The latest state government news from The Texas Tribune.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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
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Your evening reading: House OKs budget bill after wide-ranging debate; Castro, Wolfowitz pen op-ed in support of gay marriage; lawyers defend Lehmberg Full Story
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A debate in the Texas House on a supplemental budget bill Friday veered into debates on the Travis County district attorney's drunken driving charge and the murder of two Kaufman County prosecutors. Full Story
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Efforts by state lawmakers to find money to repair South and West Texas roads torn up amid a drilling boom appear to be stalling, according to some officials working on the matter. Officials warn about the hazards of not maintaining these roads. Full Story
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The Texas House on Thursday tentatively approved a measure that would make it a Class A misdemeanor for someone to collect and deposit 10 or more mail-in ballots from other voters during an election. Full Story
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Promoters say tax subsidies are needed to lure events that otherwise wouldn't be held in Texas. Critics say the practice is corporate welfare. The Texas Senate on Thursday backed legislation that keeps the subsidies going but with new restrictions and oversight. Full Story
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A debate over equal-pay legislation in the Texas House on Thursday sparked a suggestion that a vote against the labor bill would be a vote against equality for men and women. Full Story
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Giving up 20 weeks of every other year to serve in the Texas Legislature is a lot easier if you don't have to worry about the paycheck you're missing at home. It is easier, in other words, if you're rich. Full Story
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After an unexpected debate that spanned two days, House members passed House Bill 2197 - to continue the Texas Lottery Commission — with a key provision that could ultimately lead to its demise. Full Story
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Politically active nonprofits would be required to disclose their donors under a bill that passed handily out of a House committee Wednesday. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry withdrew his nomination of Annette Raggette of Austin to the Texas Board of Criminal Justice on Wednesday afternoon, citing conflict-of-interest concerns. Full Story
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Despite voting a second time in favor of continuing the Texas Lottery Commission on Wednesday, the majority of House members made clear that they would like to study how to wind down the agency. Full Story
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On April 19, I talked with former House Public Education Committee chairmen Rob Eissler and Kent Grusendorf, former vice chairman Scott Hochberg and attorney David Thompson about the perennially unresolved question of how the state should fund public education. Full Story
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