The latest state government news from The Texas Tribune.
After more than 92,000 deaths and 8 million reported COVID-19 cases in Texas, the state remains one of less than a dozen still under a statewide disaster or public health emergency. Full Story
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Martinez Fischer replaces Rep. Chris Turner of Grand Prairie, who has led the caucus since 2017 and did not seek reelection. Full Story
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Rural communities face compounding reasons they can’t improve their water infrastructure, including inflation and a lack of human resources. Full Story
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Nelson planned to retire from the Senate after 30 years in office. But her nomination will give Abbott a clearer path to having his nominee confirmed by the Senate after his last three have gone unconfirmed. Full Story
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The dueling approaches are coming into focus as lawmakers prepare to return to Austin for the session which begins Jan. 10. Full Story
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In a Monday committee hearing, lawmakers questioned whether a Public Utility Commission proposal to redesign Texas’ electricity market would lead to the building of more natural-gas-fired power plants. Regulators say it would. Full Story
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Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Scott as secretary of state in October 2021, and he served in an interim capacity pending Senate confirmation. He is stepping down right before the legislative session, in which his appointment would have come up for debate. Full Story
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Republican members of the Texas House endorsed Phelan’s bid for reelection in a nonbinding vote on Saturday. An official vote from the entire Texas House will take place in January. Full Story
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Texas policies targeting access to health care for transgender youth forced one family to leave the state. Full Story
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The announcement signals a shift in Abbott’s approach to fighting the opioid epidemic. He had previously pushed back against bills calling for the decriminalization of fentanyl testing strips. Full Story
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The latest county to make a disaster declaration is an eight-hour drive away from the Texas-Mexico border, but local officials there say they’re under “invasion.” Full Story
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Texas homeowners have some of the highest property tax bills in the nation, a byproduct of the state’s reliance on such taxes to help pay for public schools and the state’s lack of an income tax. Full Story
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Adam Hinojosa finished 659 votes behind Democrat Morgan LaMantia in a race that garnered 175,415 total votes. Full Story
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Changes to Texas’ power grid have improved ERCOT’s ability to keep power flowing during major winter storms, but in an extreme scenario, the grid could still face rolling blackouts, a seasonal assessment shows. Full Story
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For more than 24 hours, nearly everyone in the nation’s fourth-most-populous city had been asked to boil water after a power outage at a water treatment plant Sunday. Full Story
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Former DFPS commissioner Anne Heiligenstein was tapped by Abbott in June to serve as the agency’s executive deputy commissioner. Last month, she was out. Now she’s back. Full Story
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Many residents in the nation’s fourth-most-populous city heard that they couldn’t drink tap water from friends or neighbors, not from City Hall. Full Story
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Extremism experts and historians sound alarms as politicians, media personalities and celebrities amplify antisemitic conspiracies that have historically led to the killing of Jews. Full Story
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DPS is asking lawmakers to approve a $467 million active-shooter facility as a “down payment” for the training academy. “You play like you practice,” Director Steve McCraw said. Full Story
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This probe is part of the state’s wider investigation into FTX’s multibillion-dollar bankruptcy. Full Story
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