Texas families who relied on the Pandemic EBT card, which previously provided a one-time benefit of $285 for students receiving free and reduced-price meals, can apply for another round of food aid for the 2021-22 school year.
Jobless Texans who refuse work offers because they feel like the job isn’t safe during the pandemic won’t be able to receive unemployment benefits as of June 26, the Texas Workforce Commission announced this week.
The Texas Legislature sent a $248 billion two-year state budget to Gov. Greg Abbott after the House approved the measure last Thursday.
TYLER — U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said Thursday during the Northeast Texas Energy Summit in Tyler that he is concerned “climate change has become a religion” over oil and gas.
The sweeping overhaul of Texas elections and voter access was poised from the beginning of the session to pass into law. It had the backing of Republican leaders in both chambers of the Legislature. It had support from the governor.
The Texas Legislature sent a $248 billion two-year state budget to Gov. Greg Abbott after the House approved the measure last Thursday.
The Texas Legislature approved a bill early Thursday that will revise eminent domain negotiations between landowners and companies — such as railroads, pipeline and utility companies — that are seeking to condemn land, requiring that landowners be given the terms of the contract up front, as…
The Texas Legislature’s two-year, roughly $248 billion state budget is headed to the governor’s desk after the House advanced the proposal Thursday, completing monthslong negotiations between the two chambers.
The number of people in Texas hospitalized with COVID-19 has declined more than 28 percent in the past month, according to the Texas Department of Health Services. As of Feb. 7, Texas hospitals were treating 9,957 COVID-19 patients, down from nearly 14,000 a month ago. The number of new cases in the past week was 123,239 — a 22 percent drop from the record high of 158,922 the week of Jan. 10, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University.
Last week, the House hit an important deadline, the last day to debate House bills. With things moving fast and furious this week, the House passed several important measures.
Last week has been a long one in Austin, with floor debates going late into the night several nights. But I am committed to delivering conservative results for East Texas, which is what we have been seeing out of the Texas House.
When Texas schools returned to in-person education last fall, the spread of the coronavirus “gradually but substantially accelerated,” leading to at least 43,000 additional cases and 800 additional deaths statewide, according to a study released Monday.
Former state Sen. Don Huffines, a conservative Republican from Dallas who has been critical of Gov. Greg Abbott’s coronavirus policies, announced Monday that he is challenging Abbott in the 2022 primary.
The Texas Heartbeat Act is one step closer to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk after the House of Representatives passed the bill this week.
The Texas House on Monday gave preliminary approval to a sweeping bill that would reform the governor’s emergency powers during a pandemic and involve the Legislature during such instances.
We are in the final month of the 87th Texas Legislative Session, the home stretch, and things are moving fast in Austin.
Two bills that were advanced by the Texas Legislature this week attempt to protect the state’s oil and gas industry from efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
An effort to expand government health care for working poor Texans is likely dead for this legislative session, supporters say — mired in conservative opposition and faced with a fast-approaching deadline in the Republican-led Texas Legislature.
When 53 people contracted COVID-19 at the Calvary Chapel of San Antonio in June, the church closed for two weeks to protect the rest of its parishioners. It had shut down months before, when the pandemic first swept over Texas and local officials quickly shuttered businesses, office building…
Texas will close the books on its current budget cycle with an extra $725 million in the bank — which is welcome news as Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar had predicted in January that the state would suffer a $1 billion shortfall due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Texas’s top state leaders announced Wednesday they are releasing $11.2 billion out of nearly $18 billion available in federal pandemic relief funding that has been dedicated for the state’s public schools.
A Texas economic incentive offers massive tax breaks to companies, but its renewal isn't a done deal
Intel nearly built a massive chip fabrication plant near Fort Worth in 1991, but the tech giant instead picked Arizona because Texas property taxes were too high. Two years later, Texas lawmakers reacted by creating Chapter 313, also known as the Texas Economic Development Act, to offer prop…
Last week, the House passed the only bill that we are constitutionally required to pass, the state budget. While the Legislature addresses many important issues each session, the budget is the only legislation that we are required to pass or come back for a special session.
The Texas House on Thursday night unanimously passed its proposed two-year, $246 billion state budget after members spent hours deliberating which tweaks to make to the massive spending plan.
