AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Senate on Monday passed a bill to prevent cities and counties from passing or enforcing any local policy that exceeds minimum requirements set by state laws. If House Bill 2127 is signed into law, it would nullify some rules made to protect workers. According to The Texas Tribune, the legislation would overturn any existing regulation that conflicts with it. Opponents say the bill would wipe out mandated water breaks for construction workers in some cities and water-use restrictions during droughts. They warn that local governments would no longer be able to combat predatory lending or invasive species, regulate excessive noise or enforce nondiscrimination ordinances. view article

Retired Texas teachers won higher monthly stipends and a so-called 13th check from the Legislature this session after years of advocacy from the nearly 500,000 who receive pension checks from the state. Their success capped a rocky session where some public employees won raises, while others lost out. The former teachers had not received inflation adjustments in the last 19 years, though they had gotten a few one-time supplements. Over that same period, retired state employees have not received extra checks or cost-of-living raises. view article

“The new mission scope is very much a continuation of Operation Lone Star, which has done little to reduce the number of illegal crossings into our state,” said Chris Russo.  In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the Texas Senate passed landmark border security legislation but still failed to include provisions for the state to repel illegal border-crossers. According to State Sen. Brian Birdwell (R–Granbury), the Senate’s committee substitute to House Bill 7 “will enhance border security operations, provide more tools to law enforcement and prosecutors, and increase the safety of our border regions in Texas.” However, Texans for Strong Borders President Chris Russo told Texas Scorecard, “The new mission scope is very much a continuation of Operation Lone Star, which has done little to reduce the number of illegal crossings into our state.” view article

Texas senators have latched education savings accounts to a school funding bill in a last-ditch effort to avoid a special session. But some House members are furious at the revamped version and have vowed not to let it become law. view article

Sine die, the last day of the 88th legislative regular session, is fast approaching. Several bills that are still active could affect school district construction procedures and future school construction projects. The potential impacts of these bills and their current statuses are analyzed below.

Passage of a school choice measure is anything but a sure bet, as there is little evidence that the governor has been able to convince rural Republicans in the Texas House — who have for years been a reliable firewall — to drop their opposition. view article

AUSTIN, Texas — The state of Texas is only one of six states that fund schools based on attendance. Critics say this method shortchanges children and schools. To change the system, a state representative is filing House Bill 31. For this week's Crisis in the Classroom, CBS Austin’s Paige Hubbard is explaining what this bill will do and why some feel it’s long overdue. State Representative Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin says the pandemic magnified why attendance-based funding is an issue. As it currently stands - when a child is absent, money is deducted from the district. “It is unfair to our students and schools,” said Rep. Hinojosa. view article

Lawyers for suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton are forcefully trying to discredit a recent House impeachment vote and predicted that the Senate will acquit Paxton at a trial they say they want to postpone until after this summer. High-profile Houston attorneys Tony Buzbee and Dan Cogdell, new to the case this week, came out swinging at a theatrical news conference Wednesday that was heavier on emotion than on specifics about how they plan to defend Paxton against the allegations and try to clear the way for him to return to office. “Ken Paxton will never be convicted by the Senate,” Buzbee said. Cogdell added, “He is absolutely 100% innocent of these accusations.” view article

The war of words Texas property tax relief continues and Lt. Gov. Patrick is now challenging the governor to a 45 minute debate. Lt. Governor Dan Patrick wants to prove the Senate's property tax relief plan is better than the plan put forward by Governor Abbott in a public debate. It's just the latest move in a nearly nine day battle within the Texas Republican party that quickly escalated from the legislature to Twitter with republicans openly disagreeing on how to reduce property taxes. view article

Pregnant moms on Medicaid will get health care coverage for a year, patients will get more detailed billing and nurses will get help with school loans. But efforts failed to gain steam for legalizing fentanyl test strips, increasing the pool of mental health professionals who accept Medicaid and expanding Medicaid benefits to more Texans. view article

Attorneys for embattled Republican Ken Paxton are calling on the Texas Senate to dismiss the impeachment case against the suspended attorney general. Tony Buzbee, the leading attorney representing Paxton, said Wednesday that the evidence used by the House is so flawed the Senate should not take it into consideration. “Look at this foolishness, look at what has been put in front of you. If you even consider it — because no court of law would, no court of law in this country would even consider it — but if you decide to consider it should be thrown out in a one-page motion,” Buzbee said during a press conference at the Austin headquarters of the Republican Party of Texas. view article

