Legislation approved this year is partly aimed at helping Texas meet its goal of helping 60% of working-age Texans get a postsecondary degree or credential by 2030.

State legislators passed an array of bills this year aimed at reining in the state’s high home prices and rents.

A top priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the legislation would make it easier to construct homes on smaller lots. A House Democrat briefly killed the bill.

There’s political urgency for Republicans to deal with housing affordability, especially as surveys find most Texans say housing costs are a top concern.

While most GOP state reps stand by their votes, Reps. JM Lozano of Kingsville and Gary Gates of Richmond have publicly distanced themselves since the September impeachment trial in the state Senate.

A state lawmaker from Fort Bend County is facing questions after leaving town this week while the region battled the effects of the winter weather. State Rep. Gary Gates, a Republican from the Richmond area, said he spent two nights in Florida beginning on Wednesday and returned to Texas on Friday. The cold weather left many in southeast Texas without power or water. AdApproximately 30 percent of his home flooded because of broken pipes, Gates said, and he lost power on Tuesday night. “I felt that I needed to be able to be in the best position to try to be somewhere where I had dependable power, dependable internet and dependable phone service,” Gates said.