During our TribCast Live event at 7 p.m. tonight, we’ll explain what happened, look ahead toward the impact on Texas schools, and hear from experts about what comes next view article

It was in a San Antonio courtroom in 2015 that Leo Tyler felt he became who he was always meant to be. The 17-year-old had long known he was trans, but it didn’t feel real until a judge agreed to change the name and gender on his government documents. “It was euphoric,” Tyler, now 27, recalls. “Walking out of that courtroom, I felt so seen.”  Tyler was the youngest in a group of people changing their gender markers that day. On the steps of the courthouse, they all embraced him, crying tears of joy over the idea that he’d get to live his whole adult life on his own terms. view article

Advocates say the bills will give parents more power over their children’s schools. Critics say they don’t give parents anything they didn’t already have and will only strain their relationship with teachers. view article

During our TribCast Live event at 7 p.m. tonight, we’ll explain what happened, look ahead toward the impact on Texas schools, and hear from experts about what comes next view article

Of the more than 100 bills aimed at LGBTQ+ people in the state, less than 10 were approved by lawmakers this session.  While largely avoiding the same level of heated pushback of years’ past, Texas lawmakers passed several bills that give LGBTQ+ people in Texas, specifically transgender residents, less opportunity to receive care and maintain their identities in state records.  Texas legislators filed over 100 anti-trans bills through the session, some containing provisions that have been shot down in years’ prior while others proposed new restrictions. Less than 10 were ultimately approved by lawmakers.  The new bills that are likely to be signed by Gov. Greg Abbott represent a yearslong movement from state conservatives to find new ways to restrict the presence of trans and LGBTQ+ Texans, advocates say. The bills that failed may also be resurrected by lawmakers in future sessions. Here’s what to know. view article

It’s an unusual situation for the lieutenant governor, long viewed by GOP activists as a stalwart conservative responsible for driving the Legislature rightward. view article

State lawmakers failed to pass legislation banning the practice.  Just two days after the Texas Legislature adjourned without passing legislation to end in-state tuition for illegal aliens, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Texas.  The state has settled, ending the discounted tuition for illegals for now.  Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, the lawsuit challenges longstanding provisions of the Texas Education Code that allow certain illegal aliens to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities—rates that are significantly lower than those charged to U.S. citizens from other states. view article

Past efforts like Battleground Texas—formed over a decade ago with similar ambitions—have largely failed.  A Democrat-aligned political group backed by billionaire George Soros is once again setting its sights on Texas, aiming to flip the reliably red state with a new multimillion-dollar campaign.  According to a Wall Street Journal report, Texas Majority PAC—bankrolled heavily by Soros—has launched a new initiative dubbed “Blue Texas,” partnering with the Texas Democratic Party and several county parties to organize volunteers, recruit candidates, and boost voter turnout ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.  Campaign finance records show Soros gave $2.1 million to Texas Majority PAC in 2024 and another $1 million in April. view article

Texas lawmakers once again failed to ban taxpayer-funded lobbying, despite state taxpayers footing a $94.5 million bill for 2025. view article

Texas lawmakers gaveled out of their 140-day legislative session on Monday after passing a raft of conservative policies, from private school vouchers to tighter bail laws, that furthered the state’s march to the right. The Legislature wrapped up without the same drama that defined the end of the last two sessions, when Democratic walkouts, a last-minute impeachment and unfinished priorities prompted overtime rounds of lawmaking. view article

Texas lawmakers gaveled out of their 140-day regular legislative session on June 2. Legislators in the 31-member Senate and 150-member House filed nearly 9,000 bills and sent about 1,200 of them to the governor, according to data from Texas Legislature Online.   All seven of Gov. Greg Abbott’s top priorities passed, and he said in a June 3 statement that those bills would “make Texas stronger, safer, and more prosperous than ever.” view article

Experts say Wednesday’s action to eliminate the long-standing policy could be a “collusive lawsuit,” where the state and feds worked the courts to get a desired outcome.  On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Texas over its long-standing state law allowing undocumented students to get in-state tuition. The lawsuit was barely on the books before Texas surrendered without a fight, asking a judge to strike down the law — which he did. view article

The legislature has finally passed a $338 billion biennial budget. view article

The Texas Lottery remains a key source of revenue for its primary vendor.  Although Texas lawmakers sent a measure abolishing the Texas Lottery Commission to Gov. Greg Abbott, they stopped short of ending the gambling enterprise entirely.  A potential reason? The Texas Lottery is a very lucrative business for its vendors.  In fiscal year 2024, the lottery generated roughly $8.39 billion in total sales.  As of March 31 of this year, the state has received $949 million from the lottery. Roughly $887.5 million of the $949 million was dedicated to the Foundation School Fund, which supports the state’s school system. view article