Javier and Gloria Cazares remember their 9-year-old daughter Jacklyn, killed in Uvalde, during the 10th annual National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. Gloria Cazares sat in a Republican’s office in the Texas Capitol holding up a poster of her slain 9-year-old daughter Jackie. Her No. 1 priority for the Texas Legislature — banning those under 21 from buying powerful AR-15-style assault rifles, as the Uvalde school shooter had done — was about to fail, docked in a committee chaired by Rep. Dustin Burrows. She was in his office for herself, but she was also there for the dozens of Uvalde family members who had rallied for the bill in Austin the day before. view article

Despite the chaotic end to the regular Texas legislative session — with all eyes on the impeachment of Ken Paxton and the failure of priority bills — several less attention-grabbing bills did successfully make it through both chambers and onto the governor’s desk. One of those is the so-called “no kids in cuffs” bill, Senate Bill 133. It bans school police officers and security guards from restraining, Tasing, or using chemical irritants like pepper spray on students below 6th grade “unless the student poses a serious risk of harm to the student or another person.” The measure is one of several championed by disability rights advocates at the beginning of the session, and the only one to pass. view article

Despite the chaotic end to the regular Texas legislative session — with all eyes on the impeachment of Ken Paxton and the failure of priority bills — several less attention-grabbing bills did successfully make it through both chambers and onto the governor’s desk. One of those is the so-called “no kids in cuffs” bill, Senate Bill 133. It bans school police officers and security guards from restraining, Tasing, or using chemical irritants like pepper spray on students below 6th grade “unless the student poses a serious risk of harm to the student or another person.” The measure is one of several championed by disability rights advocates at the beginning of the session, and the only one to pass. view article

Waiting on the Texas Legislature didn’t make sense for Fort Worth ISD. Lawmakers came down to the wire and failed to make any significant changes to school funding, which initially appeared to get a boost because of the state’s nearly $33 billion surplus. Fort Worth ISD’s 2023-24 budget is moving forward without betting on any changes from the state. Officials plan to shift some money to fund major purchases that likely would have been covered through a potential bump in state funding. view article

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Top Republicans show no signs of compromising on a plan to lower Texans’ property taxes after Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick reiterated their commitments to their competing plans Tuesday. As an ongoing special session with only the upper chamber present for business beats on, $17.6 billion hangs in the balance as leaders debate different ideas for how to use an unprecedented surplus for property tax relief. view article

But for both ambitious Texas politicians waiting in the wings and eagle-eyed election observers, one of the most important questions is likely who will succeed Paxton if he’s removed—and how they’ll be selected. It’s worth noting at the outset that there are two vacancies to consider. The first vacancy occurred automatically upon Paxton’s impeachment. Under the state constitution, impeached officials are automatically suspended when they are impeached—and they either regain their office upon their acquittal or they never return. The second vacancy is speculative, and would only occur if Paxton is actually removed from office. […] Under the Texas Constitution, a vacancy in a “State office,” like Attorney General, is filled by a gubernatorial nomination made with the “advice and consent” of the Senate, and the nominee serves until the next general election. Owing to a 1991 constitutional amendment, there are lots of specific requirements for how this process plays out if the Senate is in recess—which may not actually come into play depending on when the Governor would make such an appointment. (That is, if the Senate was just in session for Paxton’s trial, it would make sense to then promptly consider the Governor’s Attorney General nominee.) view article

The state is now considering seizing the land to save the park after its purchase offer was rejected by a Dallas developer. For the second time this year, the state has closed Fairfield Lake State Park after it was unable to negotiate the purchase of the property from a developer. After several attempts to save the 1,820-acre park, Texas Parks and Wildlife announced over the weekend that Shawn Todd, founder and CEO of Dallas-based Todd Interests, declined the state’s $25 million offer to give up the company’s contract for the 5,000-acre property that includes the park, located about 100 miles south of Dallas in Freestone County. The park was closed to the public Sunday night. The agency says it will now explore using eminent domain and condemnation to seize the land, which the state had leased for decades before it was sold to Todd Interests earlier this year. view article

