The latest state government news from The Texas Tribune.
It's been nearly four weeks since a warehouse fire destroyed nearly all of Harris County's election equipment, including almost 10,000 e-Slate voting machines. But as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, the state's most populous county insists it's ready to hold a normal election. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Eslate_EarlyVoteEquipment.jpg)
A representative for the Texas Legislative Council, which helps lawmakers research and draft bills, won't speculate on why proposed and passed legislation has risen sharply in the last two decades. But it's one reason the agency has expanded its legal division over the years, she says. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Texas_capitol_.jpg)
If the Larry Taylor-Steve Mostyn battle over windstorm insurance payouts wasn't a proxy war for the tort reformists and the trial lawyers before, it certainly is now. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/GavelLawbook001.jpg)
The author of Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness on the criminalization of mental illness, the need for community-wide solutions and how Texas wastes the money it spends on the problem. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Peter-Earley.jpg)
Legislative filings increased in the Texas House and Senate by 70 percent from 1991 to 2009, records show, and the number of bills and resolutions passed by both chambers climbed at a higher rate. Resolutions alone numbered about 4,000 last session, or more than half of all legislation. Explore our interactive graphics. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Legstats_DataApp.png)
The State Board of Education is getting set to vote later this week on a resolution that would call on textbook publishers to avoid a "pro-Islamic, anti-Christian bias" in Texas textbooks. As Nathan Bernier of KUT News reports, the matter may be more about symbolism than practical change. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TT-Audio.png)
The Legislative Budget Board says the state used about $14 billion in federal stimulus money to balance to budget in the current biennium. Lawmakers warned state agencies that those dollars were to be used for one-time expenditures only, but not all agencies followed that advice. With the next biennium's shortfall projected to be as much as $21 billion and no new fed-stim money available, what to do? Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/StimPump.jpg)
TT Interview with author Pete Earley Full Story
The Texas Education Agency has submitted a proposal to slash 10 percent of its budget to help close the state's coming shortfall, which could be as much as $21 billion. Among the items on the chopping block: outside-the-classroom expenditures that, Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, could have a dramatic affect on student outcomes. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/EductionBudgetCuts.png)
Under the leadership of Williamson County DA John Bradley, the Texas Forensic Science Commission has waged a masterful war of attrition in the Cameron Todd Willingham case: Stall long enough, and public interest in the internationally controversial capital punishment case — along with political liability for any missteps — will fade away. But the commission’s latest delay, while pushing the resolution of the Willingham investigation securely after the general election, comes against Bradley’s wishes and could represent a sea change on the board that until now has resisted making any broader inquiries into the state’s arson convictions. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TX-Forensic-JohnBradley004-TP.jpg)
The Texas Forensic Science Commission has delayed its decision on the Cameron Todd Willingham case one more time — and now, it's scheduled for after the Nov. 2 election. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TX-Forensic-JohnBradley002-TP_1.jpg)
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice oversees most state jails. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards presides over county jails. But the 350 city jails across Texas are wholly unregulated. The jail commission receives dozens of complaints about the conditions inside municipal lockups — most commonly about sanitation, food, supervision and medical care — but they have no power to investigate. While critics are calling on state lawmakers to implement at least minimum standards, city officials worry that expensive new rules could result in the closure of their jails, which would mean that already overflowing county jails would get even more crowded. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/DeathsMunicipalJails.png)
Full audio recording (including Q & A) of state Rep. Debbie Riddle's appearance at our TribLive breakfast conversation series. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TribLive-Riddle001.jpg)
For the 12th event in our TribLive series, I interviewed the GOP state representative from Tomball about what she really said on CNN, whether "tourism" babies are a threat to national security, why an Arizona-style immigration law would be right for Texas and whether she'll back Joe Straus for speaker. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/videos/Screen_shot_2010-09-16_at_5.09.14_PM.png)
Texas has fired off another volley of legal challenges against federal environmental regulators. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/449ec7d6dea11eec4a202c1caeb90913/BD%20INC%20Greg%20Abbott%20Archival%202010)
Six points separate Rick Perry and Bill White, but that's not all there is to it: The pattern of partisan preferences evident in the latest polling suggests that the Republican Party still holds a substantial baseline advantage over the Democrats in Texas. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TxTrib-PollSEP2010.png)
In a rare campaign trail policy announcement on Wednesday, Gov. Rick Perry threw his support behind an effort to pass more extensive tort reform legislation. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Rick_Perry_On_The_Campaign.jpg)
In the last year, Texas probate courts approved more than $6 million in payments from private estates to court-appointed attorneys, guardians and physicians, in many cases depleting funds left to care for incapacitated people. Critics say the practice amounts to destroying the village in order to save it. Probate judges say they're simply making sure people who can't defend themselves have proper representation. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/DeadrisScherrryLevi.jpg)
In the closing days of his last term in the Texas House, former state Rep. Bill Zedler, R-Arlington, used his legislative authority to obtain confidential records from the Texas Medical Board, The Texas Tribune has learned. His reason? To defend doctors who he believes were wrongly the subjects of misconduct investigations by the board, which licenses the state's physicians. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/ap_zedlersmall.jpg)
In our first TribCast recorded in front of a live studio audience, Evan, Ross, Elise and Ben discuss the results of the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll, Gov. Rick Perry's new TV ad and the state's looming budget deficit — is it even bigger than we thought? Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TT-TribCast-002.png)