Constitutional or not? Paxton asked to weigh in on $2.5 billion Senate budget trick
Paxton’s answer to that question could shake up budget negotiations in the final weeks of session. Full Story
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Austin group aims to reframe debates around city's development
Evolve Austin, a nonprofit that advocates for denser development and more affordable housing, is aligning with some high-profile real estate and business groups to push for changes to how Austin regulates land use. Full Story
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Senate panel considers requiring rest breaks for Texas construction workers
A Texas Senate panel considered legislation Tuesday that would require construction companies to give workers mandatory rest breaks — an effort to prevent illnesses and deaths from the sweltering Texas heat. Full Story
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Amid clash over procedure, Texas House moves to defund Enterprise Fund
While the Texas House on Thursday voted to defund a controversial economic development program and put the money toward services for vulnerable children, a group of Tea Party Republicans complained about the way the vote was handled. Full Story
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![As the state House debates its $218 billion budget on April 6, 2017, Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, tells a packed house that he is upset about a procedural battle that caused his voice to be silenced.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
Why Texas Ag Chief Sid Miller signed a deal with disputed Israeli settlements
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller has opened trade relations with group of Israeli settlements in the West Bank that neither the United States nor the United Nations legally recognizes. Full Story
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![Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller tours the Naama Agricultural Community in Israel's Jordan Valley.]()
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Texas cities predict dozens of canceled events if "bathroom bill" passes
Tourism officials in the state's four biggest cities expect to lose at least $407 million in revenue from upcoming events if the "bathroom bill" becomes law. Scores more event planners are likely to bypass Texas entirely in the future, they say. Full Story
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![Bathroom stall at the Austin Convention Center.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate passes bill to cut franchise tax paid by businesses — later
The Texas Senate approved legislation Tuesday that aims to eventually slice — and possibly eliminate — the state’s franchise tax, a levy on businesses earnings that’s widely unpopular among the state’s Republican leadership. Full Story
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Senate passes property tax bill state leaders love, local officials oppose
The Senate voted 18-12 in favor of bill that would require an election if a local government entity wanted to increase some of its tax collections by 5 percent or more. Full Story
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House Democrats try again for a minimum wage hike
Though the proposals are unlikely to get very far, House Democrats are again pushing for a minimum wage increase in Texas. Full Story
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Texas sues feds — including Rick Perry — for failing to license nuclear waste facility
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accuses U.S. agencies of violating federal law by failing to license a nuclear waste repository in Nevada. Full Story
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![John Ward, operations project task manager at Waste Control Specialists' facility near Andrews, Texas, walks over to inspect concrete canisters that will house drums of nuclear waste.]()
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Senators grill one another in tense hearing on property tax bill
State Sen. Paul Bettencourt's attempt to limit when cities and counties can increase property tax collections without an election drew bipartisan opposition Tuesday. But many supporters also came to the bill's defense. Full Story
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![State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, listens to testimony on SB2 at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on March 14, 2017.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
Will Senate bill provide tax relief or hamstring local governments?
State Sen. Paul Bettencourt says Texans are tired of seeing their property tax bills increase dramatically year after year. But local government officials say his Senate Bill 2 would limit their abilities to raise necessary revenues. Full Story
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Mayors say Texas, U.S. politics increasingly undermine city needs
A major source of division among cities and state officials is differing opinions on what local control means — and to whom it provides the power to govern. Full Story
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![Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings was among a group of Texas mayors at a Feb. 17, 2017, news conference discussing their unified agenda in working with the 85th Texas Legislature.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for the Texas Tribune -
Tesla tries a new, ambitious approach at Texas Capitol
A pair of bills filed Friday would allow any vehicle manufacturer to sell directly to Texans — bypassing the middleman dealers — in the biggest challenge yet to a longstanding state ban on the practice. Full Story
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![Tesla vehicle on display outside the Texas Capitol on Jan. 15, 2015.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
House proposal could claw back billions Texas voters approved for roads
The Texas House’s chief budget writer filed legislation Friday that would pave the way for lawmakers to claw back billions of dollars that voters approved for state highways, freeing them up for other budget needs. Full Story
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GOP lawmaker wants Texas law to catch up to driverless cars
State Rep. Charlie Geren filed a bill this week that aims to overcome the car industry opposition that crushed an autonomous vehicle bill two years ago. But he says there's lots of work left to do on it. Full Story
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![The Alliance for Transportation Innovation in February 2016 offered Texans trips in a driverless shuttle that maneuvered along a pre-programmed route in parking lots near Globe Life Park in Arlington.]()
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Sid Miller suggests distance between him and Trump on border wall
Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller on Thursday left the tough talk on immigration in Austin while he held a historic press conference on one of the country's busiest international bridges to Mexico. Full Story
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![Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and Francisco Garcia Cabeza de Vaca, governor of the neighboring Mexican state of Tamaulipas, at the intersection of the Texas-Mexico border on the international bridge spanning the Rio Grande at Laredo on Feb. 23, 2017.]()
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Texas House's chief budget writer: State shouldn't cut border security funding
The Texas’ House’s chief budget writer said that President Trump’s emergence in Washington shouldn’t give state lawmakers license to slice hefty appropriations for border security — at least not yet. Full Story
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![State Rep. John Zerwas, R-Richmond, answers questions regarding a lean Texas budget with an appearance at a Texas Tribune event on Feb. 23, 2017.]()
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"Come and take it": Eminent domain dispute at heart of bullet train battles
In both courthouses and at the Capitol, opponents of a private company’s plans to build a Dallas-Houston bullet train have zeroed on in the firm's claim that it has the authority to take land by condemnation if necessary. Full Story
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![Texans Against High Speed Rail Chairman Ben Leman, who is also Grimes County judge, stands for a portrait in the Grimes County Courthouse in Anderson on Feb. 21, 2017.]()
Credit: Callie Richmond for The Texas Tribune -
With bullet train, state's rural roots and urban future on collision course
A private firm's proposed Houston-Dallas bullet train would connect two of America's biggest metropolitan areas. But the 240-mile line would require a lot of country land that many Texans don't want to give up. Full Story
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![John Stoneham walks in a field with his cows at his ranch on Wednesday, January 18, 2017 in Grimes County. The roughly 1,000-acre ranch is in the proposed path of a high speed rail line. If the rail is built, Stoneham could lose about 50 acres of land in the middle of his property, limiting his access to grazing pastures.]()
Credit: Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News