Historic $321.3 billion Texas state budget heads to comptroller
About $17 billion worth of commitments lawmakers made in the new budget were snagged in policy fights between the Texas House and Senate on Saturday night. Full Story
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Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers strike deal to raise the punishment for illegal voting to a felony
The legislation was a priority for Republican leadership. But it does not include a key provision supported by the Senate that would have allowed prosecutors to charge a voter who’d unintentionally cast an illegal ballot. Full Story
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![People cast their ballots at the Metropolitan Multi-Service Center in Houston on Nov. 8, 2022.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
“I’m here to watch history”: Texans marvel at Paxton impeachment spectacle
The suspended attorney general’s supporters thought lawmakers tried to overrule voters. Ken Paxton’s critics felt accountability was a long time coming. Full Story
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![Wide view of the Texas House chamber during debate on the articles of impeachment against AG Ken Paxton on May 27, 2023.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
No teacher raises, no vouchers: Lawmakers fail to reach compromise on school funding bill
The end of House Bill 100 is a bittersweet victory for public education advocates who vehemently oppose school voucher programs but lament that schools won’t get additional funds to pay for teacher raises or balance their budgets. Full Story
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![Students sit in the hall for a regular morning briefing before heading to their first class at Yes Prep West Campus in Houston on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott can pick a fill-in attorney general. He’s so far been silent on impeachment.
Abbott himself is a former attorney general, preceding Paxton in the position. The governor has built deep connections in the conservative legal world and is known to lean on former aides for high-profile appointments. Full Story
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![Gov. Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton hosted 12 attorneys general from around the U.S. for a border security briefing at Texas DPS regional headquarters in Weslaco on Jan. 27, 2022.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune -
Ken Paxton was impeached by the Texas House. See how each representative voted.
Here’s a list of the representatives who voted for and against impeaching Attorney General Ken Paxton on Saturday. Full Story
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![The electronic voting board in the House chamber on July 19, 2021]()
Credit: Sophie Park/The Texas Tribune -
An effort to ban faculty tenure in public universities has failed in the Texas Legislature
The state Senate originally passed a bill to ban tenure, but on Saturday it approved the House’s counterproposal, which enshrines tenure in state law. Full Story
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![The Texas A&M University campus.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles/The Texas Tribune -
AG KEN PAXTON IS IMPEACHED
The House voted 121-23 to suspend the attorney general and refer him to the Senate for trial on charges of bribery, abuse of office and obstruction. It was the first such impeachment since 1975. Full Story
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![The Texas House voted to impeach state Attorney General Ken Paxton on May 27, 2023.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers find consensus on bill banning diversity, equity and inclusion offices in public universities
Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill on June 14, making Texas the second state in the country, after Florida, to ban DEI offices at public universities. Full Story
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![Stephen F. Austin University on Oct. 3, 2022, in Nacogdoches.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
As attorney general, Paxton’s ideological crusades have drowned out his day job
Child support enforcement, environmental regulation, consumer protection and a host of other responsibilities fall under the attorney general’s realm at what is essentially the state’s largest law firm. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, center right, walks with Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone II, center left, and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, right, to a press conference at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on April 26, 2022. Earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Texas v. Texas, the enforcement of the Trump-era “remain in Mexico” policy that required asylum seekers to stay in Mexico as they waited for hearings in U.S. immigration court. (Eric Lee for The Texas Tribune).]()
Credit: Eric Lee for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Legislature passes bill to offer new moms a year of Medicaid coverage
The Texas House and Senate voted for the proposal, capping a yearslong effort to extend coverage for low-income moms. Medicaid covers half of all births in Texas, and coverage currently expires after two months. Full Story
