The numbers may grow as the state collects more data. Some districts adopted the plan not for its religious emphasis but for more funding and to better align with teaching requirements. view article

One lawsuit, filed by LULAC on behalf of 13 Texas residents, states that the redrawn districts in the new map are racially discriminatory and violate voter protection laws.  Hours after the Texas Senate approved a new congressional map early Saturday morning that more heavily favors Republicans — legislation Gov. Greg Abbott plans to “swiftly” sign into law — a lawsuit against the governor was filed, alleging that the redrawn districts are racially discriminatory.  The 67-page complaint against Abbott and Secretary of State Jane Nelson supplements legal action filed by LULAC in 2021 challenging the state’s original maps and argues that redrawing districts mid-decade is unconstitutional. view article

Senate Bill 15’s supporters say police shouldn’t be publicly maligned for unproven allegations. Critics say the bill disincentivizes agencies from properly investigating complaints. view article

This renewed effort comes after a breakdown earlier this year, when similar legislation advanced during the regular session but died in conference committee. view article

A two-year delay on new mercury rules benefits coal-fired power plants, while chemical plants got an exemption from stricter air pollution standards. view article

Despite a federal judge’s court order halting display of the Ten Commandments in 11 districts, the rest of the state is still required to follow the new law. view article

Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed the proposed ban on hemp-derived THC late on Sunday, but told lawmakers he would be calling them back to Austin next month to impose some regulation on an industry that has grown dramatically in recent years with little state oversight. Abbott said that the ban, known as Senate Bill 3, was "well-intentioned" but would not have survived legal challenges. view article

The legislation would further limit how much more in property tax revenue cities and counties can collect each year without voter approval.  Texas cities and counties have already had their budgets compressed by a variety of factors, including the state’s current property tax limits. view article

Paxton posted a memo from his office earlier on Monday, writing that he would "not back down from defending the virtues and values that built this country.  Cornyn's sharp reply didn’t go unnoticed — and neither did the public's. Dozens of X users weighed in, many echoing the senator's sentiment and pointing to Paxton's personal life.    "Should you stick it up in your office so you can be reminded not to cheat on your wife?"  Another reminded the attorney general that "Thou shalt not commit adultery" is one of the Ten Commandments. view article

Some Democrats lamented that the House’s latest proposal to scrap the test largely resembles a Senate bill the lower chamber declined to sign on earlier this year. view article

James Talarico’s largest donation in 2024 came from Texas Sands, run by billionaire Miriam Adelson. view article

Republican lawmakers are poised to push the map through over fierce Democratic opposition, positioning the GOP to net up to five additional seats in Texas. view article

The Texas Senate’s Congressional Redistricting Committee voted on party lines to advance the House-approved plan.  Hours after the Texas House passed a Republican congressional redistricting plan, senators voted to advance the same plan, which adds five new GOP-opportunity seats ahead of the 2026 mid-term elections.  The Senate’s Special Congressional Redistricting Committee approved the redistricting plan, House Bill 4, during a Thursday morning meeting.  The full Senate is expected to promptly consider and approve HB 4. The redistricting plan then goes to Gov. Greg Abbott, who has said he is ready to sign it into law once it reaches his desk. view article

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has promised to sign a new congressional voting map designed to help Republicans maintain their slim majority in Congress  “One Big Beautiful Map has passed the Senate and is on its way to my desk, where it will be swiftly signed into law,” Abbott said in a statement.  Texas lawmakers approved the final plans just hours before, inflaming an already tense battle unfolding among states as governors from both parties pledge to redraw maps with the goal of giving their political candidates a leg up in the 2026 midterm elections.  In California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has approved a special election to take place in November for residents to vote on a redrawn congressional map designed to help Democrats win five more House seats next year.  Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has pushed other Republican-controlled states, including Indiana and Missouri, to also revise their maps to add more winnable GOP seats. Ohio Republicans were also already scheduled to revise their maps to make them more partisan.  In Texas, the map includes five new districts that would favor Republicans. view article

Gov. Abbott said the state cannot afford a repeat. view article

With the Senate prepared to pass the map quickly this week, the legislation is now on-track to become law.  After weeks of gridlock, the Texas House has approved a new congressional redistricting plan that Republicans say will strengthen their hold on Washington, adding five GOP-leaning seats across the state. The issue has been a priority for Gov. Greg Abbott, who placed congressional redistricting on the call during the first special session earlier this summer. But Democrats brought the chamber to a standstill when they broke quorum and fled to Illinois and other states to prevent the map from advancing.  Their walkout effectively killed the first special session, but with Abbott calling lawmakers back for a second 30-day session, Democrats returned on Monday. By Wednesday, Republicans had rushed the proposal out of committee and onto the House calendar, where it passed on a party-line vote.  State Rep. Todd Hunter (R–Corpus Christi), who carried the legislation, defended the process while laying out the plan on the floor.  view article

From urban cores to rural regions, Texans' needs differ. Experts worry new districts encompassing geographically distant communities will dilute their voices. view article

Legislation to ban the practice has been sent to the same committee that killed it earlier this year. view article

