Texas Legislature

January 4, 2017

Senator Whitmire’s Pension Provocations

When is advice a conflict of interest?

August 3, 2015

Showdown with a Strong Governor

The Legislative Budget Board is correct about the limits of the line-item veto—but Governor Abbott has plenty of power.

August 3, 2015

The Existential Conundrum of Covering Ken Paxton

The latest “news” about the Texas attorney general.

August 2, 2015

Dan Patrick Is Eyeing a Promotion

He tipped his hand by backing the governor over the Lege.

August 1, 2015

Indictments Are Imminent For Texas’s Attorney General

On Monday, per WFAA, the state’s top law enforcement official will be charged with multiple felonies.

July 31, 2015

Weekend Reading

A look back at two other attorney-generals who ran into trouble.

July 30, 2015

Abbott and the Scientologists

Occam’s razor, y’all.

July 4, 2015

Our Honorable Nonsense

America’s flaws are inevitable, but so are our virtues.

June 25, 2015

At Least One Person Didn’t Like the Worst List

The lieutenant governor responds to our selections.

By Dave Mann

June 23, 2015

The Limits of Scorecards

Even if they weren’t distorted by politics, they’re too reductive to be reliable.

June 18, 2015

The Cross-Examination

Evan Smith raises a few points of order.

Burka Blog|

June 17, 2015

The List: Best and Worst 2015

A preview of the ten best and ten worst legislators of the Eighty-fourth Legislature.

By Erica Grieder, Dave Mann, R.G. Ratcliffe and Brian D. Sweany

May 28, 2015

The Legislature Is Hoarding $18 Billion of Your Money

The Legislature is leaving unspent $18 billion that could go to further tax cuts or repairs to infrastructure or even, perhaps, to education.

May 25, 2015

Did the House Get Rolled on the Budget?

At first glance, yes. On closer inspection, probably not.

May 17, 2015

EmpowerTexans Has No Business Running Texas

No offense to Michael Quinn Sullivan, but he’s never even won a Republican primary runoff, has he?

May 12, 2015

The End Game

The Senate has already lost the fight over tax cuts.

May 12, 2015

Hannah Giles, No Nellie Bly

The people behind the hidden camera investigation of the Legislature have more of a history of political activism than of journalism.

May 5, 2015

An Undercover Assault on Legislators

The Houston Chronicle is reporting that a right wing political group has been secretly recording Texas legislators, apparently with an aim at unseating Speaker Joe Straus.

May 1, 2015

The Senate Passed a Property Tax Reform!

In an amazing plot twist, the Texas Senate passed a real property tax reform bill yesterday.

April 28, 2015

Advantage: House

On fiscal issues, at least, they have a unified front.

Burka Blog|

April 23, 2015

The Plot Against Public Education

The Lieutenant Governor’s Internet Commenters Council is misreading history, and the Pre-K bill.

April 20, 2015

The Senate Gets a Voucher

The bill passed today would either save the state money or provide thousands of scholarships to Texas students.

April 16, 2015

The Lopsided Fight Over Tax Cuts

The House’s proposal is better than the Senate’s, for at least half a dozen reasons

April 7, 2015

The Politics of the Minimum Wage

The issue isn’t as partisan as it may appear.

April 1, 2015

141-5

It’s hard to argue with results of the House debate over the budget bill.

March 20, 2015

At-Risk Ideas

Texas should take a look at the franchise tax

March 18, 2015

Guns, Ho-Hum

The Senate passes open carry and campus carry.

March 12, 2015

What’s at Stake

Putting the spending cap at risk is damaging more than just that

March 9, 2015

Bad Reasons to Sacrifice the Spending Cap

The Senate’s proposals on property tax relief and debt service aren’t worth it

March 4, 2015

So Much for Fiscal Responsibility

The Texas Senate offers a proposal to scrap the Texas Model.

March 4, 2015

Turn Out for What?

Trey Martinez Fischer has a pointed explanation of why he lost the runoff in SD26

March 2, 2015

Come and Take It, or Not

Dan Patrick and the Senate Republicans celebrated Texas Independence Day by throwing down the gauntlet on Medicaid.

February 10, 2015

Welcome News

R.G. Ratcliffe will rejoin BurkaBlog for the session

February 4, 2015

The House Committee Assignments

Joe Straus’s picks for the 84th session include lots of new chairs and not much drama.

January 29, 2015

A New Day, This One With Muslims and Bigotry

Texas Muslim Capitol Day is marred by some unwelcoming behavior.

January 25, 2015

Patrick’s Committee Assignments

Technically speaking, every day is A New Day.

January 22, 2015

A New Day, Day 2

The Texas Senate’s vote to abandon the 2/3rds rule is all about campaign promises.

January 19, 2015

The Coming Debate Over Medicaid Expansion

Let’s all agree on one this much: Medicaid is supposed to be a health care program, not a jobs plan.

January 13, 2015

Governing Time

On the first day of the Eighty-fourth Legislature, the Texas House voted for order.

December 8, 2014

Taking on tuition deregulation

Charles Schwertner makes the conservative case against tuition deregulation

November 21, 2014

Friday Afternoon Open Thread

The border surge, extended. Immigration action, executed. Hispanic voters, considered. And more!

November 11, 2014

The Dan Patrick Profile

A look at Texas's next lieutenant governor

August 26, 2014

What Social Conservatives (and Liberals) Can Learn from Kyleen Wright

When it comes to policy making, reasons matter.

May 20, 2014

Brain Drain

Looks like San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro may be heading to Washington, and Texas Senator Robert Duncan is bound for Texas Tech. What does that mean for local politics?

June 13, 2013

Discussing Our Best/Worst Legislator List on Trib Live

Brian D. Sweany, Erica Grieder, Sonia Smith and I joined Evan Smith of the Texas Tribune to talk about our picks for the 2013 Ten Best/Ten Worst Legislators list.

By Paul Burka

February 7, 2013

Democrats have signaled their intention to offer an amendment to restore the education spending cuts made last session, which signals to everyone who is watching that the Democratic strategy is going to pretty much be this: make the Republicans pay for every bad vote.

By Paul Burka and Texas Monthly

February 6, 2013

Charters v. PEG

As most readers know, one of the battles of the 83rd Legislature is likely to occur over the use of public funds for private schools. Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst and Senator Dan Patrick are backing the proposal. (At a recent Texas Tribune event, Speaker Straus urged caution on the issue.) The

By Paul Burka and Texas Monthly

May 11, 2009

The smokeless tobacco fuss

The issue involved here — how smokeless tobacco products (chewing tobacco, pouches, plugs, snuff) should be taxed — is something of little importance. But the larger political context does matter. As I understand it, the question is whether this product should be taxed according to its weight or according to

By Paul Burka

April 1, 2009

Rush to oblivion

This item from media critic Michael Wolff ran in politicalwire.com today: “The dirty little secret of conservative talk radio is that the average age of listeners is 67 and rising… What’s more, it’s the Internet that is the fast-growing and arguably more powerful political medium — and it

By Paul Burka