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick defiantly refused to exclude a homestead exemption from the Senate’s property tax cut plan Tuesday — even though the House adjourned a week ago after rejecting the provision. The protracted impasse on property tax relief means the odds grow dimmer every day that the Senate will send legislation to the governor’s desk by the end of the special session later this month. view article

The impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton exposed long-simmering and bitter divisions within the Texas Republican Party — infighting that has hindered the ability to unite behind a single vision for the state’s future despite a generation of political dominance. Just this legislative session, Republicans were unable to find agreement on property taxes, school choice, stricter immigration laws and other conservative priorities that could have given Texas bragging rights as a conservative hothouse, on par with Florida. To be sure, the Legislature did succeed in enacting significant conservative priorities in its 88th Legislative Session, which ends Monday. It banned puberty blockers and hormone treatments for people under 18, a significant blow for transgender youths and their families. It rolled back labor protections and other pro-worker legislation enacted by Texas cities, many of them led by Democrats. It removed discretion from local prosecutors over crimes like marijuana possession On Saturday, negotiators also agreed on legislation that would ban diversity, equity and inclusion offices at Texas public universities, making Texas the second state to do so, after Florida. view article

When the Texas Legislature ended its regular session Monday without a deal on property taxes, it was unsurprising to see the House and Senate openly feuding with each other. The Senate’s presiding officer, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, has long dogged House leadership as too moderate and too slow to act on his chamber’s priorities. What came next, however, was far more unusual: Gov. Greg Abbott called a special session on cutting property taxes and asked lawmakers to focus exclusively on one method of relief. The House quickly obliged, but the Senate defied Abbott by passing a broader bill. And when Abbott issued a statement clearly siding with the House, Patrick erupted. In a statement, Patrick said Abbott “seems misinformed about the roles of the executive and legislative branches of government.” “Governor Abbott has finally shown his cards,” Patrick said, accusing Abbott of favoring tax cuts for corporations over homeowners. “This is not what homeowners expected when they voted for him.” view article

For the second time this year, the state has closed Fairfield Lake State Park after it was unable to negotiate the purchase of the property from a developer. After several attempts to save the 1,820-acre park, Texas Parks and Wildlife announced over the weekend that Shawn Todd, founder and CEO of Dallas-based Todd Interests, declined the state’s $25 million offer to give up the company’s contract for the 5,000-acre property that includes the park, located about 100 miles south of Dallas in Freestone County. The park was closed to the public Sunday night. The agency says it will now explore using eminent domain and condemnation to seize the land, which the state had leased for decades before it was sold to Todd Interests earlier this year. view article

Plan touted by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick more directly benefits homeowners, while Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan extends benefits of businesses, households with higher incomes. view article

Lawmakers in Texas reached a significant milestone by finalizing a historic budget plan for the upcoming two years, amounting to a staggering $321.3 billion – after boasting the largest budget surplus ever. Nevertheless, the budget has become a subject of intense debate and controversy, primarily due to its failure to address crucial issues, leaving a substantial amount of funds unused. The budget, known as the General Appropriations Act for 2024-25, includes allocations for various sectors, such as tax cuts, mental health access, state employee pay raises, border security, state parks expansion, and infrastructure development for broadband and water. view article

For more than a decade, Texas has been trying to slim down its youth prison system, which has been plagued by years of abuse scandals. This Legislature is reversing that course.  The Texas Legislature convened this January facing a big task: fixing the increasingly unstable youth prison system. Proposals on the table ranged from closing the state’s five remaining youth prisons and instead relying on local systems to rehabilitate children involved in criminal behavior to spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build additional state lockups for juveniles. Ultimately, lawmakers opted for the latter, passing a budget with $200 million set aside to build two or three additional state-run prisons to hold at least 200 more youth. Currently, fewer than 600 juveniles are imprisoned in the state’s prisons. view article

Led by Andrew Murr, a West Texas rancher and lawyer, and Ann Johnson, a former prosecutor, the team of 12 includes 11 with law degrees. The 12-member team that will make the Texas House’s case for impeaching suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton is led by a Republican lawyer and rancher from West Texas and a Democrat who spent more than 20 years as a prosecutor and defense attorney in Harris County. Reps. Andrew Murr, R-Junction, and Ann Johnson, D-Houston, are chair and vice chair of the seven Republicans and five Democrats who will serve as impeachment managers during Paxton’s trial before the Senate later this summer. view article

