State news in Texas
Statewide Texas News
Senate Bill Would Tie Licenses to Ethics Registry, Drawing Sharp Criticism
Critics say the bill would give the TEC dangerous power to destroy the livelihoods of Texans engaged in political speech.
Texas Education Agency Releases 2023 School Report Cards
School districts sued to hide the accountability ratings from the public; 2024 ratings remain blocked.
House Leadership Accused of Holding Pro-Life Bill Hostage to Islamic Holiday Push
Stalled legislation would recognize June 24—the day the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe—as a state holiday.
Senate Committee Advances Legislation Requiring Use of E-Verify
The legislation disincentivizes hiring illegal aliens and assists in combating human trafficking.
State Archive
Haynes: Why State Bans & Flipping School Boards Won’t Stop Critical Race Theory
My recent Texas Scorecard article noted that the American Rescue Plan 2021, with $12.4 billion in ESSER grants to Texas for reopening schools, requires a minimum of 20 percent spent on social and emotional learning that includes critical race theory. Solutions to stop...
Trump Accuses Phelan of Blocking Election Audit Legislation
On Saturday, former President Donald Trump again weighed in on the progress of forensic election audit legislation during the ongoing third special legislative session. In a statement, Trump said: Texas Speaker of the House Dade Phelan is another Mitch McConnell. He...
Conservative Groups Implore House Republicans to Save Tarrant County House District
On Saturday, activists and conservative groups from across Texas submitted a coalition letter to the Texas House Redistricting Committee and the Texas House Republican Caucus, imploring them to make appropriate changes to the proposed House redistricting boundaries in...
Election Audit Bill Targets Unresolved Discrepancies
Amid "shockingly low" public confidence in elections, Texas senators passed an election audit bill this week that would give citizens a way to resolve questions about discrepancies in future elections and initiate audits of November 2020 election results. Senate Bill...
Texas GOP Pens Open Letter to Gov. Abbott
On Friday, the Republican Party of Texas announced it had submitted an open letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott requesting his support for medical freedom and personal responsibility in response to the COVID-19. In the letter, they implore him to add a “comprehensive ban...
Huffines Slams Abbott on Border Invasion in Major TV Buy
As one of the biggest college football rivalries takes place between the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday, one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s Republican rivals will be kicking off a six-figure television campaign. Former State Sen. Don Huffines, who...
Republican Activists and Lawmakers Implore Abbott to Act on Employer Vaccine Mandates
On Thursday, a group of Republican activists, officials, lawmakers, and Texans affected by vaccine mandates hosted a press conference imploring Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to add a prohibition of vaccine mandates to the ongoing special session agenda. Imploring Abbott to...
Border County Asks Abbott to Deploy Texas Military to ‘Repel’ Illegal Crossings
On the same day Texas Gov. Greg Abbott asked the Biden–Harris administration to secure the open border with Mexico, Kinney County Judge Tully Shahan (R) asked the governor to use his authority to stop illegal border crossings. In a declaration of disaster filed...
US District Judge Blocks Texas Heartbeat Act
Late Wednesday in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Texas, U.S. Judge Robert Pittman issued a temporary restraining order to block the implementation of the Texas Heartbeat Act. This ruling follows the emergency motion for a temporary restraining...