At the same time, some Democrats acknowledged the Lubbock Republican let them leave their mark on some of the GOP bills they disagreed with.

Jones, a Democrat elected to the Texas House in 2022 and previously served on the Houston City Council, joins a slate of candidates running to fill the solidly blue seat.

State legislators passed an array of bills this year aimed at reining in the state’s high home prices and rents.

Research shows cellphones interfere with students' ability to focus in class. Texas would join at least nine other states that ban students from using their phones during the school day.

Gov. Greg Abbott has already said he intends to sign the bill, which will give schools funding for salary increases, special education, teacher preparation and operational costs.

Supporters said the proposal, which sought to amend the state constitution, would improve safety. Critics said it would violate due process and unfairly target minority groups.

The Texas Senate has passed House Bill 4 with a 23-8 vote, citing Houston ISD's academic improvements under Superintendent Mike Miles as an example of effective accountability.

Senate Bill 1362 would prevent officials from taking someone’s firearms if they haven’t been charged with a crime or aren’t subject to a protective order under the Texas Family Code.

Senate Bill 15, a top priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, is part of a broad push by lawmakers to put a dent in the state’s high home prices.

The House made changes to the proposal that leave open ways for victims to be compensated beyond medical bills.

Senate Bill 13 would require school boards or advisory councils to approve new books and review complaints. In most cases only 50 parents’ approval would be needed to create the oversight councils.

A top priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the legislation would make it easier to construct homes on smaller lots. A House Democrat briefly killed the bill.

A 2024 war among Republicans tilted the House to the right. Now more closely aligned with the Senate, Speaker Dustin Burrows has accelerated action on bail, school vouchers and social issues.

Senate Bill 12’s supporters say DEI programs use class time and public funds to promote political agendas.

The chamber jettisoned a provision tenants’ advocates warned would make it easier for Texas landlords to evict renters.

The chambers differ on how much power districts should have to push back in courts over their accountability ratings. They risk keeping STAAR by default if they don’t reach an agreement.

The bill, which is poised to become law, creates up to a $250,000 fine for medical professionals who change a patients’ listed sex outside of certain exemptions.

Some hemp retailers are looking at other states, while others say they are ready to take Texas to court over a THC ban.

A House vote showed broad support for the measure that would let districts set aside time for prayer or religious study.

The House approved the ban after previously considering proposals to preserve the industry by tightening regulations.

The deal appears to strike a face-saving compromise for both chambers over how to increase funds for the state’s public schools, with money earmarked for teacher pay and overhead costs.

Approval of the monument comes as the lower chamber prepares to debate the “Life of the Mother Act” bill later this week.

The bill is part of a suite of GOP proposals aimed at curbing the state’s high housing costs — chiefly by allowing more homes to be built.

Providing bigger tax breaks to homeowners is a key component of a deal brokered by Republicans in the Texas Legislature to lower tax bills for Texans.

The House passage of the measure asking voters to amend the state Constitution to tighten the state’s bail laws hands a major policy win to Gov. Greg Abbott.

As the state grapples with a threatened water supply, industry and lawmakers have invested millions in research to clean the toxic backwash for use in for agriculture.

Some measures that made it through before midnight dealt with jail bonds, an unconstitutional ban on gay sex, and the liability of vaccine manufacturers.

The bill would cap out-of-state political donations to a candidate or lawmaker to $5,000 for a statewide election, $2,500 for a district office and $1,000 for a county office.

The Texas House must approve changes to the proposal that were brokered by party leaders. It’s part of a package of bills to bring down property taxes statewide.

Senators will hold a hearing Thursday on their counterproposal to the House's school funding bill. House Democrats and public education advocates have criticized the upper chamber for not moving faster to advance the legislation.

It is unclear whether the House bill could come back as an amendment to another measure before the legislative session ends June 2.

The bill originally allowed pregnant women to drive in HOV lanes, to be consistent with Texas abortion laws, but legislators extended it to all mothers.

Student discipline, uncertified teachers and school bans on DEI and cellphones are some of the topics being debated at the Texas Legislature this session.

House Bill 46 would increase the number of health conditions eligible and would offer smokeable products under the state’s medical marijuana program.

House Bill 4 would make the test shorter and base scores on how students’ performance compares to national averages.

The bill would bar those under 18 from checking out books with sexually explicit material without parental permission.

The legislation had only pertained to countries the government deemed national security threats. A last-minute change would let the governor add more countries to the ban.

Supporters said the bill would protect poll workers who continue to face violent threats.

Students who are behind in third grade rarely catch up. Texas lawmakers want to intervene earlier.

Senate bills that reduce the influence of faculties and restrict protests on college campuses were voted out of committee in a last-minute meeting Monday.

Texas lawmakers have sought to make it easier to build more homes — and harder for neighbors to block projects.

Legislators in the House and Senate have reached an agreement on more property tax relief. But some critics worry the cuts aren’t sustainable forever.

A fiery debate on the House floor Friday gave way to the Senate Bill 412’s final vote. Supporters say it’s needed to protect children.

A bill, Senate Bill 2722, aims to reform the distribution of toll road revenues in Harris County, potentially providing Houston up to $80 million over five years.

The bill, which would require schools to use a definition of antisemitism when considering discipline for students, will soon head over to Abbott’s desk.

The Senate has a similar proposal, but is more prescriptive in how the money should be spent. The two chambers must agree on the final proposal to send to voters.

Uvalde’s former mayor, now in the Legislature, wrote the bill so that law-enforcement agencies would have better coordination and leadership as they respond to a mass shooting.

If approved, the legislation would expand one of the state's most popular loan programs with even lower interest rates.

The Texas House took its first step toward revising a priority Senate bill last week. The changes were lauded by the state’s water community.

