INSIDER
Lawmakers passed a handful of bills aimed at easing access to guns as a new pediatric study links state legislation to increased firearm deaths.
Texas officials suggested the federal government could pick up construction. However, during President Trump’s first term, his administration built about one-third of what the state was able to put up in the same amount of time.
Texas hemp users stockpile products and consider moving out of state as ban looms, saying the medical marijuana program is currently an untenable alternative.
The Trump administration is proposing limits to the recreational facilities — including beaches — that are eligible for federal assistance.
Since El Paso joined Operation Lone Star in 2022, migrant remains discovered in the desert west of the city have increased every year, even as they have declined in every other border sector.
Demonstrations in McAllen, Midland, Odessa, Austin and elsewhere in Texas have been largely peaceful, as some protests are expected to go well into the night.
The agency said there was no additional active threat, as Austin demonstrators took aim at the Trump administration.
Among other changes is a new law that says homeowner associations can no longer fine Texans for not watering their grass during a drought.
Their filing says the lawsuit that struck down in-state tuition for undocumented students was “contrived” to keep their voices out.
Lawmakers have approved funding clinical trials for ibogaine as a treatment for addiction and brain trauma. It comes as Texas contemplates banning THC.
The facility will bring mental health resources closer to the largely rural region that’s home to nearly 436,000 people.
It’s an unusual situation for the lieutenant governor, long viewed by GOP activists as a stalwart conservative responsible for driving the Legislature rightward.
Two years after Stephanie Muth became Department of Family and Protective Services commissioner, staff turnover is down and the number of children without a placement has dropped.
Houston’s National Weather Service office has lost its head meteorologist amid a federal requirement to cut 10% of NOAA’s staff.
Experts say Wednesday’s action to eliminate the long-standing policy could be a “collusive lawsuit,” where the state and feds worked the courts to get a desired outcome.
The program would give low income families an extra $120 per child for summer lunches, but federal debate about food benefits could endanger the program.
At the same time, some Democrats acknowledged the Lubbock Republican let them leave their mark on some of the GOP bills they disagreed with.
Texas passed sweeping changes to cannabis policy, including expanding the medical marijuana program and banning hemp products, while also boosting psychedelics research.
A bill headed for Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk may not go into effect until 2027. Election administrators say the changes could create staffing challenges.
The 33 potential voting violations are a tiny fraction of the roughly 11 million who cast ballots in the November 2024 election.
Jones, a Democrat elected to the Texas House in 2022 and previously served on the Houston City Council, joins a slate of candidates running to fill the solidly blue seat.
Far from the Capitol, students at Texas Tech spend time examining the quality of beef for meat judging competitions.
Texas is slated to spend $51 billion on property tax cuts over the next two years. Some worry that’s unsustainable.
Abbott faces pressure from both sides of the aisle. The prohibition was a priority for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, but some hemp farmers and veterans want it killed.
House and Senate members agreed that judges needed a pay raise. But they spent the final hours of the legislative session debating whether Texas lawmakers should also benefit from the boost.
The Legislature wrapped up without the same drama that defined the end of the last two sessions, with state GOP leaders checking off nearly everything on their to-do lists.
Texas is poised to lead the country in an initiative to inform denizens of what’s in their food. Food industry experts say it’s going too far.
Texas lawmakers bypassed bills that would have restricted “forever chemicals” in sewage sludge, studied health impacts and banned some uses of PFAS-laced firefighting foams.
Local organizations strongly opposed the measure, hosting phone banking events to urge lawmakers to vote against the bill.
A bill to increase judicial salaries from $140,000 to $175,000 a year stalled amid a disagreement over lawmakers’ own retirement benefits.
Tensions flared and the debate turned personal as Republicans said their bill empowered parents and denied predictions that the ban will endanger children.
A boost in public school spending, school vouchers, and money for water systems are other highlights of the state budget, which was bolstered by a $24 billion surplus.
The Legislature has approved a conference committee report that lists sales to certain people from China, North Korea, Russia and Iran as threats to national security.
