Opponents fear that fentanyl test strips will increase the usage of the deadly drug.

Some Republicans have bristled at the hefty cost of the bill, and Democrats could reject the funding for it over the school voucher dispute.

The legislation would require voters to approve the $3 billion start-up cost, and then the fund would be maintained at no more than $300 million annually.

The package was fast-tracked after Gov. Greg Abbott declared “bail reform” an emergency item. The bills now head to the House for consideration.

The package of bills would tighten the state's bail laws to keep more people in jail — including undocumented immigrants — while their criminal cases are pending.

Texas law requires an armed officer at each school. Districts are asking lawmakers to pay the full yearly cost, which they say is $100 per student.

So far, nine HHSC employees have been fired for accessing without a “business” purpose the private information of Texans seeking public assistance that includes Medicaid and food stamps.

Modeled after the state’s $6 billion cancer research fund, the dementia fund — a legislative priority for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — could pump hundreds of millions of dollars into Texas researchers.

Patrick shared a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday.

Senate Bill 5 would send an extra $800 million to public schools for security upgrades over the next two years. But the measure is at risk of becoming the latest casualty of the rift between the Texas House and Senate.

“I feel there were six senators who were ready to be the 21st vote,” said Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas. “But they didn’t want to be the 20th vote.”

Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher held a news conference on Wednesday to discuss $32.7 million that will be used for a construction improvement project for Poor Farm Ditch, which is a drainage channel in Houston.

About $17 billion worth of commitments lawmakers made in the new budget were snagged in policy fights between the Texas House and Senate on Saturday night.

The idea appeared to die in the Texas House over the weekend, but senators kept it alive by grafting the proposal on to another piece of legislation.

The bill would allow for the removal of prosecutors who adopt any policy to not pursue certain crimes, including some low-level theft and drug charges. The Senate’s version will need to be reconciled with the House, which had carved out some exemptions.

The legislation was named for Bishop Evans, who drowned last year trying to rescue migrants in the Rio Grande.

Stuck in committee, the test-strip legislation has support from Gov. Greg Abbott and bipartisan lawmakers, who see it as a way to save lives.

Supporters say the proposals would increase efficiency and expertise, but opponents argue the attempts are political and probably unconstitutional.

There are $5 billion and several political wedges standing between the House and Senate plans, which now move into conference committee with less than five weeks before session ends.

Senator Joan Huffman announced plans to meet with Spring Branch ISD leaders after a Friday board meeting where several members expressed their frustrations with the legislature.

Sen. Joan Huffman said the bill was in response to increased violent crime since 2019. Legislative researchers could not determine how the bill would affect the state’s prison population.

The vote ensured the Senate met its constitutional requirement to redraw districts in the first regular session after publication of the 2020 census results.

During the last session, lawmakers passed sweeping legislation to tighten bail laws in cases involving violent crime.In this session, lawmakers want to add felons in possession of a weapon to the list of crimes not eligible for personal bonds.

Two bills that advanced in House and Senate committees on Wednesday both exempt any lawmaker who has already taken advantage of the benefit.

The Senate Finance Committee’s proposals won’t be voted on and sent to the full chamber until April.

Law enforcement officers who serve on Operation Lone Star get a $500,000 death benefit for their survivors if they die on duty. But National Guard troops on the same mission don’t get a dime from the state for their families if they die.

Under Senate Bill 23, all felonies involving a gun would incur a mandatory 10-year prison sentence. It’s meant to curb crime, despite the lack of correlation between harsher sentences and crime rates.

In its first bill passed this session, the Texas Senate sought to ensure juvenile mental health hospitalizations are reported to the federal firearm background check system.

Budget proposals would boost state spending for the current budget cycle for projects ranging from mental health hospitals to state pay raises. This would leave $27 billion in surplus for next two years.

State Sen. Joan Huffman filed a bill that would repeal a provision that allowed longtime lawmakers to increase their yearly take-home income by $140,000 by collecting pension payments without retiring.

Texas Tech’s review comes as Gov. Greg Abbott has instructed state agencies and public universities that “forbidden DEI initiatives” violate federal and state employment discrimination laws.

The state has spent $4 billion on border initiatives in the past two years, including $40 million to bus migrants out of Texas into Democrat-led cities.

Conservative activists have pushed for legislative leaders to ban Democrats from leading committees.

The redistricting process this year is mostly procedural and is not expected to produce very different results from the most recent process completed in 2021.

Time to go to work for Texans.

The leaders of the state’s six biggest university systems are seeking the money to fund instruction, university operations and employee health insurance and to cover a free tuition program for veterans and their children.

In April, Bishop Evans drowned after jumping into the Rio Grande to save two migrants being swept away by the current. His family members will receive no financial payment, but they would if he worked for DPS or was under federal deployment.

Advocates have previously called for repealing the sales tax on products like tampons, sanitary pads and pantyliners. Menstrual products are already tax-free in 24 states.

