There’s a tremendous amount of work to do in the last two weeks of session. The budget negotiations, especially in regards to health care cuts that could dramatically exceed what the state suffered from in 2003 and 2011, will be front and center. And of…
This headline from the Texas Tribune says it all: "Texas House votes to cut business tax that funds public schools." Last Thursday, Texas Republicans brought forward a bill that would eventually phase out the franchise tax. Built upon the idea of a fake surplus, the…
SB 4, the so-called “sanctuary city” bill, passed the House on a party-line vote in the dead of the night. The bill was bad enough to begin with, but Republicans managed to make it even worse by turning it into a "Show-Me-Your-Papers" bill. This Arizona-style legislation will discriminate against millions of…
After many sessions of trying, Rep. Harold Dutton, Jr. successfully passed an important criminal justice raise-the-age bill that will have a tremendous impact for Texas families. Current state law requires a 17-year old to be tried in the adult criminal justice system. Rep. Dutton's "raise…
The so-called "sanctuary city" bill before the Texas House this week is a major threat to the safety and security of Texas families. But Governor Greg Abbott, serving as a right-hand man to President Donald Trump, has made the bill an emergency item -- and…
It is not every day that a Texas House member proposes a bill that is not just a piece of legislation, but is also a powerful statement of our values that charts a clear course for making our state better for all Texans. That was the case…
On Wednesday, April 19, the Texas House of Representatives will consider a very serious issue on the House floor, and a very made-up issue in a House committee. The school finance bill that comes to the House floor on Wednesday marks the first time in…
Throughout the debate on the budget, House Democrats were able to add a number of successful amendments addressing our top priorities and helped make the budget better. (more…)
This afternoon, the United States District Court in the Southern District of Texas, Corpus Christi Division, ruled again that that the Texas Legislature acted with “discriminatory purpose” in passage of SB 14 in 2011, the state’s photo voter ID law. (more…)
As the Texas Legislature crafts the state budget for fiscal years 2018-2019, no version of the House or Senate budget has yet to include a full reversal of the Medicaid rate cuts for acute therapy services from 2015. Unless the cuts are fully reversed, tens…
