Senate Bill 3070 would allow the Texas Lottery’s games to continue under a new department, abolish the agency and create restrictions on ticket purchases.

While the Lottery Commission says it can’t regulate sales to couriers, lawmakers want changes after two major jackpots were won using those services.

A report found up to 70% of guard positions were unfilled at some prisons. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has a 26% staff turnover rate.

The Bartlett Unit in Williamson County will house 1,049 male inmates who will participate in educational programs aimed to help them secure a job after they’ve served their time.

A new state report says the prison population will outgrow capacity by the end of next year.

The bill would require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to focus enforcement and increase penalties on repeat violators and increase public outreach. Still, environmental advocates say the effort was too “modest” in its reach.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to investigate allegations that the state is failing to enforce the Clean Water Act. Environmentalists say the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s system of issuing permits has made it too easy for industries to contaminate rivers, lakes and estuaries.

The Public Utility Commission has about 200 employees but needs more to handle shoring up the state power grid and tackling an expanded list of regulatory duties, according to the state Sunset Advisory Commission.

The group that reviews the effectiveness of state agencies recommended several changes to how the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality operates.

A report from the state Sunset Advisory Commission found that Texas Commission on Environmental Quality commissioners have become “reluctant” regulators and often encourage industry to “self police.”

Voters in Houston, wearing masks and spread 6 feet apart, line up to vote in the delayed primary runoff election. Michael Stravato for The Texas TribuneEditor's note: If you'd like an email notice whenever we publish Ross Ramsey's column, click here. Public hearings are part of the proceedings. The 5.5 million public school students in Texas arent looking at a couple of hearings between now and the end of the year. Those legislators who couldnt decide how to hold a public hearing might learn in November what their voters think.

Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneEditor's note: If you'd like an email notice whenever we publish Ross Ramsey's column, click here. Conversations about how to legislate during a pandemic have animated lawmakers since the new coronavirus reared its head in Texas earlier this year. Under non-pandemic conditions, he and other state leaders would at least be pretending new political maps could be turned out during the regular session. In a normal 140-day regular session, the Legislature considers thousands of bills and passes fewer than one in four of them. As soon as the census is complete and delivered to lawmakers, they have to draw new political maps for the Texas congressional delegation, the Texas Legislature and the State Board of Education.

In a livestreamed Tuesday meeting, Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton and the board's chair, Christi Craddick, sparred over questions about the fate of the agency's executive director.