The Cross-Examination
Evan Smith raises a few points of order.
Erica Grieder is a senior Editor at Texas Monthly. From 2007 to 2012, she covered Texas as the southwest correspondent for the Economist, to which she still contributes. Her writing has also appeared in the New York Times, the Spectator, the Atlantic, Foreign Policy, and the New Republic. Her first book, Big, Hot, Cheap and Right, was published in April 2013 by Public Affairs Books. She lives in Austin.
Evan Smith raises a few points of order.
A preview of the ten best and ten worst legislators of the Eighty-fourth Legislature.
They’re in a thankless position in the Lege these days.
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.
Eight hundred hours of secret video footage have the House on high alarm.
In honor of Mother’s Day, I’m defecting from the War on Women
In an amazing plot twist, the Texas Senate passed a real property tax reform bill yesterday.
A partial defense of the conspiracy theorists
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.
I’m a lot more credible than Judicial Watch. But don’t take my word for it.
The House’s proposal is better than the Senate’s, for at least half a dozen reasons
The case for Medicaid expansion.
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.
If the chamber isn’t taking things seriously, why should we?
A few highlights from our archives relating to Texas’s junior senator.
Texas should take a look at the franchise tax
The Senate passes open carry and campus carry.
How a few gun rights activists hijacked the political debate over open carry.
Putting the spending cap at risk is damaging more than just that
Kelly Hancock’s proposal is the first that would actually tighten the spending cap, rather than sabotage it.
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.
If social conservatives want to stop gay marriage, they need to come up with something, and soon.
Concealed carry has been legal since 1996—but the number of Texans applying for CHLs has exploded since 2008.
By Erica Grieder and R.G. Ratcliffe
State gun laws are more complex than open carry advocates often suggest.
By Erica Grieder and R.G. Ratcliffe
R.G. Ratcliffe will rejoin BurkaBlog for the session
Not bad, despite the ongoing open carry drama.
Joe Straus’s picks for the 84th session include lots of new chairs and not much drama.
State incentives can work as both. Abbott would prefer the former.
Texas Muslim Capitol Day is marred by some unwelcoming behavior.
Dan Patrick has some tough talk for the Tea Party about open carry.
Will 2018 bring another New Day?
Technically speaking, every day is A New Day.
The Texas Senate’s vote to abandon the 2/3rds rule is all about campaign promises.
Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, and the future of Texas.
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.
How Erica Grieder learned to stop worrying and look forward to the Eighty-fourth Legislature.
The Tea Party’s pursuit of purity is particularly damaging in Texas
John Boehner’s re-election shows that national conservatives should have been paying attention to the Tea Party’s travails in the Texas House.
Texas is much less vulnerable to an oil bust than it once was, or than one might think.
Jack Stick’s resignation shows that even in Texas, some things count as corruption
Step one: study Wendy Davis’s example.