Last week, we welcomed the National Champion Baylor Bears men’s basketball team to the Capitol. It was great to celebrate these young men’s accomplishment! Celebrating Texans who have accomplished great feats is one of the biggest aspects missing from this session. I for one am looking forwa…
Mike Collier, a Democrat who ran against incumbent Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in 2018, is considering another run for the position to bring his problem-solving skills to the state level.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Monday that the state Senate does not currently have the votes to pass permitless carry of handguns but that he will try to see if there is a “path” to change that.
The Biden administration on Friday rescinded changes to a federal funding agreement, known as a 1115 waiver, that would have extended for 10 years Texas’ health care safety net for uninsured residents — teeing up a new round of negotiations before the existing waiver expires in 2022.
All 13 Texas Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, led by Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Austin, signed a letter on Monday to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona condemning Gov. Greg Abbott for not releasing federal stimulus funding intended for public education.
AUSTIN – The COVID-related waiver on expiration dates for driver licenses (DLs) and identification cards (IDs) has now ended. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) continues to urge customers with an expired DL or ID to make an appointment or renew online today.
With the potential for severe weather approaching, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar reminds Texans they can purchase certain items tax-free during the state’s sales tax holiday for emergency preparation supplies, which begins at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, April 24, and ends at midnight on Monday, …
Last week was a busy one in Austin, with House debates heating up and committee hearings running late.
The number of people in Texas hospitalized with COVID-19 has declined more than 28 percent in the past month, according to the Texas Department of Health Services. As of Feb. 7, Texas hospitals were treating 9,957 COVID-19 patients, down from nearly 14,000 a month ago. The number of new cases in the past week was 123,239 — a 22 percent drop from the record high of 158,922 the week of Jan. 10, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University.
State health officials asked Texas vaccine providers to pause their use of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine early Tuesday after U.S. health officials recommended that states temporarily stop distributing the vaccine “out of an abundance of caution.”
U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert says he believes reining in the national debt as well as improving infrastructure shouldn’t be partisan or even political issues.
Multiple major corporations based in Texas spoke out Thursday in opposition to Republicans’ legislative proposals to further restrict voting in Texas.
Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday that he banned state agencies, political subdivisions and organizations receiving public funds from creating “vaccine passports” or otherwise requiring someone to provide proof of a COVID-19 vaccine in order to receive services.
The Texas Senate gave initial approval to a measure by Bryan Hughes that would prohibit social media companies with at least 100 million monthly users from blocking or banning a user based on their viewpoint or their location within the state.
AUSTIN — Texas Republicans advanced a slate of proposed new voting restrictions Thursday that would reduce options to cast ballots, limit polling hours and hand more power to partisan poll watchers.
The Texas Senate gave initial approval Monday to a half-dozen bills that would restrict access to abortion, including a priority measure that could ban abortions before many women know they are pregnant.
After more than five hours of public testimony, largely in opposition, a Texas Senate committee advanced a wide-ranging elections bill Friday night that would further tighten the state’s already restrictive voting rules and clamp down on local efforts to make it easier to vote.
Last week saw another marathon hearing in the State Affairs committee, and the House passed its first bills of the session. Last week also represented the half-way point of the 87th Legislative Session.
The Texas Department of Public Safety is reminding the public the waiver on expiration dates for driver licenses (DLs) and identification cards (IDs) ends on April 14. Customers who need to renew are urged to make an appointment or renew online today.
Last week, House committees continued working on several important pieces of legislation. I laid out several bills, including the Texas Small Business Recovery Act and several of the electric reform bills that I wrote about earlier this month.
DALLAS — James McGee knows well the history of housing discrimination against Black people like him in Texas. He worked in the mortgage industry for 20 years and now advocates for the revitalization of southern Dallas, an area where the majority of residents are Black or Hispanic.
Even though we aren’t seeing many just yet, be patient, Texas bluebonnets and wildflowers will come. According to a Texas A&M AgriLife expert, the freeze likely had minimal effects on both the Texas bluebonnets and wildflowers.
Twenty-one states, led by Texas and Montana, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Biden administration for revoking a permit for the long-disputed Keystone XL pipeline.
Texas lawmakers are quickly moving a bill forward that attempts to stop cities from banning natural gas as a fuel source for new construction and utility services — a trend in progressive California cities that some state lawmakers say would restrict consumer choices if Texas cities move to …
This week marked one of the first important procedural deadlines of the 87th Legislative Session: the bill filing deadline. Friday (March 12) was the last day that members of the Legislature could file bills for consideration. As you can imagine, that resulted in a flurry of bill filings.
A bill filed in the Texas Senate Thursday would direct the state’s massive investment funds to divest from any companies that “boycott” fossil fuels.
