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3 weeks ago | 
expressnews.com | Taylor Goldenstein |Isaac Yu |Megan Kimble |Benjamin Wermund
The 89th legislative session came to a close this week, and while it was an exceedingly good session for Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, there were a number of surprise failures as well. Lawmakers filed more bills this session than they have in over three decades (8,719) but passed the smallest percentage of them (13.8%) compared to sessions during that same period, according to political lawyer Andy Cates. The average rate is around 20%, Cates said.
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3 weeks ago | 
expressnews.com | Taylor Goldenstein |Isaac Yu
Texas lawmakers on Monday unveiled a portrait of state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, a Houston Democrat who is the longest-serving woman in the Texas Legislature, that will soon hang in the halls of the Capitol in Austin. Her likeness was rendered by another Texas legend, Kermit Oliver, who was the first Black artist to be represented by a major commercial gallery in Houston.
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1 month ago | 
houstonchronicle.com | Benjamin Wermund |Isaac Yu
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Wednesday unveiled a table full of THC products bought in Texas — popcorn, gummies, lollipops, drinks and cookies — that he warned were poisoning children and adults alike. It’s not just “Dan’s priority,” Patrick said at a news conference, backed by sheriffs and prosecutors.
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1 month ago | 
statesman.com | Benjamin Wermund |Isaac Yu
It’s not just “Dan’s priority,” Patrick said at a news conference, backed by sheriffs and prosecutors. “This is to save an entire generation from being hooked on drugs.”While he was speaking to a line of TV cameras and dozens of reporters whom he implored to “sell the story” to Texans, he might as well have had an audience of one: Gov. Greg Abbott.
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1 month ago | 
expressnews.com | Scott Huddleston |Isaac Yu
Texans could soon remember the Alamo in a new way. A bill putting the Alamo under direct oversight of the governor, lieutenant governor and other elected state leaders was approved Monday in the House, although with a last-minute change that could impact the bill's prospects. The site in downtown San Antonio has been in the care of the General Land Office since 2011.
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1 month ago | 
houstonchronicle.com | Scott Huddleston |Isaac Yu
Texans could soon remember the Alamo in a new way. A bill putting the Alamo under direct oversight of the governor, lieutenant governor and other elected state leaders was approved Monday in the House, although with a last-minute change that could impact the bill’s prospects. The site in downtown San Antonio has been in the care of the General Land Office since 2011.
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1 month ago | 
houstonchronicle.com | Taylor Goldenstein |Isaac Yu
Proposals in the Texas House to restrict pet sales, kill high-speed rail, ban so-called forever chemicals and more are dead along with hundreds of other bills that missed key deadlines for consideration. House members were required to take up bills for the first time no later than Thursday at midnight, meaning anything left on the table by that time was effectively killed, including bills that had passed out of committees and were scheduled for floor votes.
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1 month ago | 
expressnews.com | Taylor Goldenstein |Isaac Yu
Proposals in the Texas House to restrict pet sales, kill high-speed rail, ban so-called forever chemicals and more are dead along with hundreds of other bills that missed key deadlines for consideration. House members were required to take up bills for the first time no later than Thursday at midnight, meaning anything left on the table by that time was effectively killed, including bills that had passed out of committees and were scheduled for floor votes.
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1 month ago | 
expressnews.com | Taylor Goldenstein |Isaac Yu
The Frio County judge and several other former and current elected officials have been indicted and most of them arrested for alleged vote harvesting, the latest development in a multi-year investigation by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The indictments obtained by Hearst Newspapers describe a scheme in which some of the accused allegedly influencedvotes in exchange for money or other benefits to aid several officials, including Frio County Judge Rochelle Camacho.
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1 month ago | 
houstonchronicle.com | Caroline Wilburn |Isaac Yu
Texas commissioners overseeing jail standards questioned an apparent lack of effort by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office to bring home more than a thousand inmates outsourced to Louisiana and Mississippi. During a Thursday meeting in Austin, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards directed the sheriff’s office to begin seeking contracts with jails in Texas to accommodate the 1,215 people awaiting trial who are being housed out of state.