​The Republican-led Texas House on Wednesday approved a new congressional map crafted to hand five additional U.S. House seats to the GOP over fierce opposition from Democrats, who cast the plan as a racially discriminatory attempt by President Donald Trump to stack the deck in next year’s midterm election.  The House adopted the map, 88 to 52, along party lines. A Senate panel advanced a similar map Sunday, and the full chamber was expected to send the new lines to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk later this week.   Republican lawmakers are pursuing the unusual mid-decade redistricting plan, which has set off a national map-drawing war, amid pressure from Trump to protect the GOP’s slim majority in Congress. The effort comes just four years after the Legislature last overhauled the state’s congressional map following the 2020 Census. view article

A two-week quorum break by House Democrats during the first special session temporarily stalled action on the new maps. view article

More than 20 bills that would restrict restroom use for transgender people have been proposed since 2015, but their language — and reception — have shifted. view article

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Republican lawmakers are pursuing the unusual mid-decade redistricting plan amid pressure from President Donald Trump to protect the GOP’s slim majority in the U.S. House.  The Republican-led Texas House on Wednesday was set to advance a new congressional map crafted to hand five additional U.S. House seats to the GOP over fierce opposition from Democrats, who cast the plan as an attempt by President Donald Trump to stack the deck in next year’s midterm election.  Republican lawmakers are pursuing the unusual mid-decade redistricting plan, which has set off a national map-drawing war, amid pressure from Trump to protect the GOP’s slim majority in Congress. The effort comes just four years after the Legislature last overhauled the state’s congressional map following the 2020 Census.  Democrats in the Texas House staged a two-week walkout over the plan in a bid to stall the map’s passage and rally a national response among blue states, where lawmakers could launch their own retaliatory redistricting efforts. The roughly two dozen Texas Democrats who returned to Austin on Monday said they were starting the next phase of their fight: putting the screws on their Republican colleagues and establishing a record that could be used in a legal challenge to the map. view article

A new law requiring Texas public schools to display posters of the Ten Commandments in every classroom is set to go into effect next month, unless a federal court intervenes. The law does not allocate state funding or require teachers and schools to purchase the posters; instead, under Senate Bill 10, educators must accept donations and display the posters once received.  As a result, most displays will likely come through donations. view article

The return of quorum has reignited debate about how to handle the Democrats who fled. view article

The Society of Family Planning “opposes the inclusion of gestational duration limits, including viability, in legislation, laws, initiatives, or regulations.”  A UT-Austin research project on “self-managed medication abortions” received funding from an abortion advocacy group.  The payments, discovered via an open records request, span from late 2018 through 2025 and were made from the Society of Family Planning Research Fund to Project SANA at the University of Texas at Austin.  In late 2018, Project SANA, which stands for “Self-managed Abortion Needs Assessment,” entered into a grant contract with the Society of Family Planning Research Fund. Project SANA received a total of $1,944,587, paid in three installments, between 2018 and 2021. view article

Paxton’s investigation builds upon a probe into Character AI’s data privacy and safety practices announced in December. view article

The state isn’t providing schools with guidance and advocates say students who still qualify for lower rates are being asked to pay thousands more. view article

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Federal funding cuts to immunization efforts and a new law that allows exemption forms to be downloaded, instead of mailed, could drive up exemptions in the future.  Texas school districts are coming back from summer with a rising number of parents asking for vaccine exemption forms and a new law that will make those documents even easier to obtain.  Combined with funding cuts to public vaccination programs, chilling effects of immigration policies on health care, and the wearying battle by school nurses to balance parental consent and overall student body health, Texas schools are on track to have the lowest vaccination rates in decades if exemption rates continue to climb. view article

Speaker Dustin Burrows adds over-the-counter ivermectin as a priority for the House. view article

The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded a contract to build and run a 5,000-bed tent camp at the Army base in El Paso.  The federal government plans to spend $1.26 billion to build the country's largest immigration detention center at Fort Bliss, an army base in El Paso, according to a contract announced in July.  The U.S. Department of Defense announced that Virginia-based company Acquisition Logistics LLC was given nearly $232 million up front to build and run the 5,000-bed tent camp. The federal agency said work on the facility is expected to be completed by September 2027. According to the ACLU, the Trump administration started to detain people there on Aug. 17. view article

Texas school districts are coming back from summer with a rising number of parents asking for vaccine exemption forms and a new law that will make those documents even easier to obtain.  Combined with funding cuts to public vaccination programs, chilling effects of immigration policies on health care, and the wearying battle by school nurses to balance parental consent and overall student body health, Texas schools are on track to have the lowest vaccination rates in decades if exemption rates continue to climb.  “I do think that there is a problem — period — that is worse than we have known about previously,” said Terri Burke, executive director of The Immunization Partnership, which advocates for public policies that support increased access to vaccines. view article

A second special session that has made approving the map a priority started Friday, shortly after the first one ended.  A Texas Senate panel again cleared a congressional map that aims to create five new Republican districts ahead of the 2026 election, despite hearing overwhelming pushback during a Sunday hearing.  The chamber’s redistricting committee voted 6-3 to advance Senate Bill 4 after more than 40 people told lawmakers that the process was being rushed and that it would dilute people of color’s voting power. One person registered in favor of the bill.  The Texas GOP introduced the rare mid-decade redistricting effort following a push from President Donald Trump ahead of the 2026 elections. The legislation now goes to the Senate floor for a full vote.  The proposal approved Sunday offers a similar redrawn map that the committee considered in the first special session. view article

Lawmakers also approved new teacher raises, banned DEI initiatives and gave schools more flexibility to discipline students. view article