Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday signed Senate Bill 3070, which will also criminalize the online sale of lottery tickets through couriers. view article

The San Angelo Republican, at a Texas Tribune event, also weighed in on water and energy policy. view article

A federal judge has been asked to let groups intervene in the settlement that ended the Texas Dream Act view article

Gov. Greg Abbott has vetoed a bill that would have allowed public school teachers to serve on local appraisal review boards, siding with conservative lawmakers who argued the measure created a clear conflict of interest.  Senate Bill 974, authored by Democrat Sen. Sarah Eckhardt and carried in the House by Democrat Rep. Chris Turner, was narrowly passed by the legislature but drew significant opposition from Republicans. The bill would have made teachers the only class of government employees allowed to sit on the boards that hear taxpayer protests of property valuations—decisions that directly impact school funding. view article

For the first time since the program’s creation, Texas families were on track to start receiving federal dollars aimed at feeding school-aged children while they’re home over the summer. Though lawmakers from both parties found unusual agreement on the issue this legislative session, their plans were reversed this week as Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed the $60 million they’d budgeted to make it happen.  The Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) program would have provided low income families with $120 per child, distributed on debit cards like those used to access food stamp benefits. view article

The 86th Texas Legislature passed House Bill 3 to further protect the safety and welfare of Texas students by: view article

An army of advocates worked with lawmakers to protect students from sexual abuse and exploitation. view article

Their filing says the lawsuit that struck down in-state tuition for undocumented students was “contrived” to keep their voices out. view article

Gov. Abbott’s veto of legislation banning THC has created a rare public clash between two of the state’s top leaders. view article

The clash marks a rare break between two of the most powerful Republicans in Texas after a legislative session that ushered in a series of conservative victories.  Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the powerful head of the Texas Senate, sharply rebuked Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday for vetoing his top legislative priority — a ban on all THC products — and dug in his heels against the governor’s call for lawmakers to instead place firmer regulations on the hemp industry. view article

As debate over school choice dominated the Texas Capitol, one provision quietly made its way into the law. Parents with pre-K students are eligible to receive funds in the new education savings account program, marking an expansion of publicly funded early education. The public funds would be used to pay for pre-K tuition at private or community-based child care centers, if they qualify under Senate Bill 2. Parents of eligible 3- and 4-year-olds could receive over $10,000 annually to pay for tuition, textbooks and related costs at approved private providers. In Fort Worth, the funds could go a long way, according to Child Care Associates, Tarrant County’s largest early childhood provider.  view article

The move infuriated Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the powerful head of the Senate, who had called the ban among his top five bills over 17 years in the Legislature. view article

Lawmakers added $100 million to a child care scholarship program but failed to expand access to free preschool for children with disabilities. LUFKIN — Texas lawmakers this year added $100 million to a scholarship fund to help families across the state pay for early child care, an extraordinary investment that may ease a waitlist to help thousands of children.  However, advocates say legislators fell short in creating more opportunities for the state’s youngest living with disabilities. “Most families with children with disabilities are really struggling in one area, if not multiple,” said Bethany Edwards, director for research and evaluation at the Center for Transforming Lives, a North Texas nonprofit that helps single mothers. Edwards is also a parent of a child with disabilities.  “And there's a lot that can happen from a policy standpoint to change these systems, but change seems to happen very slowly,” she said. view article

Abbott will call lawmakers back to Austin to tackle Senate Bill 3, a proposed ban on THC products that he vetoed, as well as five others from his veto list. view article

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill into law that would require all public school classrooms in his state to display the biblical Ten Commandments.  The law, which goes into effect on Sept. 1, requires classrooms to display a poster or framed English translation of the commandments that is at least 16-by-20 inches and is able to be read from anywhere in the classroom.  Texas has more than 5.5 million students throughout its more than 9,000 public schools. view article

AUSTIN — Sitting in an Austin high-rise with a spectacular view of the Texas Capitol just behind him, former state Sen. Kelly Hancock left no doubt that his two announced opponents in the Texas comptroller’s race will have a fight on their hands.  “A lot of elected officials don’t like campaigning,” he told the Fort Worth Report during an interview at his downtown campaign headquarters. “I love campaigning. I won’t see all 31 million Texans but I’ll see a lot of them. We’ll go all over the state.”  In a top-level job swap June 19, Hancock was positioned to replace departing state Comptroller Glenn Hegar as acting comptroller after submitting his Senate resignation to Gov. Greg Abbott two days earlier. Now, the 61-year-old Tarrant County Republican is plunging into a 2026 election fight against two previously announced candidates — Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick and former state Sen. Don Huffines. view article

