INSIDER
A bill that would enable a high-speed rail connecting San Antonio to Austin and Dallas is now sitting in the House Committee.
Texas lawmakers on Thursday passed a $1 billion education bill that allows families to use public money to pay for private school tuition, a major victory for school voucher proponents nationwide that was cheered on by President Donald Trump.
The Committee on Public Education in the Texas House of Representatives is expected to hold a hearing on school vouchers sometime Thursday.
Dozens of educators, including several from San Antonio, convened at the Texas Capitol on Monday to voice their opposition to school choice vouchers.
Mo Jenkins is one of only a few openly transgender staffers working in the Capitol as lawmakers are making headway in restricting rights for LGBTQ+ Texans.
House Bill 239, which echoes a bathroom bill that failed in 2017, includes new provisions for shelters and prisons.
Abraham George’s comments are the latest sign of the state GOP’s embrace of fundamentalist ideologies that seek to center public life around their faith.
Republicans accused Rep. Vicente Gonzalez of supporting gender transitions for children throughout the 2024 election cycle, which he said took a political toll.
If early bill filings for the next Texas Legislative Session are anything to go by, then one thing is clear: Lawmakers are again hyperfocusing on the state’s higher education institutions.
A Texas man whose execution was halted because of a last-ditch subpoena won't testify in person before lawmakers.
In the first test of Senate Bill 14, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has accused Dr. May Lau of providing testosterone to at least 21 teens.
A Texas man who sued his ex-wife’s friends for helping her obtain an abortion informed the court that the two sides reached a settlement, forgoing the need for a trial that would have tested his argument that their actions amounted to assisting in a wrongful death.
The average age of Texans last year was 37, while the Legislature’s average age was 55. Hurdles to voting and the unique challenges young candidates encounter fuel the mismatch.
Council members on the Intergovernmental Relations Committee want the city's state legislative priorities to more explicitly include support for the LGBTQ community.
A Texas man is petitioning a court for information over his former partner's alleged out-of-state abortion, setting up a first-of-its-kind legal test to the limits of statewide abortion bans.
A new law allowing local authorities to deport migrants remains tied up in court. Even if it goes back into effect, logistical challenges could complicate enforcement.
In 2014, and following a two-year investigation, the Texas Ethics Commission fined Sullivan $10,000 for failing to register as a lobbyist.
On Jan. 6, 2021, Ken Paxton spoke at a rally that preceded a mob of Donald Trump supporters storming the U.S. Capitol.
Texas is moving closer to giving police broad new authority to arrest migrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
As a special session starts with a focus on “school choice” but no mention of public school funding, some teachers said they are even considering leaving the profession.
Paxton’s far-right supporters doubled down on their promises for swift retribution against fellow Republicans who supported his removal from office.
Those disappointed by the Senate vote, blame political polarization. Those pleased with the acquittal say the evidence fell short.
After spending two weeks listening to both sides make their case, Texas Senators voted to acquit Paxton on all 16 articles of impeachment. Because of this vote, Paxton will remain in office.
The Texas Supreme Court will allow the new state law banning gender-affirming care for minors to take effect on Friday, setting up Texas to be the most populous state with such restrictions on transgender children.
As a summer heat wave continues to bake most of Texas, family members of inmates are calling for all of the state’s prisons to be fully air conditioned.
A group of Texas families and doctors have sued in state court seeking to block the state’s new law that bans gender-affirming care for minors.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson had said that troopers pulling a gun on a 10-year-old prompted the end of the agreement. A video of that encounter shows troopers with guns pointed at the ground, not the child.
Legislators also passed bills that will provide foster kids entering the troubled system with duffel bags or backpacks and those aging out of the system with help setting up bank accounts.
The bipartisan legislation was long sought by advocates for disabled voters, including some of the governor’s own allies.
A historic impeachment trial in Texas to determine whether Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton should be permanently removed from office will begin no later than August in the state Senate.
