The latest state government news from The Texas Tribune.
As lawmakers debate what kinds of tax cuts they like best, and voters point at property taxes as their favorite, a national conservative group is starting a grassroots campaign to promote repeal of the state's business margins tax. Full Story
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In theory, clean, safe water should be flowing to all of Rio Grande City's 14,000 residents, but a long-standing arrangement with a handful of locally owned corporations keeps it from some parts of town. This is part of our five-story Undrinkable series. Full Story
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Texas lawmakers consider different approaches to transforming the state's unwieldy, loophole-ridden system of contract oversight into something that can be properly tracked, analyzed and, when needed, restrained. Full Story
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At our 3/10 symposium on water, I talked about life after Proposition 6 with Chairman Jim Keffer of the House Natural Resources Committee, Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller; and Chairman Carlos Rubinstein of the Texas Water Development Board. Full Story
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Texas House leaders unveiled a plan Tuesday to shore up the state's chronically underfunded retirement system for employees that requires workers to pay more into the system, but gives them a pay raise to offset the cost. Full Story
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As we follow bills on environmental issues during the 84th legislative session, we'll keep you updated on legislation addressing reforms on how groundwater is managed. Stay caught up on the session with our Texas Legislative Guide. Full Story
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Texas legislators have an unfamiliar problem: They have more money available to spend than their self-imposed limits will allow. And it's enough to start debates even where there is broad agreement. Full Story
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A bill that would ban texting while driving passed its first legislative hurdle Tuesday when lawmakers voted it out of the House Transportation Committee. Full Story
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Senate leaders on Tuesday rolled out more legislation that would change how the state sets its limit on spending for each budget biennium, and let lawmakers pass tax cuts that don't count toward the cap. Full Story
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A bill before a Texas Senate committee is bringing into focus the simmering debate over local control in the state. It's a charge that has been backed by Gov. Greg Abbott and state legislators who see cities overstepping their authority. Full Story
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Safe running water remains out of reach for the residents of Las Pampas. The residents of this remote West Texas colonia are forced to haul water from miles away. This is part of our five-story Undrinkable series on border communities that lack reliable, clean water. Full Story
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Efforts to ban longtime politicians from double-dipping their salaries and their pensions — as former Gov. Rick Perry started doing in 2011 — went nowhere two years ago. But this year the idea is picking up steam. Full Story
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Two of the three candidates on the short list to be president of the University of Texas at Austin remain in the hunt, sources say. The front-runner comes with a very good pedigree — and a very large price tag. Full Story
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Use our Texas Legislative Guide to stay updated on the issues that lawmakers are debating this legislative session. This week, our featured section is Environment. Full Story
Texas film heavyweights are asking lawmakers to create a separate funding strategy for video game incentives instead of continuing shared funding with film and television incentives. The video game lobby isn't ready for a split. Full Story
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Reliable access to clean drinking water is not a reality for tens of thousands of Texans living along the Mexican border, despite a multibillion-dollar effort that has spanned decades. Those left behind face third-world conditions and grave health risks. Full Story
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In the Roundup: The Texas Senate passed its first legislation this week, state Republican leaders again addressed Medicaid expansion and reforms, and new bills aim to preserve the federal health subsidies in question in a U.S. Supreme Court case. Full Story
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GOP lawmakers, in their effort to put Planned Parenthood out of business, could change how they fund a cancer screening program for poor women. But private clinics unaffiliated with Planned Parenthood say they'd take a hit, too. Full Story
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Doctors, law enforcement officers, and family members of crash victims gathered Thursday at the Capitol to testify in support of a statewide texting-while-driving ban. Forty-four states now ban text messaging while driving. Full Story
Lawmakers want to send voters a tax cut but fear spending the money the cut requires without asking voters for permission. Full Story
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