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![Patients wait to be seen at the People's Community Clinic in Austin, on Nov. 8, 2010. Founded in 1970, the People's Community Clinic is a primary care center for the medically underserved and uninsured.]()
Credit: Callie Richmond for The Texas Tribune -
Bill banning trans athletes from competing on certain college sports teams goes to governor
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has said he would support legislation prohibiting transgender men from competing on men’s college sports teams and transgender women from joining women’s college athletic teams. Full Story
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![A runner prepares for the start of a race at a track meet in Mansfield, Ohio on May 23, 2023.]()
Credit: Eric Marshall/News Journal/USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters -
Donald Trump Jr., conservative Republicans ride to Ken Paxton’s defense on eve of impeachment vote
Supporters of the attorney general portray Saturday’s impeachment vote as a political witch hunt meant to sideline President Joe Biden’s biggest headache. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton waves as he walks on stage at a Texas Trump rally at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds on Oct. 22. 2022, in Robstown.]()
Credit: Angela Piazza/Corpus Christi Caller-Times via REUTERS -
TribCast: Disarray in the Texas GOP
In this week’s episode, we discuss the first impeachment proceedings against a sitting attorney general in Texas history. Full Story
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![Attorney General Ken Paxton recites the pledge of allegiance at a Trump Rally in Conroe on January 29, 2022.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Attorney General Ken Paxton blasts pending impeachment vote, calls for protests
Paxton said House members were showing “contempt for the electoral process” and accused them of sabotaging his work challenging the Biden administration. Full Story
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![At a press conference on May 26, 2023, Attorney General Ken Paxton with aides, from left to right: Tommy Tran, executive assistant; James R. Lloyd, associate deputy attorney general for civil litigation; Austin A. Kinghorn, associate deputy attorney general for legal counsel; Ryan Fisher, director of government relations; Joshua Reno, deputy attorney general for criminal justice; Suzanna Hupp, special adviser; Brent Webster, first assistant attorney general; Lesley French, chief of staff; George Lane, adviser; Paige Willey, deputy communications director; and Ralph M. Molina, deputy attorney general for legal strategy.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott remains silent on potential AG impeachment
A Texas House committee has filed 20 articles of impeachment accusing attorney general of wrongdoing. Republicans’ attempts to remove one of their own sets up a dramatic intraparty showdown in the waning days of the 2023 regular legislative session. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton during TPPF's Policy Orientation in Austin on Feb. 9, 2018.]()
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Despite budget surplus, Texas Legislature makes little money available for prison air conditioning
Stifling heat has killed inmates and exacerbated employee turnover in Texas prisons. But funding for air conditioning was whittled down in the draft budget released Thursday. Full Story
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![The Byrd Unit in Huntsville, TX, on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022.]()
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Texas Legislature averts $100 million consequences of 2021 law requiring nonexistent election technology
Lawmakers voted unanimously to reverse the 2021 provision that would have decertified equipment that counties use to count votes. Full Story
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![A bipartisan testing crew uses voting machines and tabulators during a state-mandated logic and accuracy test at the Hays County Government building in San Marcos on Sept. 21, 2022.]()
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Effort to impeach Ken Paxton, led by fellow Republicans, sets off political earthquake in Texas
Republicans have chosen to remain largely silent during years of alleged misconduct and lawbreaking by the attorney general. Now they will have to take a public stand. Full Story
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![Opening Day action of the 88th Texas Legislature at the Texas Capitol showing Attorney General Ken Paxton conferring with Gov. Greg Abbott outside the Senate chamber before his swearing in ceremony in Jan. 10, 2023.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for the Texas Tribune -
Effort to fix payroll error for state National Guard troops falls short in Texas Senate
The mistake meant about 7,400 soldiers sent to the Texas-Mexico border under Operation Lone Star were hit with higher-than-expected federal income taxes. Full Story
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![Members of the Texas National Guard work 12 to 13 hour shifts guarding the “Texas border wall,” construction crews and materials near Del Rio on Dec. 8, 2021. Thousands of National Guard troops were deployed to Del Rio after an increase in migration at the southern border.]()
Credit: Kaylee Greenlee Beal for The Texas Tribune