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The latest state government news from The Texas Tribune.

  • Budget Blues

    By Emily Ramshaw

    As House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, laid out the first grim round of proposed cuts on Wednesday, even some of his Republican colleagues couldn't stifle their objections. House Democrats went a step further, calling the cuts "akin to asking an anorexic person to lose more weight." Full Story 

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  • A Plea For Fairness

    By Reeve Hamilton

    Every chancellor of a university system in Texas knows — down to the exact, excruciatingly precise percentage point — how much worse higher education fared than other agencies when their current budgets were cut. With the state facing a massive budget shortfall in the next biennium, the chancellors know they're in for another round. But this time they're adamant that they not bear a disproportionate share of the pain. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • Michael Williams Sizes Up Senate Race

    By Justin Dehn

    Michael Williams is leaving the Railroad Commission in April and preparing to announce his candidacy for the U.S. Senate. In an interview today with the Trib's Ross Ramsey, he talked about the 2012 race and about his confidence that minorities don't face any special hurdles in Texas GOP primaries. Full Story 

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  • TribBlog: LBB: State Must Improve Care For Disabled

    By Emily Ramshaw

    The way Texas is currently providing care for people with disabilities — keeping all its state institutions in operation, despite increasing demand for community-based care — is not cost effective, and should be changed, according to an analysis released by the Legislative Budget Board on Wednesday. Full Story 

    Austin State-Supported Living Center employee Tamika Mays is shown with resident Rebecca Hadnot in 2011.
    Credit: Todd Wiseman

  • Texas Inaugurama

    By Elise Hu

    Gov. Rick Perry was sworn in Tuesday for an unprecedented third full term, predicting that historians will look back on this time as the "Texas century." Full Story 

    Gov. Rick Perry swears into office in 2011.
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • A Stiff Cocktail of Budget Cuts

    By Texas Tribune Staff

    The Texas House has unveiled a $156.4 billion budget that's $31.1 billion smaller than the current two-year spending plan — a drop of 16.6 percent. The proposed budget came with $1.2 billion in recommendations for savings and new revenue from the Legislative Budget Board. Full Story 

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  • TribBlog: Scrounging for Cash

    By Brandi Grissom and Emily Ramshaw

    The Legislative Budget Board has begun distributing (to legislators — not to the public) its recommendations for how to save money and raise money to help balance the 2012-13 state budget. They plan to distribute copies of the budget itself (again, to lawmakers only) later tonight, and all of the documents will be available online to the public tomorrow morning. The details are still coming in, but here are some of the headlines from the LBB's Government Effectiveness and Efficiency Recommendations. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Ben Hasson

  • TribBlog: Are Tax Holidays Over?

    By Ross Ramsey

    The Legislature's starting budget will apparently include proposals to cancel popular back-to-school sales tax holidays, cut discounts for retailers who remit sales taxes early, allow sales of liquor on Sundays to increase revenue from taxes on alcohol, cut the state's subsidy of dependent insurance premiums for state employees and lower the tax breaks for energy companies that take on certain high-cost gas drilling projects, sources say. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Ben Hasson

  • On the Records: Inaugural Word Clouds

    By Becca Aaronson

    Texans heard from two familiar pols today: Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. We turned their prepared remarks into word clouds to help visualize the tone and rhetoric of their inaugural speeches at the Capitol. Full Story 

    Word cloud of Rick Perry's prepared remarks for his inauguration as Governor.
    Credit: Graphic by Becca Aaronson