JOAN HUFFMAN

“I feel there were six senators who were ready to be the 21st vote,” said Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas. “But they didn’t want to be the 20th vote.”

About $17 billion worth of commitments lawmakers made in the new budget were snagged in policy fights between the Texas House and Senate on Saturday night.

The idea appeared to die in the Texas House over the weekend, but senators kept it alive by grafting the proposal on to another piece of legislation.

The bill would allow for the removal of prosecutors who adopt any policy to not pursue certain crimes, including some low-level theft and drug charges. The Senate’s version will need to be reconciled with the House, which had carved out some exemptions.

The legislation was named for Bishop Evans, who drowned last year trying to rescue migrants in the Rio Grande.

Stuck in committee, the test-strip legislation has support from Gov. Greg Abbott and bipartisan lawmakers, who see it as a way to save lives.

Supporters say the proposals would increase efficiency and expertise, but opponents argue the attempts are political and probably unconstitutional.

There are $5 billion and several political wedges standing between the House and Senate plans, which now move into conference committee with less than five weeks before session ends.

Sen. Joan Huffman said the bill was in response to increased violent crime since 2019. Legislative researchers could not determine how the bill would affect the state’s prison population.

The bill, a priority for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, is part of a larger effort to limit the power of elected prosecutors, especially in Texas’ largest, left-leaning counties.

The vote ensured the Senate met its constitutional requirement to redraw districts in the first regular session after publication of the 2020 census results.

Two bills that advanced in House and Senate committees on Wednesday both exempt any lawmaker who has already taken advantage of the benefit.

The Senate Finance Committee’s proposals won’t be voted on and sent to the full chamber until April.

Law enforcement officers who serve on Operation Lone Star get a $500,000 death benefit for their survivors if they die on duty. But National Guard troops on the same mission don’t get a dime from the state for their families if they die.

Under Senate Bill 23, all felonies involving a gun would incur a mandatory 10-year prison sentence. It’s meant to curb crime, despite the lack of correlation between harsher sentences and crime rates.

In its first bill passed this session, the Texas Senate sought to ensure juvenile mental health hospitalizations are reported to the federal firearm background check system.

Budget proposals would boost state spending for the current budget cycle for projects ranging from mental health hospitals to state pay raises. This would leave $27 billion in surplus for next two years.

State Sen. Joan Huffman filed a bill that would repeal a provision that allowed longtime lawmakers to increase their yearly take-home income by $140,000 by collecting pension payments without retiring.

Texas Tech’s review comes as Gov. Greg Abbott has instructed state agencies and public universities that “forbidden DEI initiatives” violate federal and state employment discrimination laws.

The state has spent $4 billion on border initiatives in the past two years, including $40 million to bus migrants out of Texas into Democrat-led cities.

Conservative activists have pushed for legislative leaders to ban Democrats from leading committees.

The redistricting process this year is mostly procedural and is not expected to produce very different results from the most recent process completed in 2021.

The leaders of the state’s six biggest university systems are seeking the money to fund instruction, university operations and employee health insurance and to cover a free tuition program for veterans and their children.

In April, Bishop Evans drowned after jumping into the Rio Grande to save two migrants being swept away by the current. His family members will receive no financial payment, but they would if he worked for DPS or was under federal deployment.

Advocates have previously called for repealing the sales tax on products like tampons, sanitary pads and pantyliners. Menstrual products are already tax-free in 24 states.

The redrawn state Senate District 10 splits Black and Hispanic voters in Tarrant County. A full trial on whether GOP lawmakers intentionally discriminated against voters of color is expected later this year.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed redrawn voting maps that pave a safer path for the GOP’s slipping majority.

With partisan fervor, Republicans drew new maps for Congress and the Legislature that dilute the power of voters of color. Now the lawsuits begin, as groups that feel marginalized battle for representation in the halls of power.

Texas gained two new seats in Congress based on population growth fueled by people of color. But the Senate’s proposal provides no new majority-Black or majority-Hispanic districts to reflect that growth.

