The latest state government news from The Texas Tribune.
Republican leaders in the Texas Legislature are insisting that it will be a no-new-taxes session. In response, one Democratic lawmaker is pushing to expand the definition of the word "taxes" to include fees. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/flickr.comphotosdborman2.jpg)
For this week's installment of our nonscientific survey of political and policy insiders on issues of the moment, we asked whether the Texas Railroad Commission should live or die and whether the commissioners ought to be appointed or elected. And we asked for suggestions on what government is doing now that it ought to stop doing. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/inside_intelligence-logo_1.png){kind=logo}
The goal of the legislation was lofty: to help people who have been exonerated clear their criminal records, quickly and completely. The unexpected result? News organizations must pay hundreds of dollars in monthly fees to keep a copy of the state’s criminal records database. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/5a171a5f03682248bd09c86972ca23f4/DONT%20USE%20West%20Records)
John Frullo, Jim Landtroop, Charles Perry and Four Price each won election to the Texas House last month, representing districts in a part of the state where the population is dwindling. At least one of them should leave the car running at the curb. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/4MenInWestTexas.jpg)
M. Smith and Butrymowicz of the Hechinger Institute on charter schools and public schools making nice in the Valley, Ramsey's interview with House Speaker candidate Ken Paxton and column on the coming budget carnage, Hu on the Legislature's disappearing white Democratic women, Grissom on the sheriff who busted Willie Nelson, Hamilton talks higher ed accountability with the chair of the Governor's Business Council, Aguilar on the arrest of a cartel kingpin, Ramshaw on the explosive growth in the number of adult Texans with diabetes, Philpott on state incentive funding under fire and Galbraith on the greening of Houston: The best of our best from November 29 to December 3, 2010. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/11_29_10_Tribweek.jpg)
There are lily pads and launch pads in Texas government, and the Railroad Commission is a launch pad. Being a railroad commissioner is less an end than a means — a way to propel yourself into a better, higher-profile and more powerful job. Which is why a serious reform effort is afoot. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Railroaders.jpg)
"Efficiency" is the buzzword heading into the 2011 legislative session. Lawmakers say they want to make sure the dollars spent on K-12 education are being spent as efficiently as possible — and that anything deemed inefficient could end up the chopping block. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/EductionBudgetCuts.png)
"Efficiency" is the buzzword heading into the 2011 legislative session. Lawmakers say they want to make sure the dollars spent on K-12 education are being spent as efficiently as possible — and that anything deemed inefficient could end up the chopping block. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports. Full Story
The force of the GOP wave in November was so strong that black Republicans and Latino Republicans outnumber the Texas House's new endangered species: the white Democratic woman. And if the 16-vote victory of state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, doesn't survive a recount, the species will be extinct. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/7a659e904f2ced588b4c89a9e9f15438/DONT%20USE%20Howard%20Davis%202010)
After years of playing one on TV, Chuck Norris is now a Texas Ranger in real life, at least honorarily. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/chuck-norris1.jpg)
Robert Grijalva isn't running for the Texas House. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/nighttime-downtown-el-paso.jpg)
The Republican state representative from McKinney on why he's running for speaker, why Joe Straus is "the most controversial Republican elected official ... that maybe has ever happened," the role of outside groups in what has historically been a forum for the most inside of insider politics and whether he thinks he can really win. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Ken-Paxton.jpg)
It's orientation week for the largest incoming class of House members since the early '70s. Before their work begins in January, they're learning how things work in the pink building — and drawing balls to see who gets the most seniority. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/videos/Screen_shot_2010-12-01_at_5.56.15_PM.png)
Harris County District Judge Kevin Fine is set to hold a hearing Monday in the case of John Edward Green, who is charged with fatally shooting a Houston woman during a robbery in June 2008. Green’s attorneys and capital punishment opponents want Fine to find that prosecutors can’t seek the death penalty because the way we administer it in Texas is unconstitutional. “The current system is profoundly and fundamentally flawed from top to bottom,” says Andrea Keilen, executive director of the Texas Defender Service. Prosecutors counter that the ruling should be made by higher courts, not a trial judge. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/DeathPenaltyCases.jpg)
In this week's TribCast, Evan, Ross, Elise and Reeve discuss the freshman class at the Lege, the ongoing speaker's race and potential cuts to higher education. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TT-TribCast-002.png)
Warren Jeffs has made it to Texas. The embattled leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints — the polygamous Mormon breakaway sect whose Eldorado ranch was raided by child welfare officials in 2008 — will stand trial in San Angelo for allegedly sexually assaulting a child. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/jeffs.jpg)
Governor Rick Perry’s office has asked a member of the Emerging Technology Fund’s advisory committee to consider resigning over a recent investigation by the Texas Rangers. This is just the latest dust up over this fund and the Texas Enterprise Fund. Ben Philpott of KUT and The Texas Tribune reports on what could happen to the funds in the next Legislative session. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/c4226c87ab9b8f79cbbd88cce55e4687/DONT%20USE%20Perry%20Money)
Gov. Rick Perry’s office has asked a member of the Emerging Technology Fund’s advisory committee to consider resigning over a recent investigation into a stock deal — the latest dustup involving state incentive funds. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports. Full Story
Freshman state Rep. Van Taylor, R-Plano, says he's supporting Ken Paxton's challenge to incumbent House Speaker Joe Straus. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/vantaylor.jpg)
On last night's edition of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, state Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, sparred with the host about whether Barack Obama has a U.S. birth certificate — and whether Texas law should be changed to require that any candidate for president who wants ballot access produce one. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/CM_Capture_1_2.png)