Water plan complicates passage of budget deal in Texas House
AUSTIN — Legislative leaders confronted more delays Tuesday in trying to finalize a state budget agreement as House members deferred action on one key component a far-reaching water plan to...
View ArticleHundreds of House Bills Dead, For Now
The final gun for passing legislation proposed by lawmakers in the Texas House sounded Friday, killing hundreds of bills, most of which never even made it to the floor for debate. While bills still...
View ArticleHundreds of House bills dead — at least for now
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The final gun for passing legislation proposed by lawmakers in the Texas House sounded Friday, killing hundreds of bills, most of which never even made it to the floor for debate....
View ArticleHundreds of House bills dead _ at least for now
The final gun for passing legislation proposed by lawmakers in the Texas House sounded Friday, killing hundreds of bills, most of which never even made it to the floor for debate. While bills still...
View ArticleHenson: Legislature should reject bill allowing more wiretapping
Local control has its place, but the proliferation of invasive government surveillance technology isn't necessarily one of them. Senate Bill 188 by state Sen. Joan Huffman, sponsored in the Texas...
View ArticlePlan for driver permits for undocumented immigrants thwarted
AUSTIN — Tea party-backed Rep. Van Taylor successfully torpedoed a plan Friday aimed at giving undocumented immigrants the chance to get specialized driving permits. The proposal came up on the House...
View Article'Dark money' disclosure bill nears approval
AUSTIN — Texas House on Monday tentatively passed a controversial proposal aimed at shining a light on secret campaign spending. Senate Bill 346 takes direct aim at the cloak of anonymity that shields...
View ArticleEditorial: Legislative progress report
Haven’t we done enough? The implied question hung like a stink bomb over what should have been a satisfying day of landmark reform of criminal justice in Texas. Just a few hours earlier on Tuesday,...
View ArticleVeteran House lawmaker says Senate 'disrespectful'
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A veteran House Democrat is leading a mini revolt against the Senate, saying he will use a...
View ArticleHope for the mentally ill
When the largest mental health facility in Harris County is the jail in downtown Houston, it's glaringly obvious that sensible and compassionate treatment for those suffering mental illnesses has...
View ArticleEllis: ‘I need some help’ passing exoneree commission bill
Prosecutors are fighting Sen. Rodney Ellis‘ efforts to pass through the...
View ArticleLawmakers on verge of state budget deal in Austin
AUSTIN — Lawmakers raced to close the final differences in a two-year state budget Friday as an angry House member threatened to create political upheaval in the final days of the 2013 Legislature to...
View ArticleHouse stalls votes on Senate bills; Senate considers response
A dispute between Senate and House members from Houston brought legislative action to a halt for a time Friday, as end-of-session tensions began to flare into a public controversy. After...
View ArticleLegislative Notebook: Whitmire again declares 'campus carry' dead this session
AUSTIN — Sen. John Whitmire, who has almost single-handedly controlled the flow of proposed legislation to allow guns in college classrooms, said Tuesday the bill does not have the 21 votes needed in...
View ArticleInnocent man’s brother angrily accuses senator of callousness
A hearing on creating an Innocence Commission took on angry overtones after Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, said the state didn’t need another layer of bureaucracy second-guessing the criminal justice...
View ArticleThe week's winners and losers
Houston Mayor Annise Parker had an especially good week. Her initiative to care better and more efficiently for the homeless began rolling out this week, with its first five people placed in permanent...
View ArticleMother of wrongfully convicted man honored by state Senate
AUSTIN — Ruby Cole Session of Fort Worth, the mother of wrongly convicted inmate Timothy Brian Cole, was honored on the floor of the Texas Senate on Tuesday for her achievements as an educator,...
View ArticleGov. Perry signs Michael Morton Act into law
Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday signed the Michael Morton Act into law with Morton and the senators and representatives who made it possible at his side. Morton didn’t speak to the press, just smiled...
View ArticleCommittee OKs switchblades, innocence commission stalls again
In a push to get bills before the full Texas Senate Friday, a proposal to take switchblades off of the state’s prohibited weapons list was voted out of committee, while a bill to establish a...
View ArticleSen. Joan Huffman chewed out by witness on exoneree bill
Sen. Joan Huffman was chewed out big today by witnesses at a Senate hearing after she hit a nerve about whether the state is doing enough to fight wrongful convictions. One of the witnesses was Cory...
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