State news in Texas
State
School Choice Plans Gain Energy in 2025
Lt. Gov Dan Patrick says the Republican-majority Legislature is poised to pass school choice in 2025.
Republican Incumbents Knocked Off in 2024 Primaries
In this year’s primary season, grassroots Republicans claimed victory over more moderate incumbents in the Texas House and Court of Criminal Appeals.
Conservatives Urge Abbott to Fast-track ‘Stop Sexualizing Texas Kids’ Legislation
Texans are asking the governor to make protecting children from sexually explicit material an “emergency” item, since local policies are failing to fix the problem.
DEI Training Requirements Imposed for Licensed Texas Counselors
The governor’s office allegedly began mandating the requirements back in December 2022.
State Archive
Freshmen Lawmakers Deliver Results
With the release of the 2015 Fiscal Responsibility Index the record is clear—the Texas Senate has radically improved when compared to the previous session. As this publication anticipated, much of that can be explained by the fresh leadership of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick....
Surveying the Field
When the legislative session began in early January, gun rights were expected to take center stage. “Constitutional carry,” “open carry,” “campus carry,” and other measures dominated much of the conversation and drew some of the strongest testimony in public hearings....
Is Mechler Showing His Stripes?
At a Republican Party fundraiser in Lubbock last Saturday, newly appointed Texas GOP Chairman Tom Mechler defended the Austin business establishment and the record of the coalition of Democrats and liberal Republicans who control the Texas House. Mechler also attacked...
Jodie Laubenberg: Swindled by House Leadership
A few years ago, Texas conservatives would be hard pressed to find a more reliable ally in Austin than State Rep. Jodie Laubenberg (R-Parker). She fought for taxpayers and even supported then-State Rep. Ken Paxton (R‑Plano) in his bid for Speaker of the House against...
Wallace Hall Sues UT System Over Access to Records
Whistleblowing University of Texas Regent Wallace Hall went on offense this week, filing suit against UT System and Chancellor William McRaven over the latter’s refusal to disclose documents to his superior. The legal effort comes after weeks of wrangling over whether...
Crony Capitalist Companion Completed
There are a lot of scorecards grading lawmakers on how they performed in Austin. Some of them, such as TFR’s Fiscal Responsibility Index, provide an honest look at lawmakers’ voting records. We tell the public in advance our principles and priorities and which votes...
Byron’s Very Bad, No Good Session
Certain perks are supposed to come with being one of the most powerful members of the Texas House – most notably, passing your district’s legislative priorities. Yet on that count, State Rep. Byron Cook of Corsicana failed his constituents miserably. Only one measure...
Conservative Legislation Scrapped into “Flaming Bags of Junk”
Though much of House Speaker Joe Straus’ Texas Tribune interview this week centered on a whopper of a lie concerning the death of union dues legislation, it also featured a Jason Villalba-esque admission of guilt concerning the defeat of other bills. As previously...
Taking Credit for Gutting Tax Cuts
House Republicans are retrospectively arriving at a sweeping consensus—not enough was done to curb property tax increases. But if members supporting the coalition government of liberal House Republicans and Democrats had their way, Texans would pay even more. That’s...