The Texas Senate committee formed after the Uvalde mass shooting held its first public hearings this week. For anyone hoping something substantial will be done before the start of the school year in August, none of it instilled confidence. Tuesday’s 12-hour hearing...
Following the mass shooting in Uvalde, Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday called for the formation of “special legislative committees” to examine and develop legislative recommendations on school safety, mental health, police training and firearm safety. The committees...
For Republicans in Texas, three special legislative sessions were apparently not enough. And now a growing number of Republican lawmakers are letting Greg Abbott know that they want a fourth session to officially ban COVID-19 vaccine mandates. At least two dozen...
Throughout 2021, State Rep. Lyle Larson has done what he does best: Speak his mind. Known for bucking the Texas GOP’s top brass throughout the past several years, the San Antonio Republican was easily the harshest intraparty critic of Gov. Greg Abbott’s administration...
It was no coincidence the Texas Progressive Caucus formed days after a string of Democrats suddenly returned to Austin to restore quorum in the House. Although a press release announcing its formation made no mention of quorum, its founding members remained in...
The Texas Legislature may be back for its second special session, but hundreds of new Texas laws — 666, to be exact — will go into effect tomorrow. Many of the new statutes focus on somewhat frivolous topics, like allowing beer and wine sales on Sundays. However, the...
I’m a proud quorum breaker. By leaving Texas, my 56 Democratic colleagues and I shined a national spotlight on Greg Abbott’s voter suppression bill and pushed Congress closer to passing a new federal voting rights act to override it. We did it by staying focused,...
Congregating at midnight much like vampires would, Texas House Republicans voted Monday to advance Senate Bill 1, a bill that threatens to reduce polling hours and make it more difficult to vote by mail. Republicans are pushing the legislation as a solution to...
Ana-Maria Ramos was speechless. It was last Monday, August 9, and the Texas State Representative (D-102) was in a meeting with several House Democrats in Washington, D.C., when the news broke: Four of their peers had, without warning, abandoned their posts and...