TribCast: Is the Texas Legislature finished for 2021?
On this week’s episode, Matthew speaks with Alexa, James and Patrick about the end of the Texas Legislature’s third special session and whether there will be a fourth. Full Story
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![Hose Speaker Dade Phelan talks with several House members after gaveling in on a late night session at the Capitol on Oct. 18, 2021.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy for The Texas Tribune -
Texas state Sen. Kel Seliger, a Republican willing to buck his party leadership, will not seek reelection
Seliger has served in the Senate since 2005 and led the higher education committee. He was seen as a champion of public education and local control but was derided as too soft on social conservative issues near the end of his tenure. Full Story
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![State Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, speaks to his colleague on the Senate Floor on April 12, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says Gov. Greg Abbott should call lawmakers back for a fourth special session
In a tweet, Patrick said he supported Abbott calling lawmakers back to Austin to increase the penalty for illegal voting and approve a “forensic audit bill.” Full Story
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![Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick speaks from the podium in the Senate on the first day of the special session on July 8, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Texas legislators set the table for the 2022 elections
The controversial issues you’ve heard Texas lawmakers debate for most of the year aren’t going away; many of them will be argued all over again during the 2022 elections. Full Story
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![State Representatives on the House floor debate over amendments to HB 1 on Oct. 12, 2021.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez/The Texas Tribune -
Republicans say Texas’ new political maps are “race blind.” To some voters of color, that translates as political invisibility.
With partisan fervor, Republicans drew new maps for Congress and the Legislature that dilute the power of voters of color. Now the lawsuits begin, as groups that feel marginalized battle for representation in the halls of power. Full Story
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![House members converge to discuss a point of order during a late-night session at the Capitol on Oct. 18, 2021.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy for The Texas Tribune -
Five takeaways from Texas’ third special legislative session
Gov. Greg Abbott’s office says there’s no plan for a fourth special session at this time. If this was the final special session of the year, what did we learn from it? Full Story
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![The north side of the Capitol building on Oct. 6, 2021.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez/The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott didn’t get everything he wanted in the special session. Will he call lawmakers back for more?
The latest special session ended without lawmakers passing two of Abbott’s priorities — legislation to increase an illegal-voting penalty and to ban vaccine mandates by any entity in Texas. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott speaks to the Senate at the Capitol on Jan. 12, 2021.]()
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After Texas and other states passed new voting restrictions, federal bills could expand ballot access. Here’s what you need to know.
The U.S. Senate is expected to vote this week on the Freedom to Vote Act, which would supersede some of Texas’ new elections law. Full Story
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![A polling location in the Performing Arts Center at Texas State University in San Marcos during early voting on Oct. 19, 2020.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Houston state Rep. Dan Huberty, who spearheaded Texas’ 2019 public education overhaul in Legislature, to retire
Earlier this year, Huberty was arrested in Montgomery County after he crashed his car into another vehicle and failed a sobriety test. The lawmaker was driving home from the Capitol in late April. Full Story
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![State Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Houston, speaks from the dais at the Capitol on May 4, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Texas legislators pass most — but not all — of Gov. Greg Abbott’s priority measures in final flurry of lawmaking
Lawmakers approved new political maps and decided how to spend COVID-19 relief money. But they didn’t pass bills about vaccine mandates or the criminal penalty for illegal voting. Full Story
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![Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan listens to a colleague while presiding over the chamber on Oct. 18, 2021, shortly before the Texas Legislature ended its third special session of the year.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Republicans send Gov. Greg Abbott a new congressional map that protects GOP power, reduces influence of voters of color
After a few last-minute alterations, the state's new congressional districts are drawn and await the scrutiny of federal courts. Already, one lawsuit has been filed claiming the new maps intentionally discriminate against Latino voters. Full Story
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![A map of Tarrant County shows Hispanics' voting age population on the House floor on Oct. 12, 2021.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez/The Texas Tribune -
Texas voters will decide whether to lower their property tax payments after Legislature completes last-minute Hail Mary
If voters approve the measure next year, it will raise the state’s homestead exemption from $25,000 to $40,000 for school district property taxes, netting the average homeowner about $176 in savings. Full Story
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![An Aerial image of a suburban neighborhood in San Marcos on October 18, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
First lawsuit filed challenging new Texas political maps as intentionally discriminatory
Before they’re even signed into law, the state’s new maps for congressional and statehouse districts have been challenged in federal court by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Full Story
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![Texas House of Representatives.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Texas bill to block COVID-19 vaccine mandates for employers failed in Legislature after business groups rallied against it
A prohibition on vaccine mandates was one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s priorities for the special session, but it did not have enough support in the Legislature. Full Story
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![Diana Phipps pulls up doses of the Pfizer vaccine into syringes at a clinic organized by the Travis County Mobile Vaccine Collaborative at Rodriguez Elementary School on July 28, 2021.
Source diversity info: White Female]()
Credit: Sophie Park/The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: An election slogan you won’t hear in Texas in 2022
“Turn Texas Blue” was the Democratic rally cry in the 2020 elections. It didn’t happen, and with the maps the Texas Legislature is drawing, it’s not in the cards for 2022, either. Full Story
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![A map of Tarrant County shows Hispanics' voting age population on the House floor on Oct. 12, 2021.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez/The Texas Tribune -
Austin voters could put hundreds more police officers on the streets after last year’s budget cuts
A November vote on whether Austin should hire hundreds of new police officers is shaping up as a test of Austinites’ appetite for police reform. Full Story
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![The Austin Police Department building with the Austin skyline in the background on March 22, 2021.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Texas congressional map heads into last-minute negotiations as Democrats decry shortage of Hispanic representation
Though people of color drove nearly all of Texas’ population gains in the last decade, the proposed map gives white voters control of both of the two new congressional districts the state earned. Full Story
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![People look at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 21, 2021.]()
Credit: Eric Lee for The Texas Tribune -
Texas bill restricting transgender student athletes’ sports participation heads to Gov. Greg Abbott
If the bill becomes law, Texas will join at least five other states that have passed such legislation. Full Story
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![A high school volleyball player gets ready to serve during a game.]()
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Lawmakers send to Gov. Greg Abbott new political maps that would further solidify the GOP’s grip on the Texas Legislature
The redistricting plans for the House, Senate and State Board of Education were approved Friday. Full Story
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![The Senate floor on Jan. 13, 2021.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Texas House wants to use federal COVID relief funds to send out $525 checks — but only to homeowners
Republican lawmakers have faced pressure to provide some form of property tax relief this year. Critics of a new proposal say it’s politically timed. Full Story
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![An East Austin neighborhood.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune