delegates behind their party’s presumptive nominee, Hillary Clinton, to help ensure Trump’s defeat. But some delegates aren’t quite ready to abandon Bernie Sanders.

Trump is also scrambling to build a fundraising network, with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee relying on a number of people in Texas who do not see eye-to-eye with him on many of his signature policy proposals.

Disclosure: The University of Texas has been a financial sponsor of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.

Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed Phil Grant to serve as the judge for the 9th Judicial District Court in Montgomery County until the November election. Grant won the Republican primary runoff for the seat in late May and faces no major party opposition in the fall.

Abbott named six people to the Governor's Committee on People with Disabilities, which makes recommendations on disability programs and policies. He appointed Nancy Miloy Clemmer of Austin and Richard Martinez of San Antonio; and reappointed Aaron W. Bangor of Austin, Heather C. Griffith-Dhanjal of Fort Worth, Phoene “Faye” Kuo of Austin and Marco A. Treviño of Edinburg to serve on the committee through February 2018.

Abbott reappointed David Fleeger of Austin to the Texas Health Services Authority Board of Directors and named him presiding. The governor also appointed David “Dave” Allen of San Antonio, Paula Anthony-McMann of Tyler, Brandon Charles of Coppell, Mark S. Lane of Lampasas, Andrew Lombardo of Harlingen and Deborah “Debbie” Marino of San Antonio; and reappointed Frederick “Fred” Buckwold of Houston, Shannon Calhoun of Goliad, Matthew “Matt” Hamlin of Argyle, William “Bill” Phillips Jr. of San Antonio and Stephen “Steve” Yurco of Austin. All of the above were named to terms to expire June 15, 2017.

House Speaker Joe Straus appointed state Rep. Lyle Larson of San Antonio co-chairman of the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas Advisory Committee and state Rep. Dade Phelan of Beaumont to serve on the body. The committee oversees the implementation of House Bill 4, passed in 2013 to create a fund to distribute loans for water supply and conservation projects.

Jon McClellan, a longtime staffer for Ted Cruz, has joined the Austin consulting firm Public Blueprint as director of outreach, the firm announced Tuesday morning. McClellan has worked for Cruz since his 2012 bid for the U.S. Senate, most recently serving as regional political director for his presidential campaign.

The public radio project Texas Station Collaborative has hired Rachel Osier Lindley to serve as its statewide coordinating editor. Lindley was previously news director of WBHM in Birmingham, Ala. The collaborative, billed as “a first-of-its-kind public radio initiative created to expand and enhance news coverage of Texas,” will be housed at KERA in North Texas.

A Texan, Brad Parscale of San Antonio, was announced this week as the Donald Trump campaign’s digital director. He and his company, Giles-Parscale, have "served the Trump Organization in building its digital platform globally,” the campaign noted yesterday.