A Travis County District Court has issued a temporary injunction pending trial against State Rep. Byron Cook (R–Corsicana) preventing him from obstructing citizens wishing to film meetings of the House State Affairs Committee he chairs. Earlier this month Amy Hedtke...
Gov. Greg Abbott’s office is disputing allegations made by a Capitol gossip blog associated with House Speaker Joe Straus that he does not expect all twenty items on his agenda to pass during the special session. On Monday, Abbott met with Texas House Republican...
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...
Taking activism to new heights, a Montgomery County group of activists calling themselves the Citizens Budget Committee teamed up to comb through county finances and create a fiscally conservative budget for proposal to county commissioners. The budget report was...
At a recent Senate hearing, taxpayers overwhelming supported an overhaul of Texas’ property tax system, including requirements that governments obtain voter approval to significantly raise taxes. While numerous city and county officials remain opposed to the bill, it...
On Sunday, the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs met to consider SB 6, a reform to current annexation policy and one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s twenty named agenda items for the special session. Currently, property owners have little recourse should they find...
After dying at the hands of House Speaker Joe Straus and State Rep. Byron Cook during the regular session, legislation to eliminate the government collection of union dues got a second chance when placed on Gov. Greg Abbott’s special session call. On Sunday afternoon...
One of Gov. Greg Abbott’s priority reforms for the special legislative session – cracking down on mail-in ballot fraud – sailed through a Texas Senate committee hearing on Sunday and is on its way to the full chamber for a vote. Senate Bill 5 authored by State Sen....
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,...
In a marathon hearing on Saturday, the Texas Senate Committee on Business & Commerce heard testimony and voted on several items of legislation intended to scale back the growing “patchwork quilt” of regulations being installed at the local level. Since he was...
Dallas’ financially struggling school bus bureaucracy got a temporary reprieve this week with a short-term loan to help cover operating expenses through the end of the year. But the tax-subsidized agency needs more than money to stay open. Dallas County Schools needs...
Many in the Austin lobby and media have been scoffing at Gov. Abbott’s special session call related to preemption of municipal tree preservation ordinances, calling it a trivial issue. However, an opinion from Attorney General Ken Paxton makes it clear that, unless...
Dislocation and gentrification is hitting Austin hard. Despondent over an ever-increasing cost of living while on his watch, Austin Mayor Steve Adler recently created a task force to study the factors that drive residents from their neighborhoods in search of new,...
Things are heating up in Straus’ home county, where a new poll conducted earlier this week validates the county GOP’s recent resolution to remove Straus from the House Speakership due to his opposition towards conservative reforms and Gov. Greg Abbott’s agenda....
“I have a vision, a goal, that I intend to achieve, whether it be this election or some election in the future. My goal is to ensure that in my lifetime, that the Rio Grande Valley is going to be voting Republican every single election,” Abbott stated as he spoke to...
President Donald Trump kicked off the first meeting of his Advisory Commission on Election Integrity on Wednesday with a commitment to the principle of “one citizen, one vote” and upholding the integrity of the ballot box. “Every time voter fraud occurs,...
Inspired by a stunning rebuke from Straus’s own home county party, the Smith County GOP passed a resolution to censure the speaker for his repeated obstruction of conservative reforms – and they’re urging other county parties to do the same. Last Tuesday, the...
A recent job posting by Midland ISD could give a glimpse into a much deeper issue within Texas’ public school system: classroom vs. administrative spending. The district is looking for an executive director of communications and public relations – a move that doesn’t...
With lawmakers back in Austin for a special session, Gov. Greg Abbott has given them an extensive list of conservative reforms he wants them to pass during the 30-day taxpayer-funded overtime. And he’s been insistent that members of the Texas Legislature have no...
Houston’s Public Works and Engineering Director Karun Sreerama, has been on paid leave for ten days and counting, following the revelation that he was the victim of a bribery scheme concocted by Houston Community College Trustee Chris Oliver. Shortly after the story...
