The latest state government news from The Texas Tribune.
House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, enters the next legislative session as a clear favorite for re-election, but the issues raised in the conservative wave in this year's elections could dominate the Legislature's calendar. Full Story
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Local prosecutors are now responsible for pursuing cases targeting fuel tax theft after the public integrity unit's motor fuels tax fraud division shuttered last summer, a move that followed state funding cuts. Some are concerned that criminals will see less of a deterrent to fuel tax fraud schemes. Full Story
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Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and his challenger Dan Patrick went head to head Tuesday night in a debate hosted by the Central Texas Tea Party. The debate followed last week's release of Patrick's medical records and the ensuing political firestorm over it. Full Story
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The University of Texas System Board of Regents voted Tuesday to keep tuition stable for in-state students at all of the system's academic institutions. Full Story
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University of Texas System Regent Wallace Hall, who was asked to resign last week by the chairman of the board of regents, sent a letter to the chairman on Monday saying he does not intend to do any such thing, according to Hall's lawyer. Full Story
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The election year doesn't end until the first Tuesday in November, but in the Texas Legislature, most of the competition is over, and lawmakers can dig into issues otherwise too dangerous for political season. Full Story
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At a news conference Friday in Austin, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz touched on the state’s bitter Republican primary runoffs, the Benghazi investigation, his argument against a minimum wage hike and Gov. Rick Perry’s efforts to tout the Texas miracle around the country. Full Story
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Three days after a legislative committee said there were grounds to impeach University of Texas System Regent Wallace Hall, the chairman of UT’s board of regents said Hall should resign. Full Story
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Last year, lawmakers told the Texas Juvenile Justice Department to close a facility, and the agency drew up plans to shutter its aging Corsicana detention center. Now, lawmakers are keeping it open at a cost of $100,000 a month. Full Story
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LaSalle County, which is in the heart of the Eagle Ford Shale, has sued the Texas Department of Transportation over a $225 million grant program aimed at repairing roads damaged by oilfield traffic. Full Story
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More than six months after a series of earthquakes surprised parts of North Texas, the mayors of two shaken-up towns told a state House subcommittee Monday that the state has moved too slowly in investigating what’s behind the phenomenon. Full Story
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UPDATED: The House Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations voted Monday that there are grounds to impeach University of Texas System Regent Wallace Hall. Full Story
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UPDATED: With all of the precincts counted, Brandon Creighton and Steve Toth finished first and second and appear headed for a runoff in the contest to succeed Tommy Williams in the Texas Senate. Full Story
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A $5-per-patron fee is not an unconstitutional occupation tax and must be paid by Texas strip clubs that serve alcohol, an appeals court ruled Friday. Full Story
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At our May 8 TribLive conversation, state Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, a Republican candidate for Texas attorney general in 2014, praised the work of the Texas House under Speaker Joe Straus but stopped short of saying he'd back him in another leadership race. Full Story
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At our May 8 TribLive conversation, state Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, a Republican candidate for Texas attorney general in 2014, responded to questions about his commitment to transparency and explained where he stands on "dark money." Full Story
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Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and state Sen. Dan Patrick lodged their most personal attacks yet in a political roundtable on WFAA-TV in Dallas. Patrick is trying to unseat Dewhurst in the May 27 Republican runoff. Full Story
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The Texas Department of Public Safety is not horsing around with its new mounted patrol unit for the state Capitol complex. Formally introduced Tuesday morning, it includes three donated horses and four trained state troopers. Full Story
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While the federal Bureau of Land Management spends the next several years figuring out whether it owns some 90,000 acres of land along a 116-mile stretch of the Red River, landowners will continue paying taxes, at least for now. Full Story
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During Dan Branch's first year in the House, he was a driving force behind an effort to prevent the disclosure of conflicts of interest that can arise when lawmakers work for firms that lobby the state Legislature. Full Story
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