A Senate committee is scheduled to take up three bills Tuesday aimed at overriding local regulation of ride-hailing companies that prompted Uber and Lyft to leave Austin and other Texas cities last year.
Transportation
Reporting on roads, transit, infrastructure, and policy shaping travel and mobility across the state, from The Texas Tribune.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Mayors say Texas, U.S. politics increasingly undermine city needs
A major source of division among cities and state officials is differing opinions on what local control means — and to whom it provides the power to govern.
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Economy
House proposal could claw back billions Texas voters approved for roads
The Texas House’s chief budget writer filed legislation Friday that would pave the way for lawmakers to claw back billions of dollars that voters approved for state highways, freeing them up for other budget needs.
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Economy
GOP lawmaker wants Texas law to catch up to driverless cars
State Rep. Charlie Geren filed a bill this week that aims to overcome the car industry opposition that crushed an autonomous vehicle bill two years ago. But he says there’s lots of work left to do on it.
Posted in
Politics
Texas poised to spend $2.5 billion on urban highway projects
As budget writers and lawmakers eye billions in voter-approved highway money for other matters, transportation officials are touting high-profile projects that will benefit from those funds.
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Criminal Justice
Texas House’s chief budget writer: State shouldn’t cut border security funding
The Texas’ House’s chief budget writer said that President Trump’s emergence in Washington shouldn’t give state lawmakers license to slice hefty appropriations for border security — at least not yet.
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Economy
How to pay for a $12 billion bullet train without asking Texas for money
Texas Central Partners says global interest in American infrastructure will fund and finance a high-speed rail line from Dallas to Houston. Experts and critics are more skeptical.
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Economy
Texas’ rural roots and urban future are on a high-speed collision course
A private firm’s proposed Houston-Dallas bullet train would connect two of America’s biggest metropolitan areas. But the 240-mile line would require a lot of country land that many Texans don’t want to give up.
Posted in
Economy
“Come and take it”: Eminent domain dispute at heart of bullet train battles
In both courthouses and at the Capitol, opponents of a private company’s plans to build a Dallas-Houston bullet train have zeroed on in the firm’s claim that it has the authority to take land by condemnation if necessary.
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Transportation
With money tight, Texas budget writers eyeing billions approved by voters for roads
More than a year after Texas voters approved routing billions in state sales taxes to roads and bridges, some lawmakers are questioning whether the first payment of $5 billion should move forward as planned.