The latest Texas Senate news from The Texas Tribune.
When lawmakers find something in the law that they don’t like — or that their voters don’t like — they can always say they didn’t know what they were voting on. It happens more than you’d think. Full Story
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The bills reflect GOP efforts to further tighten voting laws, and pressure from former President Donald Trump on Texas Republicans to help advance his baseless election fraud claims. They are not expected to go far in the House. Full Story
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Despite the objections of U.S. Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green, the Senate committee voted out the redrawn congressional map Monday without addressing the district overlap. The map heads next to the full Senate for a vote. Full Story
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Republican lawmakers in Texas are trying to make the most of their majority, drawing new political maps to preserve their political dynasty. The maps they’ve proposed would do that, but don’t represent the state’s population. Full Story
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The Texas Legislature is in the midst of its third special session, which is dedicated to redrawing political maps based on the latest census data that showed people of color fueled 95% of Texas’ population growth over the past decade. Full Story
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The Texas Legislature is drawing new political maps to reflect the growth of the state recorded in the 2020 census. But their initial proposals don't look like the state demographically or politically. Full Story
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Dowd said Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has focused on “culture war” issues to divide and hurt Texans. Full Story
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The initial drafts of both maps have so far attempted to strengthen Republican majorities by protecting incumbents and creating more GOP-friendly districts. Full Story
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The news comes less than a month after Paddie, who has represented House District 9 since 2013, announced he would run for reelection. Full Story
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The threat was apparently made on Reddit and included the names of House and Senate members who voted for Senate Bill 8 during the regular legislative session. Full Story
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Within hours, Flores got the endorsement of Sen. Dawn Buckingham, R-Lakeway, who is vacating the seat to run for land commissioner, and then Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate. Full Story
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The Republican-dominated, 15-member board determines what millions of public school students in the state are taught in classrooms. Full Story
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The first draft of the Senate map was authored by a Republican who chairs the Senate Redistricting Committee. It immediately drew fire from a Democratic member who said her district was being redrawn to dilute voting power of people of color. Full Story
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Abbott vetoed the funding earlier this year as retribution for the House Democrats’ walkout to block the GOP elections bill at the end of the regular session. Full Story
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State Sen. Bryan Hughes authored the six-week abortion ban and the elections bill and carried other conservative priorities that grabbed national attention. Full Story
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The Legislature is expected to return soon for another special session focused on redrawing the state's political maps. Full Story
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The law requires social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram to produce regular reports of removed content and disclose their content regulations procedures. Full Story
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The legislation will need another stamp of approval in the House before it heads to the Senate, which has not yet debated its version of the proposal on the floor. Full Story
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The committee action came less than 24 hours after Dutton had taunted Patrick, threatening to hold his prized legislation back amid rumors that the Senate was stalling a bill to restore funding to the Legislature. Full Story
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After a standoff that lasted more than a month, the Texas House appears to have enough state representatives in Austin to conduct business. The divisions are deep, relationships are frayed and redistricting lies ahead. Full Story
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