Rushed agreements and suspended rules rescue legislation on the electric grid and economic incentives for companies, and work is still being done on a property tax proposal.
The Texas Legislature has approved abolishing a position Democrats in the state's largest county created to oversee more than 2 million voters around Houston.
Attorney General Ken Paxton previously announced an investigation into “potentially illegal” activity. Parents are scrambling to find transition-related care for their kids as the Legislature appears poised to ban it altogether.
Rare momentum in the Texas Capitol for a tougher gun law has flickered out, days after a mass shooting near Dallas left eight people dead.
Senate Bill 14 spurred protests that led to altercations with state police earlier this week. Bill supporters and opponents again showed up at the Capitol for an expected vote Friday.
The Royse City Republican, accused of having an inappropriate relationship with an employee, emerged from a room where a House investigative panel was meeting.
Texas state police detained and handcuffed people protesting legislation that would prohibit transgender kids from getting puberty blockers and hormone therapy. The House separately delayed a vote on Senate Bill 14 until later this week.
The original sculpture was installed in the Church of San Marcello al Corso in Rome last year and is often interpreted as a depiction of Mary and Jesus.
The window is closing for Woori Juntos in its pursuit of legislation to improve language access to state health programs.
The families of Uvalde shooting victims waited hours to testify at a House committee hearing in support of House Bill 2744, which would raise the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic guns from 18 to 21.
Many bills that would limit access to firearms or ammunition likely won’t become law anytime soon. But people who advocate at the Texas Capitol see emerging signs that there’s appetite for finding some middle ground.
The Texas Department of Public Safety did a sweep of Capitol grounds with K-9 dogs and found no explosive devices.
With six weeks remaining in the legislative session, advocates implored Texans to join the “resistance” against fast-moving efforts to curb health care, drag queens, education, trans athletes and more.
Spurred by a groundswell of far-right support, the Texas Senate has passed all of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s priority LGBTQ bills — and then some. What the House does next will impact queer Texans’ lives and could determine Speaker Phelan’s future.
The complaint came after an incident in which Slaton and the staffer allegedly met up at his Austin apartment last weekend. A separate staffer told The Texas Tribune that Slaton drank alcohol with an intern under 21 years old.
Hancock, a North Richland Hills Republican, was diagnosed at age 27 with a rare genetic kidney disease that occurs when the immunoglobulin A antibody builds up in the kidneys.
Days after it went missing, DPS identified the person who removed a family Quran Rep. Salman Bhojani had placed in the chapel. The state has since provided its own copy.
Jones said in a new statement that she was outraged at the allegations the former employees made about her son, who works in the office, which she said are false.
Senate Bill 14 prohibits trans kids from receiving puberty blockers and hormone treatments. Here’s what medical experts and trans Texans say about such care.
Woori Juntos began the legislative session hoping to win over a majority of legislators to their cause — making it easier for Texans who speak no or limited English to communicate with state agencies and access crucial services. First, they needed a lawmaker to file their bill.
The lawyers for some of the Uvalde families say there is “a compelling need” for records into the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary to be publicly released.
Family members of victims killed in the Uvalde school shooting have confronted Texas’ police chief in an emotional end to a day of protests at the state Capitol over gun laws.
State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, has proposed an amendment to the state constitution to raise legislator pay and tie it to teachers’ pay, saying it would give lawmakers a living wage and allow a broader range of Texans to serve.
Many relatives of Uvalde victims back bills that state Rep. Tracy King and Sen. Roland Gutierrez are pushing in the Legislature. But limits on gun access don’t fare well at the Capitol.
State policymakers have mapped out familiar territory early in the legislative session, with Democrats seeking to expand voting access and Republicans pledging to make elections more secure.
We would like to know more about what you’re seeing in your community to help guide our reporting during the 88th legislative session.
New Texas House members were sworn into office Tuesday, including some who have already made history.