Democrats criticized Republicans for “targeting” a North Texas district that had been trending Democratic and for not drawing any new districts where people of color would represent a majority of eligible voters.

The initial drafts of both maps have so far attempted to strengthen Republican majorities by protecting incumbents and creating more GOP-friendly districts.

Senate Bill 321 would enroll new state workers in a cash-balance plan — similar to a common 401(k) retirement account — rather than the defined-benefit pension plan that current employees have.

Narrowly targeted pieces of Texas’ George Floyd Act — like restricting chokeholds and requiring officers to provide first aid — are expected to pass. But the Act itself and many other related reforms have failed to progress during the legislative session that ends Monday.

The Senate bill originally applied to all local Texas jurisdictions, but was changed in a House committee. A House bill that is in the Senate would financially punish the state’s larger cities if they cut police funds.

Among the bills approved by the Senate Jurisprudence Committee is one that would require police officers to keep their body cameras activated during investigations.

House lawmakers expressed frustration on Thursday that some of their priority legislation had not moved in the upper chamber, including a package of health care and criminal justice reform bills pushed by House Speaker Dade Phelan.

Legislative attempts to reform bail in Texas is likely headed for a closed-door showdown over the different approaches the House and Senate each devised.

The Texas Senate on Wednesday approved the chamber’s priority bail legislation that aims to keep more people accused or previously convicted of violent crimes in jail before trial unless they can post cash bonds.

AdBettencourt and Huffman have criticized Harris County judges for releasing most people on no-cost personal recognizance, or PR, bonds. “Other policy initiatives — not renewed reliance on cash bail — will be required to halt the increase in violence,” a memo to county commissioners said. Critics of bail reform efforts and the bail bonds industry — which is dependent on cash bail systems — have often pointed to less people showing up to court as an argument against bail reform efforts. “People want to come to court and the vast majority of people do,” said Harris County Criminal Court Judge Franklin Bynum. The Harris County court monitor report said homeless people were twice as likely to be arrested while out on bond than other defendants.

SAN ANTONIO – Every 10 years the Texas Legislature is tasked with redistricting, the redrawing of district maps for the state’s congressional, legislative and State Board of Education boundaries. Redistricting is based on new census data each decade, but this year that census data has been delayed. As Texas lawmakers await the data, which will determine size of districts and potentially add a handful of new congressional seats for the state, the Texas Senate Redistricting Committee has announced they will begin regional hearings to get public input. “The pandemic has presented new challenges for all of us, but it will not prevent the Senate Redistricting Committee from soliciting input from Texans about their local communities--especially about local and regional considerations related to redistricting,” said Senator Joan Huffman, R-Houston, who chairs the committee. The committee is encouraging all Texans to make their voices heard in one of a dozen hearings.

The Texas Supreme Court on Jan. 15, 2020. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneTexas looks unlikely to change its controversial partisan election system for judges — even after a commission studying the issue recommended ending the practice. And in Republican primaries, judicial candidates with Hispanic-sounding surnames have often fared poorly, owing, experts say, to a largely white electorate. Those who favor partisan judicial elections have pointed out that they may work better in rural counties, where voters are electing fewer judges and it’s easier to learn their qualifications. Aside from the bias of partisanship, one of the chief concerns about the state’s partisan judicial selection system is the influence — perceived or actual — of donors who bankroll judges’ campaigns. Huffman, a powerful figure in the Texas Senate, said earlier this month she had already begun drafting a constitutional amendment that would increase judicial qualifications.

This one is about redistricting — how the state draws its political maps — and it fits the pattern. Political maps are the foundation of who does and doesn’t have a voice in a democracy. Asked whether a Republican House and Senate, with a Republican governor, can be expected to draw maps that favor Republicans, neither lawmaker agreed. Sure enough, they draw maps that increase their chances of success — not only in elections, but in the government decisions that follow. Republicans draw Republican maps.