Senator Whitmire’s Pension Provocations
When is advice a conflict of interest?
When is advice a conflict of interest?
The Legislative Budget Board is correct about the limits of the line-item veto—but Governor Abbott has plenty of power.
The latest “news” about the Texas attorney general.
He tipped his hand by backing the governor over the Lege.
On Monday, per WFAA, the state’s top law enforcement official will be charged with multiple felonies.
A look back at two other attorney-generals who ran into trouble.
Occam’s razor, y’all.
America’s flaws are inevitable, but so are our virtues.
The lieutenant governor responds to our selections.
Even if they weren’t distorted by politics, they’re too reductive to be reliable.
Evan Smith raises a few points of order.
A preview of the ten best and ten worst legislators of the Eighty-fourth Legislature.
The Legislature is leaving unspent $18 billion that could go to further tax cuts or repairs to infrastructure or even, perhaps, to education.
At first glance, yes. On closer inspection, probably not.
No offense to Michael Quinn Sullivan, but he’s never even won a Republican primary runoff, has he?
The Senate has already lost the fight over tax cuts.
The people behind the hidden camera investigation of the Legislature have more of a history of political activism than of journalism.
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.
In an amazing plot twist, the Texas Senate passed a real property tax reform bill yesterday.
On fiscal issues, at least, they have a unified front.
The Lieutenant Governor’s Internet Commenters Council is misreading history, and the Pre-K bill.
The bill passed today would either save the state money or provide thousands of scholarships to Texas students.
The House’s proposal is better than the Senate’s, for at least half a dozen reasons
The issue isn’t as partisan as it may appear.
It’s hard to argue with results of the House debate over the budget bill.
Texas should take a look at the franchise tax
The Senate passes open carry and campus carry.
Putting the spending cap at risk is damaging more than just that
The Senate’s proposals on property tax relief and debt service aren’t worth it
The Texas Senate offers a proposal to scrap the Texas Model.
Trey Martinez Fischer has a pointed explanation of why he lost the runoff in SD26
Dan Patrick and the Senate Republicans celebrated Texas Independence Day by throwing down the gauntlet on Medicaid.
R.G. Ratcliffe will rejoin BurkaBlog for the session
Joe Straus’s picks for the 84th session include lots of new chairs and not much drama.
Texas Muslim Capitol Day is marred by some unwelcoming behavior.
Technically speaking, every day is A New Day.
The Texas Senate’s vote to abandon the 2/3rds rule is all about campaign promises.
Let’s all agree on one this much: Medicaid is supposed to be a health care program, not a jobs plan.
On the first day of the Eighty-fourth Legislature, the Texas House voted for order.
Charles Schwertner makes the conservative case against tuition deregulation
The border surge, extended. Immigration action, executed. Hispanic voters, considered. And more!
A look at Texas's next lieutenant governor
When it comes to policy making, reasons matter.
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?
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.
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.
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
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
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
Deep into the State of the State address, Gov. Rick Perry endorsed a proposal by Sen. Dan Patrick and Rep. Frank Corte to, in Perry’s words, “require those wanting to terminate a pregnancy to review their ultrasound before proceeding.” Perry told the assembled lawmakers today that “as we consider the