The first 20 days of the special legislative session were quite a ride. Now the Legislature has 10 days left with 20 special session items to resolve and no bills on the governor’s desk.
Click here to continue reading.
The first 20 days of the special legislative session were quite a ride. Now the Legislature has 10 days left with 20 special session items to resolve and no bills on the governor’s desk.
Click here to continue reading.
Gov. Greg Abbott called the 85th Texas Legislature back for a special session beginning July 18, initially to pass legislation needed to keep five state agencies in operation, and then to address a longer list of proposals for everything from restroom regulations to local tree ordinances. The governor opened a total of 20 for consideration; this is our regularly updated look at the Legislature’s progress during the 30-day special session.
New home sales are flourishing in Johnson Development’s Houston-area communities, with builders reporting 27 percent more homes sold during the first six months of 2017 than the previous year.
By Mike Ward
AUSTIN — After months of criticizing his lawmaking brethren in the Texas House, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wants to improve communications between the two legislative chambers.
By Andrea Zelinski
AUSTIN – Rep. Sarah Davis insists reforming the state’s ethics laws is urgent enough for Gov. Greg Abbott to add to Legislature’s to-do list this special session, although she bottled up at least one key Senate “good government” bill during the regular session as chair of the ethics committee.
Brownwood was once a suburb of Baytown until it sank. It happened slowly. At first, no one noticed that the glamorous subdivision built in the 1930s was slipping away, as reported by Chronicle editor Lisa Gray. Nor initially did oil executives who lived there link the sinkage to industry’s ravenous appetite for groundwater pumped out of the land.
By Brendan Gibbons, San Antonio Express-News
SAN ANTONIO – Four environmental groups, two of them based in Texas, are asking to join the fight to keep the golden-cheeked warbler on the endangered species list.
By Jeremy Wallace, Houston Chronicle, Mike Ward, and Andrea Zelinski
AUSTIN – With the special legislative session now more than halfway to its end, the four key must-pass bills that got lawmakers called back to Austin in the first place have passed one chamber but are going nowhere fast in the other, fueling growing concerns that the slow pace may be a “game of chicken” between the House and Senate.
By Mike Ward
AUSTIN — Days after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott penned a warning about so-called Obama Democrats’ plans to return to power in Texas, a party consultant is firing back at Abbott for being fearful and passive-aggressive.
Two former staffers for state Rep. Dawnna Dukes say they found their work a hectic balancing act, fitting in legislative work with the Austin’s lawmaker’s ever expanding list of personal errands.
Gov. Greg Abbott called the 85th Texas Legislature back for a special session beginning July 18, initially to pass legislation needed to keep five state agencies in operation, and then to address a longer list of proposals for everything from restroom regulations to local tree ordinances. The governor opened a total of 20 for consideration; this is our constantly updated look at the Legislature’s progress during the 30-day special session.
As a political outsider, radio launched Dan Patrick’s career. But now that he’s mostly off the airwaves and in the lieutenant governor’s seat, Patrick’s station continues to push his conservative agenda.
State Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, is hoping that the fourth time is the charm in his attempt to change the way that the Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees is elected, an effort to increase minority representation in the district.
WASHINGTON (July 20, 2017) – The National Association of Realtors® today said that significant improvements to the “21st Century Flood Reform Act,” key legislation aimed at strengthening and reauthorizing (link is external) the National Flood Insurance Program, have cleared the way for endorsement of the bill. Among the changes, Realtors® support the House Financial Services Committee’s commitment to retaining “grandfathering” – a policy that protects homeowners from significant rate increases when a flood map changes.
By Blake Paterson
Houston firefighters delivered over 32,000 signatures to City Hall on Monday in support of asking voters in November to mandate parity in pay between firefighter and police officer ranks, a maneuver that could threaten the city’s plans to sell $1 billion in bonds as part of its pension reform plan.