Texas lawmakers are returning to the Capitol for the first legislative session since a statewide abortion ban took effect, and access to birth control for minors is likely to command fresh attention.
A handful of the Texas-based conspiracy theorist’s companies already filed for bankruptcy. Earlier this year, a Texas jury awarded Sandy Hook parents $49 million in a defamation case against Jones.
Patrick, who presides over the Senate and wields tremendous power over legislation, said lawmakers have an “extraordinary opportunity” to shape the future of Texas at the start of the next legislative session, which begins Jan. 10.
A new bill has been filed in Texas that seeks to allow pregnant women to use the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lane even when the other passenger seats are unoccupied.
The bill would provide federal recognition and interstate portability of same-sex marriages, but it stops short of guaranteeing a right to such marriages.
The appellate court reversed a previous ruling that found that Texas violated federal law by refusing to release the list. The suit was brought by five civil rights groups that sought to hold Texas accountable if it disenfranchised naturalized citizens.
Friday’s injunction applies to all members of PFLAG, an LGBTQ advocacy group with more than 600 members in Texas.
After protesters solicited donations to distribute posters to schools across the state in Arabic, state Sen. Bryan Hughes sent a letter to the Texas Education Agency clarifying his legislation requiring schools to display signs with the national motto.
The governor has made a vocal enemy in the families of Robb Elementary shooting victims. They are demanding a special legislative session to reach a compromise on the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic rifles.
A federal judge has struck down one of Texas’ few remaining firearm restrictions, finding a law that barred adults under the age of 21 from carrying a handgun was unconstitutional.
The restriction, which was revived after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, was put in place amid concerns about declining white birth rates and as the medical profession formalized.
On this week’s episode, Matthew speaks with Eric about the CHIPS Act and Eleanor about how abortion might be prosecuted in Texas.
Through speeches, signs and chants, protesters across the state expressed their concerns Friday about the effects of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The sister of a 9-year-old girl killed in the Uvalde school shooting rampage has tearfully pleaded with Texas lawmakers to pass tougher gun laws and questioned why so many security measures failed.
A report from the state Sunset Advisory Commission found that Texas Commission on Environmental Quality commissioners have become “reluctant” regulators and often encourage industry to “self police.”
State leaders say expanding a social safety net for children and prosecuting abortion funders are among their priorities. “We’ll continue to do our best to make abortion not just outlawed, but unthinkable,” said state Rep. Briscoe Cain.
U.S. District Judge Janis Jack said she is seeking a federal criminal investigation into allegations that children were sexually abused and trafficked at The Refuge, a state-licensed foster care shelter for victims of sex trafficking.
The letter, published as a full-page ad in The Dallas Morning News, was also signed by Salesforce, Johnson & Johnson, Dow and Capital One. The companies said they do business, create jobs and serve customers in Texas and are committed to creating safe communities for LGBTQ people.
Citing potential criminal penalties, Texas Children’s Hospital will no longer provide hormone therapy to transgender patients.
The ACLU suit looks to block Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services investigate parents seeking gender-affirming care for their transgender children.
The state has already challenged the federal government’s vaccine orders for big businesses, health care workers and federal contractors.
It remains unclear whether Gov. Greg Abbott — the only official with the power to convene special sessions — will order state lawmakers back to Austin, or what issues he would include on the agenda.
As the political season starts, the contestants got an unexpected bit of good news: The state comptroller says the next Legislature will start with almost $25 billion in the state treasury. Expensive campaign promises just got a lot easier to make.
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In this week’s TribCast, Matthew speaks with Alexa and Reese about the ongoing court fights over Texas’ new abortion law and the redistricting process in Texas.
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A majority of Bexar County voters disapproved of staunchly conservative laws by the Texas Legislature, according to the latest Bexar Facts-KSAT-San Antonio Report poll.
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A statewide election on Nov. 2 will feature eight constitutional amendments that address topics ranging from religious freedom to taxes to judicial eligibility. Here’s what you need to know to vote.
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