Supporters said the proposal, which sought to amend the state constitution, would improve safety. Critics said it would violate due process and unfairly target minority groups.
The harassment allegedly took place while the two were on leave from the agency working on Paxton’s impeachment defense.
At least four companies say they are prepared to treat the water well enough to be released into rivers in West Texas. Environmental groups say the state is moving too fast.
Lawmakers filed dozens of bills that would increase transparency around spending in elections and strengthen penalties for campaign and lobbying violations. None are poised to pass.
Many trans Texans have changed the sex listed on their birth certificate, driver’s licenses and other documents. They say their identities will be invalidated under bill headed to governor's desk.
Senate Bill 2858 would have expanded a sweeping state law intended to erode the authority of the state’s major urban areas.
The proposal is largely in response to massive pro-Palestinian demonstrations last year. Critics say it would walk back free speech protections that conservatives advocated for in previous legislative sessions.
House Bill 46, which awaits Gov. Greg Abbott’s approval, would include more patients with chronic pain and allow for prescribed vaporized and aerosol products.
Senate Bill 1362 would prevent officials from taking someone’s firearms if they haven’t been charged with a crime or aren’t subject to a protective order under the Texas Family Code.
Senate Bill 15, a top priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, is part of a broad push by lawmakers to put a dent in the state’s high home prices.
The deal allocates $1 billion a year to water projects for 20 years, which some groups estimate is a fraction of what Texas needs to save its water supply.
The bill would have withheld some tax dollars from cities that did not comply with state law.
The House made changes to the proposal that leave open ways for victims to be compensated beyond medical bills.
Senate Bill 6, which now heads to the governor’s desk, gives the state’s electricity managers the ability to shut power to large consumers during emergencies.
Democrats declined to support Senate Joint Resolution 87, which sprinted through the Senate and needed 100 votes to clear the lower chamber.
The governor has not addressed whether he supports the ban, as hemp industry leaders have urged him to veto Senate Bill 3.
SB 3070, which awaits Gov. Greg Abbott’s signature, would move the lottery game to Texas’ Department of Licensing and Regulation and includes new restrictions on ticket purchases.
Instead of waiting for the state to send them one, parents would be able to print out vaccine exemption forms at home if they want to skip school-required shots. Critics believe the bill would increase infections.
A top priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the legislation would make it easier to construct homes on smaller lots. A House Democrat briefly killed the bill.
A 2024 war among Republicans tilted the House to the right. Now more closely aligned with the Senate, Speaker Dustin Burrows has accelerated action on bail, school vouchers and social issues.
Both houses have approved Senate Bill 10 even though a similar Louisiana law was deemed unconstitutional. Supporters say Christianity is core to U.S. history.
The latest version of the proposal eliminates language that would have required university curricula not to advocate that “any race, sex, ethnicity or religious belief is inherently superior to another.”
As the state seeks to put guardrails around the fast-growing technology, some critics say the bill doesn’t go far enough to protect citizens while industry worries about stifling innovation.
The chambers differ on how much power districts should have to push back in courts over their accountability ratings. They risk keeping STAAR by default if they don’t reach an agreement.
The legislation includes new pots of money for teacher raises and other school costs like insurance and transportation. It now heads to the House, where leaders say it will pass.
The bill, which is poised to become law, creates up to a $250,000 fine for medical professionals who change a patients’ listed sex outside of certain exemptions.
Federal action would be needed to make the change legal. Lawmakers at both the state and federal levels have debated the question for decades.
The House approved the ban after previously considering proposals to preserve the industry by tightening regulations.
The bill won bipartisan support despite efforts from multiple Democrats that would have also required students to learn about fascism and Nazism.
Gov. Greg Abbott and other leaders have called for a major investment to save the state’s water supply. How to spend the money has caused friction at the Capitol.
The bill is part of a suite of GOP proposals aimed at curbing the state’s high housing costs — chiefly by allowing more homes to be built.
Matthew Johnson, who testified he did not intend to kill the elderly clerk, received the death penalty in 2013. The execution is Texas’ fourth and may be the last for 2025.