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday restarted plans to temporarily store nuclear waste at sites in rural Texas and New Mexico, even as the nation is at an impasse over a permanent solution.  The ruling does not mean nuclear waste will end up in West Texas. Texas legislators have sent a bill to Gov. Greg Abbott that reiterates the state's stance that nuclear waste may only be stored at the location where a reactor is operating. And Interim Storage Partners, which applied for a federal license to build a spent nuclear fuel storage site in West Texas, said in a statement that it does not plan to continue developing the project "without the consent of the State of Texas." view article

Republican state Sen. Kelly Hancock launched his campaign for state comptroller Thursday shortly after taking a senior position at the comptroller’s office.  His appointment as chief clerk to Comptroller Glenn Hegar paves the way for Hanock, a North Richland Hills Republican, to become interim comptroller after Hegar leaves his office in June. And it gives Hancock an edge in a growing Republican primary race next year.  “Kelly is a great fit to serve as the chief financial officer of Texas,” Hegar said in a statement, who is stepping down to become chancellor of the Texas A&M University System. “As a long-serving member of the Texas Legislature, he helped shape sound financial policy and authored the state’s conservative spending cap legislation”  Hegar added that Hancock is honest, trustworthy, and an “all-around good guy.” view article

Successful measures include a new early-voting schedule, revised mail-voting procedures and limits on curbside voting. view article

This coverage is made possible through Votebeat, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting access. Sign up for Votebeat Texas’ free newsletters here.  After considering a number of bills that would significantly reshape election administration and voting access in the state, Texas lawmakers ultimately approved only a few, including legislation that would alter the schedule of the 12-day early-voting period to increase access.  They also passed measures aimed at reducing rejections of mail-voting applications and ballots, and added new restrictions on curbside voting, but held off on some more controversial proposals.  Among the bills that didn’t advance were Senate Bill 16, one of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s priority bills, which would have imposed a strict requirement for voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship, and a measure that would have given state Attorney General Ken Paxton more authority to prosecute election crimes. Bills that would have permitted online voter registration, audits of hand-count results, and guns in polling sites also stalled. view article

With border crossings at record lows, state authorities are being sent to arrest people accused of committing crimes in Texas after entering the country illegally.For four years, Texas’ Republican leaders argued President Joe Biden's immigration policies were so lax that they had no choice but to spend an unprecedented $11 billion in state money to secure the border.  Now with President Donald Trump in office, illegal border crossings have sunk to historic lows — and the state is continuing to spend another $3.4 billion on border security over the next two years, more than four times what lawmakers ever budgeted before the Biden-era buildup. view article

While some legislation to better secure Texas elections passed, activists were disappointed to see several key bills fail. view article

The Texas Railroad Commission voted Tuesday to immediately suspend a permit that allowed a defiant Houston operator to inject oil field wastewater deep underground in an area of West Texas plagued by earthquakes.  The vote is the latest milestone in a yearlong legal battle over whether Blackbuck Resources could be causing a string of earthquakes, including one of record strength last month that triggered the commission to issue an emergency order.  The earlier order compelled Blackbuck to stop operating for at least 15 days. Blackbuck has not resumed operations, the commission said in a statement.  view article

State Rep. Brent Money says State Affairs Committee Chair Ken King won’t give the legislation a hearing. view article

Gov. Greg Abbott is leaving the door open for a special session of the Texas Legislature, signaling that unfinished Republican priorities—particularly a ban on taxpayer-funded lobbying—could soon bring lawmakers back to Austin. view article

DENTON, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott signed a package of bills Monday that aims to slash property taxes for Texas homeowners.  Surrounded by state legislators, local officials and residents of Robson Ranch, a luxury senior community in Denton County, Abbott called the Texas property tax cuts unprecedented in the U.S.  “No state in the history of America has devoted such a large percentage of its budget to tax relief,” Abbott said to cheers. “And as far as I’m concerned, we’re not done yet.”  The bills approve two constitutional amendments, which voters must still approve in November. One would raise the homestead exemption from $100,000 to $140,000; the other would raise the exemption to $200,000 for state residents with disabilities or those who are 65 and older. view article