The Texas Rainbow PUSH Coalition has organized an “Emergency Call to Action” press conference Tuesday in response to reports of children in the Department of Family and Protective Services’ care allegedly being sexually exploited and trafficked by employees in the foster care system.

The redrawn state Senate District 10 splits Black and Hispanic voters in Tarrant County. A full trial on whether GOP lawmakers intentionally discriminated against voters of color is expected later this year.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed redrawn voting maps that pave a safer path for the GOP’s slipping majority.

With partisan fervor, Republicans drew new maps for Congress and the Legislature that dilute the power of voters of color. Now the lawsuits begin, as groups that feel marginalized battle for representation in the halls of power.

Texas Republicans have approved redrawn U.S. House maps that favor incumbents and could decrease political representation for growing minority communities in the nation’s largest red state.

House Bill 133, also known as the Caleb Rule Act, has officially been passed. It was initially filed by Rep. Jacey Jetton of Richmond and Sen. Joan Huffman of Houston.

Texas gained two new seats in Congress based on population growth fueled by people of color. But the Senate’s proposal provides no new majority-Black or majority-Hispanic districts to reflect that growth.

Democrats criticized Republicans for “targeting” a North Texas district that had been trending Democratic and for not drawing any new districts where people of color would represent a majority of eligible voters.

The initial drafts of both maps have so far attempted to strengthen Republican majorities by protecting incumbents and creating more GOP-friendly districts.

Governor Greg Abbott will soon sign into law the felony bond reform bill that will eliminate personal bonds for the most violent offenders, among other things.

On Wednesday, Gov. Greg Abbott continued to hammer members of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, who are breaking quorum in Washington, D.C.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed an anti-fentanyl bill into law Wednesday morning.

A stricter felony bail system in the State of Texas is a step closer to reality following the third day of the Special Session in Austin.

Not many days after Lisa Torry Smith died in 2017, after family members learned it was not a crime in Texas to drive into someone in a crosswalk, they decided the law needed to change.

Senate Bill 321 would enroll new state workers in a cash-balance plan — similar to a common 401(k) retirement account — rather than the defined-benefit pension plan that current employees have.

Narrowly targeted pieces of Texas’ George Floyd Act — like restricting chokeholds and requiring officers to provide first aid — are expected to pass. But the Act itself and many other related reforms have failed to progress during the legislative session that ends Monday.

Legislative attempts to reform bail in Texas is likely headed for a closed-door showdown over the different approaches the House and Senate each devised.

The Texas Senate on Wednesday approved the chamber’s priority legislation that aims to keep more people accused or previously convicted of violent crimes in jail before trial unless they can post cash bonds.

The Texas Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would prevent local governments from cutting their law enforcement budgets without voter approval.

AdBettencourt and Huffman have criticized Harris County judges for releasing most people on no-cost personal recognizance, or PR, bonds. “Other policy initiatives — not renewed reliance on cash bail — will be required to halt the increase in violence,” a memo to county commissioners said. Critics of bail reform efforts and the bail bonds industry — which is dependent on cash bail systems — have often pointed to less people showing up to court as an argument against bail reform efforts. “People want to come to court and the vast majority of people do,” said Harris County Criminal Court Judge Franklin Bynum. The Harris County court monitor report said homeless people were twice as likely to be arrested while out on bond than other defendants.

The Texas Supreme Court on Jan. 15, 2020. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneTexas looks unlikely to change its controversial partisan election system for judges — even after a commission studying the issue recommended ending the practice. And in Republican primaries, judicial candidates with Hispanic-sounding surnames have often fared poorly, owing, experts say, to a largely white electorate. Those who favor partisan judicial elections have pointed out that they may work better in rural counties, where voters are electing fewer judges and it’s easier to learn their qualifications. Aside from the bias of partisanship, one of the chief concerns about the state’s partisan judicial selection system is the influence — perceived or actual — of donors who bankroll judges’ campaigns. Huffman, a powerful figure in the Texas Senate, said earlier this month she had already begun drafting a constitutional amendment that would increase judicial qualifications.

This one is about redistricting — how the state draws its political maps — and it fits the pattern. Political maps are the foundation of who does and doesn’t have a voice in a democracy. Asked whether a Republican House and Senate, with a Republican governor, can be expected to draw maps that favor Republicans, neither lawmaker agreed. Sure enough, they draw maps that increase their chances of success — not only in elections, but in the government decisions that follow. Republicans draw Republican maps.

LAKE JACKSON, Texas – The road to drinkable water won’t be a short one in Lake Jackson after a brain-eating amoeba was found in the water system. The discovery initially led officials to issue a do-not-use order for the Brazosport Water Authority. That was later changed to a boil-water notice for the city of Lake Jackson. Officials said they believe BWA’s distribution system is clean and that the issue is limited to Lake Jackson, where 11 of 54 sites tested there showed low levels of disinfectant. Baker said monthly and quarterly testing records for Lake Jackson show nothing of concern leading up to the discovery of the amoeba.