They called it the kumbaya session, but we still found plenty of scoundrels and statesmen.
86th Legislature
A constitutional amendment on the ballot in November aims to shore up funding for Texas’s system of state parks and historic sites.
Thanks to the the Texas Legislature, you and your plumber will soon have the same credentials.
A new law strips the Texas Agriculture Department’s oversight of barbecue scales. But Miller has a history of thumbing his nose at the Lege.
Texas's top lawmakers managed to put together an $11.5 billion package, but they did it in a way that all but guarantees a tax hike in 2021.
In one of the worst legislative sessions for criminal justice reform in years, bipartisan legislation got caught between an ugly fight between the police lobby and prominent Democrats.
The governor, lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the House announced a deal on property taxes and school finance. It sounds good, but offered awfully little in the way of specifics.
Let us count the ways legislators passed, killed, and then resurrected what was a popular, bipartisan way to limit arrests for minor infractions.
Stickland and his band of merry pranksters could have pushed the Legislature into a special session by killing a popular bill to increase mental health services for kids.
The last few days have brought tearful, angry debate over abortion, religious discrimination, and LGBTQ rights.
The Legislature’s own budget advisors have warned that a constitutional amendment prohibiting an income tax could cost the state billions in lost revenue from the business tax.
House lawmakers are watching the clock as a key lawmaker's absence from the Capitol has suddenly imperiled a controversial elections measure.
In a fit of idiocy and confusion, Democrats in the Legislature not once, but twice derailed bipartisan legislation prohibiting police from making arrests for minor infractions.
But don’t think that means Representative Jonathan Stickland is all grown up. He’s still more or less the lib-baiting troll he’s always been.
Kennedy’s presentation to vaccine activists at the Capitol was a master class in how to turn fears toward a dangerous cause.
In a dispute between cities and the state, employees and employers, you can probably guess who has the upper hand.
The Big Three are desperate to save their property tax proposal. Among the ideas to buy down property taxes is an increase in the oil and gas severance tax.
Despite Representative Celia Israel’s emotional, personal testimony, her bill to curtail the discredited practice has little chance of becoming law.
Once upon a time, the Texas Senate was Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick’s whole world. His turbulent 2014 campaign for the post was a radical change in Texas politics, the tea party revolution taking the throne. In his inauguration speech he proclaimed that his arrival marked “a new day…
If you’re going to traffick in conspiracy theories, at least be nice about it.
The senators who will help finalize the state budget—which affects 28 million Texans—are all white and Republican, and four of the five are from the Houston area.
Many Texans think their property taxes are too high. But the highly regressive sales tax would put even more of a burden on those who can least afford it.
In a powerful floor speech Monday, Senator Kel Seliger offers a demonstration of decency that diminishes the lieutenant governor’s raw power play.
Unless a compromise can be reached next week, Patrick's decision to move forward will upend decades of Senate tradition.
The rookie lawmaker stunned the Texas Senate.
The Austin senator grills the secretary of state to get to the bottom of the controversial elections advisory.
One of the most anticipated lists in Texas politics will be publicly deliberated for the first time.
The first step in that direction came from Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who announced a bill that would give Texas teachers a $5,000 pay raise.
The 86th Legislature convenes at noon on Tuesday. Here's a primer on some of this year’s action.