Led by Andrew Murr, a West Texas rancher and lawyer, and Ann Johnson, a former prosecutor, the team of 12 includes 11 with law degrees. The 12-member team that will make the Texas House’s case for impeaching suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton is led by a Republican lawyer and rancher from West Texas and a Democrat who spent more than 20 years as a prosecutor and defense attorney in Harris County. Reps. Andrew Murr, R-Junction, and Ann Johnson, D-Houston, are chair and vice chair of the seven Republicans and five Democrats who will serve as impeachment managers during Paxton’s trial before the Senate later this summer. view article

Lawmakers sacrificed school funding to block school vouchers, but the issue could be debated again in a special session. Districts will get new funds for school safety, though Uvalde families were ultimately left disappointed with inaction on gun restrictions. But those lofty goals crumbled in the end as clashing political ideologies, a fight over school vouchers and squabbles between the Texas Senate and House derailed bills that would have injected billions of dollars into public schools.  Instead, teachers are the only state employees who won’t receive raises this session. Bills that would’ve allocated funds to better prepare teachers and help keep them in the profession longer failed along the way — despite being prompted by the recommendations of a task force created by Gov. Greg Abbott to tackle teacher shortages. view article

HB 3 will require school districts to have armed security guards at every campus, but it may not fully fund that security. SAN ANTONIO — HB 3 is headed to the governor's desk, some school districts are already concerned about what would cost them. Most of the bill supports functions that districts already do. It would establish a new standard for school safety procedures, provide funding for additional security, support mental health programs and require school safety audits. view article

State Rep. Jay Dean says his vote to impeach Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton came after a "tremendous amount of time" consulting with legal counsel. The Texas House of Representatives voted 121-23 on Saturday to impeach Paxton. The decision came after members of the House General Investigating Committee revealed articles describing "a yearslong pattern of misconduct and questionable actions that include bribery, dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice," according to The Texas Tribune. State Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, was among the representatives who voted against impeachment. view article

Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday appointed former Secretary of State John Scott as interim attorney general to serve while Ken Paxton awaits the outcome of his upcoming Senate impeachment trial. Scott headed the Secretary of State’s Office for a little over a year, from October 2021 until December 2022, when he resigned to return to private practice. He also previously served as a deputy for civil litigation under Abbott when he was attorney general. Scott oversaw all civil litigation for the agency, including over 22,000 lawsuits, according to Abbott. view article

Abbott noted many bills that were passed during the regular session, which ended around 6 p.m. Monday, but he added that “many critical items remain” and will require multiple special sessions. view article

When the Texas Legislature ended its regular session Monday without a deal on property taxes, it was unsurprising to see the House and Senate openly feuding with each other. The Senate’s presiding officer, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, has long dogged House leadership as too moderate and too slow to act on his chamber’s priorities. What came next, however, was far more unusual: Gov. Greg Abbott called a special session on cutting property taxes and asked lawmakers to focus exclusively on one method of relief. The House quickly obliged, but the Senate defied Abbott by passing a broader bill. And when Abbott issued a statement clearly siding with the House, Patrick erupted. In a statement, Patrick said Abbott “seems misinformed about the roles of the executive and legislative branches of government.” view article

Editor's note: An earlier version of the bill tracker included SB 9, which would have given one-time bonuses to teachers according to their school district's enrollment size. However, we removed it from the tracker after a House committee removed teacher bonuses from the bill. The 2023 Texas legislative session came to a stunning end when tense negotiations on property taxes and border issues between lawmakers broke down at the last minute, leading Gov. Greg Abbott to call for an immediate special session. view article

Editor's note: An earlier version of the bill tracker included SB 9, which would have given one-time bonuses to teachers according to their school district's enrollment size. However, we removed it from the tracker after a House committee removed teacher bonuses from the bill. The 2023 Texas legislative session came to a stunning end when tense negotiations on property taxes and border issues between lawmakers broke down at the last minute, leading Gov. Greg Abbott to call for an immediate special session. view article