TribLive: A Conversation About Transportation
Full video of Aman Batheja's 4/4 TribLive conversation with state Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, and state Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman. Full Story
The latest Texas Legislature news from The Texas Tribune.
Full video of Aman Batheja's 4/4 TribLive conversation with state Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, and state Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman. Full Story
If the state government's resistance to expanding Medicaid sounds familiar, it's because something like this happened when George W. Bush was governor, and conservatives were wary of the Children's Health Insurance Program. Full Story
On the latest Agenda Texas, from KUT News and the Tribune: While there was plenty of action on the floor as the House debated a budget bill on Thursday, we took a look at the work being done outside of the chamber. Full Story
A few bursts of drama punctuated an otherwise tame day of debate over the House budget on Thursday. Full Story
Updated: The House on Monday passed Senate Bill 201 without any debate, and without Sen. John Whitmire's amendment to prohibit smoking on Capitol grounds. Whitmire has said he will fight for his amendment when the two chambers reconcile differences in a conference committee. Full Story
Texas House members are expected to debate well into the night Thursday as they take up the lower chamber's budget proposal, which includes 267 amendments. Full Story
A marathon budget debate today may keep House lawmakers at the Capitol past midnight. Full Story
A new website and database released by the Texas Policy Evaluation Project explores the impact of cuts made in 2011 to state family-planning services, breaking down information on the county and district level. Full Story
With the addition of more than a dozen statewide elected officials to our Lawmaker Explorer — including Attorney General Greg Abbott and Comptroller Susan Combs and the state's railroad commissioners and Supreme Court justices — we're renaming it the Ethics Explorer. Full Story
Amid fierce debate this week, a Senate Republican has started work on his own "Texas solution" to Medicaid reform. Full Story
UPDATED: The Senate on Tuesday passed a bill to increase the range of potential punishment for hit-and-run accidents that result in deaths. Full Story
A bill up for debate in a House committee on Tuesday would prohibit ticket brokers and live event venues from restricting how fans re-sell their tickets. Venues and sports teams say the measure protects scalpers, not consumers. Full Story
With eight weeks to go in the legislative session, lawmakers got a running start at their big issues: water, education and the budget. Full Story
Cable TV providers are asking lawmakers to let them out of $200 million in sales taxes to offset local franchise fees their satellite competitors don't have to pay. Some lawmakers are worried about the state programs that would go unfunded as a result. Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry and other top GOP leaders said Medicaid is broken, and adding more Texans to the program would bankrupt the state. Expansion advocates said it would reduce the state's uninsured population, largely on the federal dime. Full Story
The Texas rhetoric around a key tenet of federal health reform reached a high-water mark on Monday, with back-to-back press conferences at the Capitol featuring political leaders on both sides of the aisle. Full Story
This week in the Newsreel: The Legislature makes progress on key education and water bills; Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, is busted for barratry; and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst bares his partisan teeth. Full Story
State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, the Republican chairwoman of the House Public Health Committee, gives a whiteboard math lesson in this video posted by Gov. Rick Perry's office. Full Story
At this morning's TribLive conversation, University of Texas System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa and Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp talked about the per-student decline in state funding of higher education and whether excellence is achievable on a lean budget. Full Story
As state Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, detailed his objections to House Bill 5 on Tuesday, what he did not mention is that whether students enroll in challenging courses and the number of state exams they must take could affect his livelihood. Full Story