Reps. Veronica Escobar and Joaquin Castro were among the 45 elected officials placed on a hit list by a man accused of killing a former Minnesota House speaker and her husband. view article

Texas officials suggested the federal government could pick up construction. However, during President Trump’s first term, his administration built about one-third of what the state was able to put up in the same amount of time. view article

During a state legislative session where education issues took center stage and Gov. Greg Abbott promised to fund public schools, one San Antonio area school district could potentially lose money under the new bill. view article

Eight Tribune photographers in eight Texas cities covered Saturday’s “No Kings” protests. Here is some of their work.  Houston City Hall and protesters are reflected in Cristina Medina’s glasses during the "No Kings" demonstration on Saturday, June 14, 2025. Credit: Antranik Tavitian for The Texas Tribune view article

Texas will no longer allow students living in the state who are undocumented to pay in-state tuition following demands from the Trump administration to end the policy.  Soon after the federal government sued Texas last week over a state law allowing the practice, Texas quickly asked the court to side with the feds and deem the law unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor’s ruling did just that and immediately blocked the law.  This is what is known so far about the ruling and its implications. This story will be updated as more information becomes available. view article

Some implications of the ruling ordering the policy’s end are still unknown. College access experts urged affected students not to withdraw from school while they assess their options.  Texas will no longer allow students living in the state who are undocumented to pay in-state tuition following demands from the Trump administration to end the policy. Soon after the federal government sued Texas last week over a state law allowing the practice, Texas quickly asked the court to side with the feds and deem the law unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor’s ruling did just that and immediately blocked the law.  This is what is known so far about the ruling and its implications. This story will be updated as more information becomes available. view article

Texans for Lawsuit Reform is threatening to primary House members who helped kill their major legislative priorities.  Leaders for Texans for Lawsuit Reform, the biggest donor in Texas politics, say they have a simple strategy when trying to persuade state lawmakers: “We never make enemies,” President Lee Parsley said in late April. “We only make friends.”  But now that the Texas legislative session has concluded without lawmakers passing any of the group’s three high priority bills, TLR is taking a decidedly different tact. In a blistering letter to members, Parsley called out by name the lawmakers he said stifled TLR’s agenda and all but promised to take them on in primary campaigns next March. He laid much of the blame on House Speaker Dustin Burrows’ shoulders.  Leaders for Texans for Lawsuit Reform, the biggest donor in Texas politics, say they have a simple strategy when trying to persuade state lawmakers: “We never make enemies,” President Lee Parsley said in late April. “We only make friends.”  But now that the Texas legislative session has concluded without lawmakers passing any of the group’s three high priority bills, TLR is taking a decidedly different tact.  In a blistering letter to members, Parsley called out by name the lawmakers he said stifled TLR’s agenda and all but promised to take them on in primary campaigns next March. He laid much of the blame on House Speaker Dustin Burrows’ shoulders. view article

Texans for Lawsuit Reform is threatening to primary House members who helped kill their major legislative priorities.  Leaders for Texans for Lawsuit Reform, the biggest donor in Texas politics, say they have a simple strategy when trying to persuade state lawmakers: “We never make enemies,” President Lee Parsley said in late April. “We only make friends.”  But now that the Texas legislative session has concluded without lawmakers passing any of the group’s three high priority bills, TLR is taking a decidedly different tact. In a blistering letter to members, Parsley called out by name the lawmakers he said stifled TLR’s agenda and all but promised to take them on in primary campaigns next March. He laid much of the blame on House Speaker Dustin Burrows’ shoulders.  Leaders for Texans for Lawsuit Reform, the biggest donor in Texas politics, say they have a simple strategy when trying to persuade state lawmakers: “We never make enemies,” President Lee Parsley said in late April. “We only make friends.”  But now that the Texas legislative session has concluded without lawmakers passing any of the group’s three high priority bills, TLR is taking a decidedly different tact.  In a blistering letter to members, Parsley called out by name the lawmakers he said stifled TLR’s agenda and all but promised to take them on in primary campaigns next March. He laid much of the blame on House Speaker Dustin Burrows’ shoulders. view article

Education policy experts say the results align with Texas’ workforce goals but note that students still need help. view article