High Texas property taxes were an issue in the state’s 2018 elections, and you can see from their work on a new homestead exemption earlier this week that state lawmakers didn’t forget that lesson from voters.
Texas Legislature 2019
The 86th Legislature runs from Jan. 8 to May 27. From the state budget to health care to education policy — and the politics behind it all — we focus on what Texans need to know about the biennial legislative session.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Analysis: A Texas state budget — minus $38.6 billion in federal stimulus money
The state budget approved by the Texas Senate on Tuesday is just the start: Lawmakers still have to decide what to do with billions in federal COVID-19 relief money.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2019
This year, Texas passed a law legalizing hemp. It also has prosecutors dropping hundreds of marijuana cases.
The new law changed the definition of marijuana, and prosecutors and crime labs say they don’t have the resources to test if a substance is legal hemp or marijuana.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2019
Texas is trying to limit public money from going to abortion providers. Some fear other health services could get cut.
Starting in September, government agencies will no longer be able to provide anything of value to abortion providers or their affiliates. Opponents of the law fear it could mean the end of some public health and education programs across the state.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2019
Children can still be charged with prostitution in Texas after Greg Abbott veto
Lawmakers praised a bill for protecting victims of human trafficking, but the governor said it it would have “unintended consequences” and could provide an incentive for human traffickers to use underage prostitutes.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2019
New Texas law protects rent-to-own customers against criminal prosecution
Texas made it easy for rent-to-own companies to press criminal charges against people who fell behind on their payments for household goods. A new law, passed after a Texas Tribune and NerdWallet investigation, gives broad new protections to their customers.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2019
After Gov. Greg Abbott vetoes cyberbullying prevention bill, some worry forms of online harassment will continue unchecked
The bill would have made it a crime to repeatedly use social media to harass or torment someone. It was aimed at protecting children from some indirect forms of cyberbullying.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2019
Texas Tech receives $17 million to build the state’s second vet school
The Legislature designated the funding for the Amarillo campus over objections of Texas A&M University, which currently runs the only veterinary medicine school in the state.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2019
Texas prison guards to get a small raise, but some doubt it will help with chronic understaffing
The state’s two-year budget provided $84 million to increase salaries for correctional officers and other prison employees as the Texas Department of Criminal Justice faces nearly 4,000 empty guard positions.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2019
Here’s how some of the Texas Legislature’s most important bills fared in the 2019 session
Greg Abbott is done vetoing and signing bills for the 2019 Texas session. Here are the big bills that passed — and the ones that failed.