The bill drew fierce opposition from conservatives when it reached the House floor, especially in light of social transitioning in public schools.The bill drew fierce opposition from conservatives when it reached the House floor, especially in light of social transitioning in public schools. view article

For the second legislative session, lawmakers have withdrawn funding for a company selling kits that promise to help find missing kids after ProPublica and The Texas Tribune reported there’s no evidence to support that claim.  Texas state legislators dropped efforts to spend millions of dollars to buy what experts call ineffective child identification kits weeks after ProPublica and The Texas Tribune reported that lawmakers were again trying to fund the program.  This is the second consecutive budget cycle in which the Legislature considered purchasing the products, which promise to help find missing children, only to reverse course after the news organizations documented the lack of evidence that the kits work.  ProPublica and the Tribune originally published their findings in a 2023 investigation that revealed the state had spent millions of dollars on child identification kits made by a Waco-based company called the National Child Identification Program, run by former NFL player Kenny Hansmire. He had a history of legal and business troubles, according to public records, and although less expensive alternatives were available to lawmakers, Hansmire used outdated and exaggerated statistics about missing children to help boost sales. view article

At the same time, some Democrats acknowledged the Lubbock Republican let them leave their mark on some of the GOP bills they disagreed with. view article

The final legislation reflects a combination of different versions that the House and Senate passed.  Legislation that will change the internal governance of public universities and grant new oversight authority to boards of regents is headed to Gov. Greg Abbott.  Proposed measure Senate Bill 37, by State Sen. Brandon Creighton (R–Conroe), abolishes the practice of shared governance at Texas’ public universities. It also grants boards of regents more authority over hiring decisions and curricula.  In state universities, “shared governance” describes a system in which universities’ boards of regents share power with the faculty, which is represented by a faculty senate—or, in the case of the University of Texas-Austin, a faculty council.  Boards of regents are accountable to Texans through the governor, who appoints them, and state senators confirm their appointments. Faculty senates have no such accountability. view article

While lawmakers voted to abolish the commission, the proposal has still not yet been signed into law by the governor.  Texas Lottery commissioners are already in the process of transferring oversight of the lottery to the Department of Licensing and Regulation, less than a week after lawmakers voted to abolish the embattled commission.  The early movement is notable, given that Gov. Greg Abbott has not yet signed the Legislature’s proposal—Senate Bill 3070—into law.  A TLC spokesperson told Texas Scorecard, “With the passage of Senate Bill 3070, the Texas Lottery Commission is evaluating next steps in alignment with the bill’s intent to transfer regulatory authority to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. While the Commissioners under active terms remain appointed at this time, the agency is actively working on the transition.” view article

Trump DOJ Forces Texas to End In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens…ICE Houston Deports 142 Criminal Aliens to Mexico…Lottery Commission Begins Transfer Process to Department of Licensing & Regulation…Tarrant County Approves Republican Redistricting Plan… view article

Borrowers who have defaulted on their federal student loans will no longer be at risk of having their Social Security benefits garnished, an Education Department spokesperson said Tuesday.  The government last month restarted collections for the millions of people in default on their loans. An estimated 452,000 people aged 62 and older had student loans in default, according to a January report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  The department has not garnished any Social Security benefits since the post-pandemic resumption of collections and has paused “any future Social Security offsets,” department spokesperson Ellen Keast said. view article

The state hopes to turn a controversial plant into a breakthrough mental health therapy.  Texas lawmakers have approved a bold new initiative to turn the state into a center for research and development of ibogaine, a plant-based psychoactive drug gaining traction as a potential treatment for addiction, PTSD and other mental health disorders.  view article

The Texas Legislature approved a bill that would ban diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and programs in public K-12 schools.  Senate Bill 12, authored by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, will prohibit school districts from considering race, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation in hiring decisions. The ban will also include training and programs on those topics unless they are required by federal law.  Parents will have to give written consent to allow their children to join school clubs. They will also be able to file complaints if they believe schools do not follow the DEI ban. view article

Governor Greg Abbott will travel to Central Texas to sign a new public education funding bill on June 4, the Governor's Office has announced. According to the Governor's Office, Abbott will host a bill signing in Salado for legislation passed during the 89th legislative session, which he says will provide $8.5 billion in new funding for public education and $4 billion for teacher and staff pay raises. view article

Austin Independent School District is racing to finalize a turnaround plan for three failing campuses, without the extra time district leaders had hoped would come from the Texas Legislature. House Bill 4, which promised to overhaul the state’s standardized testing system and extend deadlines for improvement plans, failed to pass before the legislative session ended last week. Lawmakers in the House and Senate couldn’t agree on who should control Texas’ school rating system, effectively killing the bill in the final days of the session. view article

The Texas Legislature approved a bill that would ban diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and programs in public K-12 schools.  Senate Bill 12, authored by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, will prohibit school districts from considering race, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation in hiring decisions. The ban will also include training and programs on those topics unless they are required by federal law.  Parents will have to give written consent to allow their children to join school clubs. They will also be able to file complaints if they believe schools do not follow the DEI ban.

