Senate Bill 4, the Texas law that makes illegally crossing the border a state crime, will continue to be challenged by two immigrant rights groups and El Paso County.
State Government
Stay informed on Texas state government with The Texas Tribune’s in-depth coverage of the governor, Legislature, state agencies, and policies shaping the future of Texas.
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Environment
Bills seek to improve state’s response to wildfires a year after devastation in Panhandle
A proposal to create a statewide system connecting emergency personnel and agencies is among several bills that target problems exposed in 2024.
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COVID's Legacy in Texas
After COVID, Texas is less prepared for the next pandemic
Five years after Texas’ first COVID death, the state spends less on public health, vaccination rates have dropped and a distrust of authority has taken hold.
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Energy
An abandoned West Texas oil well has created a 200-foot-wide sinkhole
The rapidly-growing sinkhole in Upton County is the latest of many problems caused by old wells in the Permian Basin.
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Health care
Texas Republicans seek to clarify when doctors can intervene under abortion bans
A Senate bill filed Friday does not expand abortion access, but aims to give doctors clarity while operating under laws that come with up to life in prison.
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Politics
Lawmakers weigh moving bingo operations out of Texas Lottery’s purview amid agency’s uncertain future
A possible reassignment of the charitable games comes as 15 bills in the Legislature seek to either alter or abolish the troubled agency.
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Texas Legislature 2025
As Trump vows mass deportations, Texas lawmakers want to require sheriffs to work with ICE
Some sheriffs worried that Senate Bill 8 could create an unfunded mandate, while civil rights advocates warned about possible racial profiling.
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State Government
Texas to close border site used to process arrested migrants
The state opened the facility in Jim Hogg County in 2022.
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Politics
Sylvester Turner eulogized as a man of faith, family and public service to Houston
The former Houston mayor’s funeral drew more than 1,000 mourners on Saturday, including 20 of his congressional colleagues from both political parties.
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Health care
Paxton says trans Texans can’t use court orders to change sex on driver’s licenses, birth certificates
Per the attorney general’s nonbinding opinion, state agencies should change gender markers on government documents back to a person’s sex assigned at birth.