Texas Senate backs bill that could disqualify transgender student athletes
The Texas Senate on Tuesday has approved a measure that could keep transgender athletes from competing in high school sports. Full Story
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![State Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, answers questions on Senate Bill 2095, a bill regarding steroid use by University Interscholastic League (UIL) athletes, on May 9, 2017.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Senate passes bill to ease licensing for immigration detention centers
The Texas Senate on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to legislation that would make it easier for the state to license privately-run detention centers as "family residential centers" in order to hold immigrant families in detention centers longer. Full Story
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Credit: KUT News -
Legislature passes much-criticized bill reforming oil and gas regulatory agency
A Democratic senator on Tuesday made a last-ditch effort to beef up a bill aimed at reforming and reauthorizing the state’s oil and gas regulatory agency — legislation environmental groups and watchdogs have decried as toothless. Full Story
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![Texas Railroad Commissioners Christi Craddick, Ryan Sitton and David Porter wait for their turn to testify before the Sunset Advisory Commission on Aug. 22, 2016.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
Abbott: I urged pastors to pressure Texas House over "bathroom bills"
Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed Tuesday in a radio interview that he has urged pastors to pressure the Texas House to advance the so-called bathroom bills that have languished there for weeks. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott prays with event organizer Evelyn Davison at the 66th annual Texas State Prayer Breakfast in Austin on May 1, 2017. Davison has organized the event for the last 43 years.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Border city, county sue Texas over "sanctuary" law
Border town El Cenizo and Maverick County have sued the state of Texas over Senate Bill 4, claiming constitutional violations. Full Story
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![Crowds gathered inside the Texas Capitol when SB 4, the sanctuary cities bill, was considered in the Senate State Affairs Committee on Feb. 2, 2017]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
ACLU issues Texas “Travel Advisory” after governor signs “sanctuary" bill
One of the country’s largest civil rights groups is cautioning against traveling to Texas after Gov. Greg Abbott signed what critics have called an extreme state-based immigration bill. Full Story
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![U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett of Austin speaks at a protest in front of the Texas Governor's Mansion Monday May 8, 2017 after Gov. Greg Abbott did a private signing of SB 4 the sanctuary cities bill on Sunday.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Texas may require students to pass a citizenship test. How did you do?
Last week, House lawmakers advanced a bill requiring high school students to pass the civics test that immigrants take when applying for citizenship. We created a similar quiz, and more than 25,000 of you took it. Here's how you did. Full Story
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Credit: Illustration by Jacob Villanueva / The Texas Tribune -
Legislators push to redirect auto theft prevention funding back to agency
Every year, Texans pay $2 on their car insurance to fund auto theft prevention. More than half of that money goes toward balancing the budget instead of the prevention agency. Full Story
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Credit: Tim Park for The Texas Tribune -
Here's what's at stake for Texas universities in Legislature's budget fight
Check out how each public university in Texas would fare under the House and Senate budgets. Full Story
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"Bathroom bill" in House misses key deadline — but issue stays alive
A key deadline passed on Monday without the House "bathroom bill" getting out of committee, meaning the bill won't make it to the House floor this session. But that doesn't mean the issue itself is dead. Full Story
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![Bathroom stalls at the Austin Convention Center in 2017.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
House tweak to Houston pension bill could buy firefighters' fund more time
Houston’s problematic pension funds, which have caused financial woes and spurred political battles for years, just moved closer to getting a massive makeover. Full Story
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![Retired Houston firefighters and police officers packed the Texas House gallery on May 8, 2017, as they await debate on a municipal pension bill that would affect their retirement payouts.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Bill stripping pensions from felon politicians advances
The Texas House voted Monday to strip government pensions from elected officials who commit serious acts of public corruption, moving the first major piece of ethics reform toward the governor's office. Full Story
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![State Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth; Gov. Greg Abbott; and state Sen. Van Taylor, R-Plano.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich / Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
Everything you need to know about Texas’ “sanctuary cities” law
Here’s everything you need to know about Senate Bill 4, a controversial immigration enforcement measure banning “sanctuary cities” across Texas. Full Story
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![Monserrat Garibay of Education Austin speaks in front of the Texas Governor's Mansion on May 8, 2017, after Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 4, known as the "sanctuary cities" bill, the night before.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Despite bipartisan support, medical marijuana bill likely won’t reach House floor
House Bill 2107 would expand the “Compassionate Use Act” and allow the use of medical marijuana for qualifying patients with debilitating medical conditions, such as terminal cancer or post-traumatic stress disorder. Full Story
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Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman -
Paxton looks to get ahead of legal challenges to "sanctuary cities" ban
Attorney General Ken Paxton is looking to get ahead of an anticipated barrage of legal challenges to Texas' ban on "sanctuary cities." Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
Analysis: Sorry, your bill is probably dying
The Texas Legislature is moving into the part of the calendar when certain dates are circled in red. More bills are killed by clocks and calendars — by those circled deadlines — than by votes. Full Story
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![State Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, leads a discussion on House Bill 501, an ethics bill, on May 3, 2017. The bill passed, 147-0.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Proposed higher education funding overhaul could come with collateral damage
Initiatives to boost small businesses and help poor students get through college could lose their funding amid the Senate's attempt to fix how the state pays for higher education. Full Story
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![Freshman Samantha Salas (center) hangs out with friends before going to class on the first day of school on Aug. 25, 2014, at South Texas College's Pecan Campus in McAllen.]()
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Texas House approves ban on “pay for play” appointments
Big donors to Texas governors would be banned from appointments to state boards and commissions under legislation approved Saturday by the Texas House. Full Story
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![State Reps Todd Hunter, Lyle Larson and Chris Turner listen as representatives of the State Auditor's Office testify before the House Committee on General Investigating and Ethics July 12, 2016. The committee is investigating the use by state agencies of emergency leave and settlement payments to departing employees.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich -
Bill to abolish “one-punch” voting approved in Texas House
House Bill 25, approved by the House on Saturday, could drastically change Texas politics considering straight-ticket ballots accounted for almost 64 percent of total votes cast in the state’s 10 largest counties in 2016. Full Story
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![An election judge in south Texas tests a voting machine for accuracy after the end of voting hours on Oct. 26, 2016.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for the Texas Tribune -
House defeats bill that would’ve allowed the expansion of toll road projects
The Texas House shot down House Bill 2861, a measure that would’ve allowed the Texas Department of Transportation to use tolls to fund the construction, renovation or widening of several highways. Full Story
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Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman