INSIDER
Senator Ted Cruz is advocating for the House to pass the "Take It Down Act," a bill aimed at tackling revenge porn and AI-generated explicit material, following its unanimous approval in the Senate.
Patrick contends retailers have exploited a law passed in 2019 to sell unregulated and potentially harmful consumable tetrahydrocannabinol products.
Modeled after the state’s $6 billion cancer research fund, the dementia fund — a legislative priority for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — could pump hundreds of millions of dollars into Texas researchers.
School voucher supporters say they have the votes to get a bill across both the Texas Senate, led by Patrick, and the House, which has repeatedly blocked such proposals.
Hinojosa won the only competitive seat in the Texas Senate this cycle, besting Sen. Morgan LaMantia two years after she narrowly defeated him.
Texas might not be a swing state, but many of its races will have major consequences to the national political landscape and on the lives of everyday Texans.
Texas’ junk science statute has remained hamstrung for the last decade. So too have other criminal justice reforms, despite efforts from the Texas House.
Gov. Greg Abbott gave an inflated number of noncitizens removed from the state’s voter rolls, officials acknowledged, confirming findings by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune, and Votebeat.
Here’s what you need to know after a ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and Votebeat investigation found that Gov. Greg Abbott likely inflated the number of noncitizens on voter rolls.
About 25% of Texas’ correctional officer positions are unfilled. Inmates say the shortages make it harder for them to get respite during hot summer months.
The new list includes many right-wing priorities, and would escalate Republicans’ wars against diversity, equity and inclusion programs and review laws to keep noncitizens off voter rolls.
In a significant move to ensure election integrity, Texas has removed over one million people from its voter rolls, Governor Greg Abbott announced on Monday.
Get The Texas Tribune’s coverage of election results for the 2024 primary runoff elections, which includes the Texas Legislature and more.
Tuesday’s Texas Senate hearing comes as lawmakers are expected to propose new laws next year to enforce the DEI ban and prevent antisemitism.
Cook will fill John Whitmire’s unexpired term — but will face Johnson again in a Democratic primary runoff for a full four-year term.
State Rep. Jarvis Johnson and emergency room nurse Molly Cook are duking it out in a sleepy special election to briefly occupy the seat vacated when Whitmire was elected mayor.
The battle to succeed retiring state Sen. Drew Springer has come down to a May 28 runoff between Brent Hagenbuch and Jace Yarbrough.
Johnson is virtually assured to have won the seat, because there is no Republican challenger in November.
Whitmire held the Senate seat for four decades. Six Democrats are now competing for the seat in the upper chamber.
The bombshell request by retiring state Sen. Drew Springer, R-Muenster, comes after Paxton decided to stop fighting a whistleblower lawsuit whose claims factored into his impeachment trial.
At the same time, the judge denied a motion by Brent Hagenbuch to dismiss the case challenging his eligibility, letting it move forward ahead of the March primary.
The four whistleblowers asked the court last month to force the attorney general and his aides to sit for deposition, which would require them to answer questions under oath related to the allegations of bribery and corruption.
With both Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton out for revenge, Republican members of the Texas House are the top target on the ballot.
Neave Craido revealed her decision to the Dallas Morning News in an interview published Monday, saying Johnson has not fought hard enough to push back against the Republican agenda.
In court filings Tuesday, the secretary of state’s office argued that the plaintiffs in the election contests “never served a citation” properly. But there’s no guarantee it’ll work.
The decision to end work Tuesday leaves long odds for bills to boost school safety funding and make sure that election challenges don’t delay the implementation of property tax cuts, teacher pension raises and infrastructure spending.
Senate Bill 5 would send an extra $800 million to public schools for security upgrades over the next two years. But the measure is at risk of becoming the latest casualty of the rift between the Texas House and Senate.
Fallon, who made the decision 24 hours after filing to run for his old Texas Senate seat, did not say why he changed his mind. His staff said the congressperson would provide more information later.
Fallon served in the Texas Senate for two years before running for Congress. He won’t see reelection in the U.S. House.
The Senate revved to life Thursday, holding committee hearings with little advance notice and advancing four bills that satisfy Abbott’s agenda.
The Republican, who represents a north Texas district, is the first member of the state Senate to announce ahead of the Nov. 11 start of the filing period that he won’t be running.
The Senate on Sunday afternoon failed to take action on a border security bill, leaving virtually no time to pass the bill before the special session ends on Tuesday.
The revised bill promises a significant funding increase for public schools and academic accountability measures for students participating in the proposed voucher program, two of the biggest requests from voucher opponents.
Journalists covering the Texas Capitol discussed what came out of this year’s third special session and what is still to be resolved.
With rural Texas relatively underserved by private schools, the potential for expansion could play a role in the debate over whether to let families use taxpayer money to pay for private education.
Violations could bring a $50,000 fine under an amendment adopted Wednesday. The bill’s sponsor said the ban would be the strongest in the nation.
Republicans showed a more clear divide, giving the Senate higher marks than the House for how the attorney general’s impeachment was handled.
The Senate’s Republican bill would let state leaders grow the program by taking money from other agencies without the Legislature’s approval. The House bill would bar the practice.
House Bill 1 would make an educational savings account program available to 25,000 Texas students in its first year, with increased participation to follow. The governor’s office indicated that the proposal was lacking.
Emails obtained by The Texas Tribune show the attorneys were expected to return to work after the impeachment trial ended and their extended absence raised concerns internally about the offices’ ability to function properly.
