Texas Legislature
In Texas, Three More Measles Cases and Four New Anti-Vaccine Bills
Texas Legislature Considers Bills to Break the Cycle of Debtor’s Prison
“It turns out that when you give someone reasonable financial demands, they actually try to meet the commitment instead of ignoring it as unpayable.”
The vicious cycle started in 2013, when a law enforcement officer in Bell County pulled over Anthony Lofton, now 62, for a faulty tail light. The officer found ...Read More
Texas Lawmakers are Promoting ‘Anti-New York’ Bills to Limit Abortions
Governor Greg Abbott said there is “growing support for infanticide.” (There is not.)
Conservative Texas lawmakers are seizing on inflammatory and inaccurate national rhetoric around abortions later in pregnancy in an effort to drum up anti-abort...Read More
‘We’re Not Stupid’: Texas Teachers Take on Dan Patrick and the Legislature over Dismal Education Funding
After years of cuts and attacks, educators are on the offensive this legislative session. But will lawmakers do enough, and what will teachers do if they don’t?
In 2018, teachers led a wave of strikes and walkouts in red states around the country, demanding not just better pay but more public school funding after years ...Read More
Texas Prison Reformers Demand Dignity for Incarcerated Women
Bills addressing the basic needs of incarcerated women bolster the larger call for reform in the state prison system this session.
Like four out of five women incarcerated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Maggie Luna was a mother when she went to prison. And like most women in p...Read More
Republicans Push Back Against Making Election Day a Texas Holiday
Citing lost productivity, GOP lawmakers pounced on a bill that would make voting a little easier for state employees.
Confederate Heroes Day, honoring the likes of Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, has been a state holiday in Texas since 1973. But during a House Committee on S...Read More
Dan Patrick May Have Just Sparked Bathroom Bill 2.0
The GOP’s effort to ban local paid sick day ordinances morphed into what advocates see as an attack on LGBTQ protections that cover 6 million Texans.
Skeptics of the unusual kumbaya rhetoric in the Texas Capitol have been waiting with bated breath for Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick to throw a grenade loaded ...Read More
How Tea Partiers Fueled Texas’ Latest ‘Voter Fraud’ Freakout
Election-related crimes are rare, but activists like Aaron Harris have become both a legal and political weapon in Texas Republicans’ war on election fraud.
by Michael Barajas March 6, 2019 In August, a group of outraged conservative activists sent Governor Greg Abbott a letter that helped spark Texas’ latest vote...Read More
Airbnb is the Latest Target of Texas’ Anti-BDS Crusade
As a result of a 2017 law that blacklists Israel boycotters, Texas is making an example of the California-based short-term rental giant.
Texas has blacklisted an American company for, as the state sees it, opposing Israel. Using the power of its purse, Texas is sanctioning Airbnb for purportedly ...Read More
Third Time’s The Charm? Marijuana Decriminalization Gets Another Chance in Texas
The first marijuana reform bill heard in committee this session would downgrade possession of an ounce to a civil offense and a fine up to $250.
Police chiefs from Plano, North Richland Hills and Grand Prairie told a Texas House committee on Monday that marijuana is a dangerous gateway drug that leads to...Read More