The program will officially launch at the start of the 2026-27 school year.

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 first bill to reach Abbott’s desk this session creates a regulation-cutting state agency under the purview of the governor. It was passed with bipartisan supermajorities.

School leaders have privately criticized a bill that would make it harder to contest their performance ratings in court. But they did not testify against it to avoid lawmakers’ ire.

Anti-voucher Republicans said they voted for the bill so they could fight to improve it, and also to fend off political retribution.

Normally, memorial resolutions to honor Texans who have died are passed without controversy. But the resolution for Richards, a former president of Planned Parenthood who died this year, sparked a cascade of outrage from conservatives.

The bill would let families use taxpayer dollars for their children’s private schooling. Lawmakers also signed off on a sweeping $7.7 billion package to boost public school funding.

The lower chamber overwhelmingly voted in favor of House Bill 2, a sweeping $8 billion piece of legislation that would also limit schools’ reliance on teachers without formal classroom training.

As the Texas House expects to vote on a bill to create a $1 billion school voucher, a showdown is expected between optimistic supporters and critics hoping to sink the vote again, as they did in 2023.

House Bill 2000, known as Audrii’s Law, which looks to close a loophole for sex offenders, is set for a vote in the Texas House.

The Texas House also approved more money for schools in a bipartisan vote.

The vote instructs lawmakers who are negotiating a budget with the Senate to advocate for awarding Paxton the salary he missed while impeached over corruption allegations.

From The Blast: More than 50 House Democrats have signed on to a plan to spike all constitutional amendments unless the House allows voters to decide whether school vouchers will be legalized.

April 15 is Tax Day, but Texas homeowners still have time to apply for an exemption on their property taxes!

The Senate voted Wednesday to give initial approval to a bill that would require buildings, including public schools and universities, among others to segregate private facilities, like bathrooms, by sex.

The lower chamber’s plan largely aligns with the Senate’s proposal and puts billions toward teacher pay, border security and property tax cuts.

Among the hundreds of amendments were ones that focused on school vouchers, the attorney general’s office and the Texas Lottery.

The legislation was written after the state’s largest wildfire scorched more than 1 million acres in the Panhandle last year.

Several bills have been filed in the Texas House and Senate this legislative session aimed at addressing the problem of truancy in Texas.

The ads praise 14 Texas Republicans, including House Speaker Dustin Burrows, for their support of education savings accounts.

Patrick says the measure will shut down the dangerous THC products business. The House’s proposal would tighten oversight of the industry without a full ban.

The proposal aims to make working conditions safer for teachers but critics worry it could push the state’s most vulnerable students out of the classroom.

Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, said Texas A&M is better positioned to grow the Victoria school and serve the region’s petrochemical and agriculture industries.

Proponents say the changes would better serve special education students with widely varying needs — and help schools pay for it.

Most lawmakers — as well as Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — want to invest big in water. Here are the proposals that would do it.

The hearing on House Bill 3 started Tuesday and ended Wednesday morning. Hundreds of Texans waited overnight to testify.

The new legislative panel has been tasked to reduce the size and scope of government. But Democrats say they’re not interested in replicating Musk’s slash-and-burn approach.

It turns out 2025 isn’t the year for legalized sports betting in Georgia.

House Bill 239, which echoes a bathroom bill that failed in 2017, includes new provisions for shelters and prisons.

Turner’s death comes two months into his first term representing Texas’ 18th Congressional District, the seat long occupied by former U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who also died in office last year amid a battle with pancreatic cancer.

The goal of the new legislation is to help drive down the cost of housing so that more Texans can afford homes.

Neither of the Legislature’s voucher bills require private schools to accept certain students, which some warn could block the neediest children from access.

The 75 co-sponsors plus the bill’s author would provide enough votes to pass Gov. Abbott’s top priority measure in the 150-seat House.

Lawmakers will debate how to spend $3.5 billion in proposed tax cuts, a legislative priority for Republican leaders.

The proposal, filed Thursday, comes well short of the increase school administrators and education advocates have been asking for.

The proposal sets a few possible points of contention between the House and Senate, including how much money should families get through the program.

Supporters of voucher-like education savings accounts are trying to press their advantage early and build a sense of inevitability.

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 aggressive Republican agenda’s success depends on how well the three leaders harmonize their tactics and goals for the legislative session.

Lawmakers here and in Washington have long debated ending the practice of changing the clocks twice a year.

Senate Bill 2 now heads to the House, where top officials say they have the support to create education savings accounts.

Conservative activists in the GOP caucus called any power sharing with the minority party a betrayal of Republican voters.

Both chambers set aside $1 billion for a voucher-like education savings account program — double what was on the table two years ago — in a sign that supporters are emboldened after recent electoral gains.

The Democrats’ short list of possible benefits: A leader who learned to keep promises, a chance at chairing committees, and what they see as more chances for a fairer playing field.

The new speaker’s power over the budget and committee assignments is expected to bolster established Republican leaders and some Democrats who supported the winner.

The race pitted state Reps. David Cook and Dustin Burrows against each other. Here’s how each representative voted.

Burrows defeated Rep. David Cook with a coalition of Republican and Democratic votes.

The Texas House kicked off the 2025 session by electing an establishment Republican to lead the chamber, drawing criticism from within the GOP.

From debating school vouchers and improving the state’s water supply to reining in property taxes, the GOP-led body will look to pass its conservative priorities amid fighting within the party.

Rep. Cody Harris filed a complaint against Texas GOP Chair Abraham George for sending mailers and censuring lawmakers who support Rep. Dustin Burrows as House speaker.

Some voucher opponents are ready to compromise; others are hoping supporters will fumble over the program's size, eligibility and accountability.