The Democrat has dedicated significant energy to probing law enforcement’s response to the Uvalde school shooting. But he faces a fundraising deficit against U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas.
Like in Texas, voucher programs in other states sparked vigorous debates, came with the same promises and faced similar concerns. Not all predictions came true.
Though lawmakers have drafted a bill to increase public school funding and teacher salaries, it cannot pass during the special session unless Abbott adds those issues to his agenda.
The Senate also approved Senate Bill 2, which would infuse $5.2 billion to school districts to help them with teacher raises and rising costs. Gov. Greg Abbott said he would add those items to the special session’s agenda once lawmakers approve a voucher program.
A Senate panel on Tuesday advanced such a measure. The debate centered largely around the safety of the vaccine and whether doctors’ offices and health care facilities should be exempt.
Newly released body camera footage shows state Sen. Charles Schwertner’s February arrest for suspicion of drunk driving. Travis County prosecutors dropped the charge in July.
The whistleblower lawsuit, which argues that four senior staffers were improperly fired in retaliation for reporting Paxton to the FBI, returns to a Travis County trial court for action.
On Monday, the former state employees argued that Paxton has failed to uphold key parts of the settlement agreement, including a $3.3 million payment and a promise to apologize.
The lieutenant governor said that he took just as much from “the other side,” including donors aligned with Texans for Lawsuit Reform, which Paxton has labeled a political enemy.
In his first remarks since being acquitted on 16 articles of impeachment, the suspended Texas attorney general blamed Democrats while also taking aim at a number of high-profile Republicans.
“I feel there were six senators who were ready to be the 21st vote,” said Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas. “But they didn’t want to be the 20th vote.”
The Texas House and Senate were already far apart on “school choice.” Anger over the impeachment trial might make it even harder to find common ground.
Angela Paxton, the wife of Attorney General Ken Paxton, released a written statement Monday after her husband was acquitted on all 20 articles of impeachment in the Texas Senate on Saturday in Austin.
The House impeachment managers faced a high bar: convincing enough Republican senators to vote against their own political self-interest.
Kelly Hancock and Robert Nichols broke from the rest of their party, but longtime observers said they weren’t surprised.
The victory for Attorney General Paxton was not even close, it was overwhelming and it also was filled with much emotion especially afterwards from both sides with what took place in there.
Those disappointed by the Senate vote, blame political polarization. Those pleased with the acquittal say the evidence fell short.
Democrats, however, said their GOP colleagues “caved” to outside pressure in voting to acquit and return Ken Paxton to his job as attorney general.
The lieutenant governor criticized the House for a secretive and rushed process that “wasted” taxpayer dollars. The House speaker fired back, saying Patrick confessed his bias and contempt.
After spending two weeks listening to both sides make their case, Texas Senators voted to acquit Paxton on all 16 articles of impeachment. Because of this vote, Paxton will remain in office.
Only two of 19 Republican Senators voted in favor of convicting for any article — a stark contrast to the more than 70% of House Republicans who impeached the attorney general in May.
Senators begin deliberating in private after defense lawyers and impeachment managers make impassioned pleas after two weeks of trial.
Impeachment at all levels of government are becoming more common, a political scientist said. It could make the political tool pointless.
Texans will decide the fate of 14 constitutional amendments approved for the ballot by state lawmakers. Here’s a breakdown of each constitutional amendment and requirements to vote.
Senators will hear closing arguments beginning at 9 a.m. Friday, after which they will deliberate in private before emerging to cast votes on whether the attorney general can remain in office.
The House prosecutors failed to call a star witness and battled with the defense attorneys over allegations the suspended attorney general had been bribed by Nate Paul.
Drew Wicker, Paxton’s former personal assistant, testified at Paxton’s impeachment trial that his boss used four cell phones and ditched his security to meet with Nate Paul. But Wicker also provided Paxton’s lawyer with a chance to attack a central bribery allegation.
Watch a livestream of the attorney general’s impeachment trial and get the latest updates as senators weigh his political future.
Darren McCarty said the attorney general, his former boss, approached the Mitte Foundation lawsuit with “urgency and anxiety” — and a focus on helping his friend and political donor.
Houston lawyer Brandon Cammack said he was excited to help the attorney general’s office with a criminal investigation. But after a whirlwind month, he was fired without payment and felt he’d “gotten the rug pulled out from me.”
A Paxton whistleblower testified that the attorney general took an unusual interest in Nate Paul’s litigation against a charity in 2020. Another said Paul benefited from an opinion on foreclosures.
“My heart broke for her,” Katherine “Missy” Cary said of Sen. Angela Paxton, Ken Paxton’s wife. Angela Paxton is disqualified from voting but has to attend the trial.
Mark Penley testified that Paxton made numerous negative comments about the Texas Department of Public Safety because of his 2015 securities fraud case. “He doesn’t trust the [DPS] director and he feels like they ran a corrupt investigation on him,” he said.
One whistleblower testified that Ken Paxton didn’t trust law enforcement after his own securities fraud indictment. Senators could begin deliberating the impeachment charges later this week.
The suspended attorney general’s lawyers focused on disloyalty and attacked evidence, while impeachment managers accused Paxton of excessive and obsessive misconduct. Neither side ignored the politics behind the case.
A former Texas lawman says he told Attorney General Ken Paxton in 2020 that he was risking indictment by by helping a donor under FBI investigation.
On cross examination, Paxton’s defense attorney launched into whistleblower Ryan Vassar for bringing no physical evidence when he and others reported their boss to the FBI. Vassar said he was a witness and not an investigator.
