An Austin school board candidate is advocating ignoring state regulations that she doesn’t agree with. Carmen Tilton, running for Austin Independent School District’s at-large District 9 trustee seat, recently told a public audience that the school district should...
Today, the House Committee on Economic Competitiveness released an interim report deriding legislative efforts to keep men out of women’s bathrooms and locker rooms. The committee, chaired by departing State Rep. Byron Cook (R–Corsicana), was formed by retiring House...
One of Texas’ largest business associations is claiming that sanctuary cities are somehow “pro-business.” Sanctuaries cities are municipalities that undermine or refuse to comply with federal immigration laws. It’s an issue that was thrust into the national...
The lowest-rated Republican senator – and the only one to not endorse Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s bid for reelection – has received the endorsement of LGBT-backed Texas Association of Business. The group’s support of State Sen. Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo) is certain to...
One state representative is saying that he won’t sign on as a co-author of a bill protecting the privacy of women and girls in bathrooms and changing facilities, out of fear of retaliation by House leadership against first responders. State Rep. Kevin Roberts...
There’s a huge gap between the Texas media’s view of proposed privacy legislation and the views of the majority of Texans. A recent University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll showed that—after weeks of negative news reports filled with predictions of a statewide economic...
Less than a week into the special session called by Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the Texas Senate are advancing privacy legislation similar to the proposal that House Speaker Joe Straus and his allies killed at the end of the regular session. On Friday,...
Just a week before the special session is set to begin, Republicans in House Speaker Joe Straus’ home county of Bexar passed a resolution calling for him to be replaced as Speaker of the Texas House. Following this repudiation, Straus changed his tune and revealed his...
Speaking to reporters during an impromptu press conference Friday evening, House Speaker Joe Straus (R–San Antonio) announced that he is refusing to appoint conferees to meet with the Texas Senate on Senate Bill 2078. That bill was amended in the House to include a...
The liberal leadership of the Texas House has again sought to water down and defeat priority conservative legislation that has already passed in the Senate, this time by completely moving the goalposts on a legislative priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Facing the...
In a brazen act of contempt and arrogance, House Speaker Joe Straus is refusing to pass serious, conservative reforms Texans demand and is choosing to engage in a high stakes game of political chicken with the state’s highest elected leaders. This weekend, Straus...
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is drawing a line in the sand for House Speaker Joe Straus and his lieutenants, demanding that the House pass conservative reforms that have so far been blocked or face a special session. At a press conference Wednesday morning, Patrick told...
Typically, rats are the first passengers to flee a sinking ship—looking to save their own hide rather than go down with the captain. But members of the Texas House are boarding a vessel that is already taking on water in order to claim they were part of the crew....
With fewer than twenty days left in the legislative session, many conservative reforms have been placed on life support thanks to intentional delay and obstruction on the part of House Speaker Joe Straus and his hatchet-man Byron Cook (R–Corsicana). Chief among them...
Parents of Coppell Independent School District elementary school students have complained that boys are being allowed in girls’ bathrooms – and the school district isn’t going to do anything about it. According to two Texas Scorecard sources, parents lodged complaints...
While conservatives were bristling over parliamentary actions taken by House Speaker Joe Straus to waylay conservative priorities, liberal bureaucrats were praising him for shutting down conservative criticism. On Monday, Straus stonewalled State Rep. Tony Tinderholt...
House Speaker Joe Straus has referred what has been described by its author as a “satirical bill” to committee while leaving important reforms to languish on his desk. His decision to refer House Bill 4260 while refusing to allow members to move forward on the Texas...
On Wednesday, a large number of House Republicans released a letter calling on House Speaker Joe Straus to bring women’s privacy legislation to a vote. In what might be the defining fight of the 85th Legislative session, a battle has been brewing over SB 6 by State...
The Texas Privacy Act, Senate Bill 6, received support from every Republican and one Democrat in the Texas Senate, yet despite it being a priority item of the Lt. Gov., it has stalled in the House. To urge movement on the legislation, the Houston Five – a group of...
In a press conference yesterday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced his latest efforts to pass legislation to keep men out of women’s showers, locker rooms, and bathrooms in advance of the legislation’s first hearing in the Texas Senate. SB 6 by State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst...
