Gov. Rick Perry, muting his usual criticism, generally praised lawmakers and signed into law a two-year, $182.3 billion budget late Friday after making barely a change. The Republican governor took credit for slashing nearly $290 million of spending, but virtually...
Comptroller Susan Combs today certified the two year, $182.3 billion state budget. In a letter to Gov. Rick Perry, Combs said she thinks there will be sufficient state revenue through August 2011 to cover the budget, a $2.36 billion emergency...
Texas Legislature...
House Higher Education Committee Chairman Dan Branch, R-Dallas, won House approval of a resolution capping tuition increases for undergraduates at state universities in each of the next three academic years at 3.95 percent or $280, whichever is greater. Then, for...
The Texas Youth Commission passed its sunset review in the Senate, which voted 31 - 0 to continue the agency. The final version of HB3689 has a few noteworthy changes from its original version, including revisions to a supervisory board...
It's not every day that a state senator puts out a statement with not one but two lines in Italian. So Sen. Carona, this one's for you:...
Call it chic: coastal homeowners insurance conundrum. It's what threatens to bring lawmakers back, after their 140-day regular session ends tomorrow, for a hot and sultry summer special session. Wouldn't that be lubberly. OK, call it what Capitol denizens call...
Dallas Republican Sen. John Carona, the Senate's chief transportation policy writer, says he's compromised enough on local option transportation taxes: If they're not included in the bill to reauthorize the Texas Department of Transportation, he'll kill it. "I will absolutely...
We warned you here late Thursday that Sen. Steve Ogden was on the prowl for budget-balancing money -- and willing to stiff a cadre of tobacco lobbyists to get his way. In his Finance Committee yesterday and on the Senate...
The final number: $182.3 billion. The final blessing by Senate budget chief Steve Ogden, R-Bryan: "This is a balanced budget in a tough economic time that does a lot of good things for Texas." The vote was 10-0. There was...
UPDATE: Lawmakers negotiating the state budget agreed late tonight to give retired teachers and state workers one-time, $500 bonuses, as a gesture of appreciation in tight fiscal times. However, the retired teachers' bonuses could only be paid if the Legislature...
House-Senate negotiators have reached a deal on a budget, after "one of the most harmonious conferences" in recent memory, according to one co-leader of the marathon haggle -- and some concessions to Gov. Rick Perry. While final details are still...
House-Senate budget negotiators are making last minute decisions on several fronts but in a very real sense have this tough choice: Do they give state employees a very modest, across the board pay raise? Or do they exempt some 40,000...
Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, just announced he has lost his push for a funding ban on embryonic stem cell research. But Ogden put supporters of the research on notice that he won't quit striving for state guidelines on what is...
The House's chief budget writer, Jim Pitts, says 10 House-Senate negotiators are almost done on the two year, roughly $180 billion budget. "We'll try to wrap it in pretty wrapping paper this evening and then we'll put the bow on...
The Legislature is "failing the disability community," according to a report card issued today by three disability rights groups. Reducing the wait lists for in home care services that help keep people with disabilities out of nursing homes? D. Wages...
Two Houston lawmakers are behind a bill making conviction of attempted murder of your spouse or solicitation of the murder of your spouse something that could trigger immediate termination of your parental rights. Now, family law judges can immediately grant...
There are two big unknowns about who will negotiate the state budget, and both involve lawmakers from Dallas. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, the tallest guy in the picture at right, supposedly wants to announce tomorrow his picks for the House-Senate...
Few political donors have been as successful as Houston homebuilder Bob Perry at steering state government to his will -- all three branches. The billionaire homebuilder has contributed to every member of the Texas Supreme Court, which ruled his way...
Child abuse claims the lives of four Texas children per week. So child advocates, who aren't always on the same page and who sense their issue has receded some from lawmakers' minds this session, united today behind a nine-point plan...
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