House OKs R&D Tax Credit
A $250 million franchise and sales tax exemption for business research and development won tentative approval from the House on Wednesday. A similar exemption expired in 2006. Full Story
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Video: Lawmakers Want Answers on West Explosion
A dozen officials from six different state agencies came before the House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee on Wednesday to reflect on what worked and what didn't in the West fertilizer plant explosion. Full Story
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Lawmakers Want Answers on West Explosion
While not downplaying the devastation of the deadly fertilizer plant explosion in the town of West, the head of the state's emergency management operations told lawmakers on Wednesday that "the system worked." Full Story
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![Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd testified before the House Homeland Security & Public Safety Committee Wednesday about the response to the deadly April 17 fertilizer plant explosion in West, TX.]()
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TribuneFest: Texas and the Affordable Care Act
At the Trib's April 25 symposium on health care at the University of Texas at Austin, Becca Aaronson talked about federal health reform with state Rep. Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, John Davidson of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Anne Dunkelberg of the Center for Public Policy Priorities and former deputy comptroller Billy Hamilton. Full Story
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Guest Column: Let Voters Decide on Rainy Day Spending
The best way to finance Texas' pressing water and transportation needs — and to supplement spending on public education — is to let voters decide whether to use the state's Rainy Day Fund. Full Story
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Disclosure Bills Get Little Love From Top Leaders
With just four weeks remaining in the legislative session, there has been little to no pressure from the top — including key committee chairs — to pass measures that would force greater transparency upon Texas’ elected officials. Full Story
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Interactive: Tracking Texas' Ethics Legislation
State lawmakers have talked a big game this year on transparency and ethics, but with less than a month to go in the 83rd legislative session, the bills they’ve filed haven’t made much progress. Use our interactive to see where they stand. Full Story
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Video: What's Next for Water Infrastructure Funding
The day after the leading measure to fund state water projects stumbled in the House, legislators shifted their focus to a bill that some members hope will also include money for education. Full Story
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Guest Column: Texas Should Leave Redistricting Alone
Republican leaders in Texas want the Legislature to take up redistricting this session. That's a bad idea, writes Matt Angle, director of the Lone Star Project. Full Story
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Straus: House Will Find Way to Fund Water
UPDATED: The morning after a major bill to authorize spending billions of dollars on state water projects faltered in the House, Speaker Joe Straus' office released a statement saying he wouldn't "let a technicality seal the debate." Full Story
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The Polling Center: Public Opinion Creates Rough Sailing for Water Policy
The rough seas that sank the Texas House's attempt to fund the state water plan on Monday night with a $2 billion draw on the Rainy Day Fund highlighted the limits of consensus on both how to pay for water development and whether it's a top priority. Full Story
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Law Enforcement Officials Raise Concerns About Drone Bill
State Rep. Lance Gooden’s bill to prevent unmanned drones from capturing indiscriminate surveillance — a measure that has more than 80 co-authors in the House — is facing opposition from some law enforcement officials. Full Story
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![Micheal Cincienne of Absolute Aerospace and Texas A&M Corpus Christi, engineering student Adam Ersepke, and lab coordinator Jack Edward Esparza carry the University’s RS-16 unmanned aerial vehicle, otherwise known as a drone, back to the command center after a test flight over the Kennedy Ranch near Sarita, Texas on January 18, 2013.]()
Credit: Eddie Seal -
Democracy and Texas Voters — By the Numbers
Texas politicians can easily represent the people who elect them without necessarily representing the people of Texas. To get re-elected, they have to please their voters, not the general population. Full Story
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Plenty to Spend, and Plenty of Anxiety About It
Two years ago, lawmakers couldn't find the money they needed to run the government they had promised their voters. Now they have the money — and a completely different set of political problems. Full Story
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Video: Perry Talks About Priorities for Rest of Session
With less than a month remaining in the legislative session, Gov. Rick Perry met with the Texas House GOP Caucus and talked to reporters about his support for a bill that would draw $2 billion from the Rainy Day Fund for water infrastructure needs. Full Story
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Debate Over Water Bill Could Spur Bigger Fight
A bill that would draw $2 billion for water projects from the Rainy Day Fund is set to hit the House floor Monday afternoon. The debate could turn to focus on what it means to be a fiscal conservative in the Tea Party era. Full Story
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TribuneFest: Health Care and the 83rd Session
At the Trib's April 25 symposium on higher education at the University of Texas at Austin, state Reps. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, and John Zerwas, R-Simonton, talked about Medicaid, mental health and more. Full Story
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Hot Seat: A Conversation With Farney and Schwertner
At our 4/26 Hot Seat conversation at Southwestern University in Georgetown, state Rep. Marsha Farney, R-Georgetown, and state Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, talked about public education, water, the budget and other issues in play in the 83rd session. Full Story
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Texas Weekly Newsreel: West, the Lottery and the Rainy Day Fund
In this edition of the Newsreel: The conversation in West turns to regulation, the Senate wants to ask voters to use Rainy Day Fund money, the House undoes the state lottery and then puts it back together, and some Texas prosecutors are in hot water. Full Story
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Perry Willing to Call Special Session
Gov. Rick Perry is warning state legislators that it could be a long, hot summer in Austin if they don’t pass his top priorities: funding water and transportation projects and cutting business taxes. Full Story
Credit: Bob Daemmrich
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