For years, Texas lawmakers have tried to stop food stamp recipients from purchasing snack food.  With support from the federal government, Texas’ first step to root out unhealthy foods from the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program, or SNAP, will become reality after Senate Bill 379 from state Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, made it through in the last week of the legislativ  session. It comes just four months after fellow Texan and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins signaled to states that the agency would green light measures that prohibit SNAP recipients from using their subsidies to buy certain foods.  The measure is likely to be signed quickly by Gov. Greg Abbott, who has already notified Rollins’ office he wants a waiver from federal rules to keep junk food from SNAP purchases. Indiana, Iowa and Nebraska have filed similar legislation and have been granted waivers. But opponents of such measures say keeping unhealthy foods from only SNAP recipients — and not all Americans — ultimately penalizes poverty.

140 days and 1,200 bills later, the Texas Legislature officially adjourned sine die on Monday, marking the end of the 89th Regular Legislative Session.  The Latin term “sine die” means “without a day,” signaling that lawmakers are not scheduled to reconvene—at least not yet.  While the regular session has concluded, the possibility always remains that lawmakers could be called back to the Capitol for a special session anytime during the next 18 months. That authority rests solely with Gov. Greg Abbott, who can summon the Legislature to address specific issues of his choosing.  At the moment, it is not clear that Abbott will call a special session. If he does, however, one issue appears most likely to be the focus: efforts to strengthen bail reform measures aimed at keeping violent repeat offenders and illegal aliens accused of violent crimes behind bars. view article

Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath applauded the district for its improvements while citing the need for more time to “achieve lasting success for students.”  The state takeover of the Houston Independent School District will continue for two more years, the Texas Education Agency announced Monday.  Education Commissioner Mike Morath had until June 1 to decide next steps for the state’s largest school district, whose former superintendent and elected school board members were ousted and replaced in 2023 due to years of poor academic outcomes at a single campus and allegations of leadership misconduct. view article

The Legislature wrapped up without the same drama that defined the end of the last two sessions, with state GOP leaders checking off nearly everything on their to-do lists. view article

The Texas House and Senate have approved a bill that mandates sheriffs in counties with jails to partner with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) for immigration enforcement. The bill, Senate Bill 8, requires these sheriffs to enter into agreements with ICE, allowing local deputies to carry out certain federal immigration duties. It now heads to Governor Greg Abbott for his signature.  view article

LUBBOCK — Texas lawmakers approved a series of bills this year that aim to better prepare Texas for wildfires and to mitigate their damage.  The legislation includes a study on wildfire risk zones, increasing funding for rural volunteer fire departments, and creating a statewide inventory of firefighting equipment that is accessible to all fire departments in Texas.  The legislative package was inspired by the state’s largest wildfire in history. The Smokehouse Creek fire scorched more than 1 million acres in the Panhandle and killed three people. A special House committee was formed following the fires to investigate the cause and make legislative recommendations. view article

State Rep. Tony Tinderholt, a six-term member of the Texas House, announced Monday he will not seek re-election.  “The 89th Legislative Session marks my 6th Legislative Session in this chamber representing House District 94,” Tinderholt told members in an emotional floor speech. “There have been ups and downs, amendments and points of order, disagreements and achievements. It’s been one of the highlights of my life.”  A veteran lawmaker and former military officer, Tinderholt has been a prominent figure in the Texas House’s conservative wing. In 2023, he mounted a challenge to then-Speaker Dade Phelan—a move that underscored growing dissatisfaction among grassroots Republicans with House leadership. He has also served as a mentor to many of the chamber’s newly elected conservatives. view article

Texas lawmakers voted to ban consumable THC products. Will Gov. Greg Abbott sign — or veto — the bill?  Gov. Greg Abbott is facing intense political pressure over a bill that would ban products containing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, as hemp industry leaders mount a full-court press urging the governor to veto the measure while Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and his allies urge Abbott to sign it into law.  The issue has sparked backlash from both sides of the aisle, including from conservatives ordinarily supportive of Patrick’s hardline agenda. An April statewide survey by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin found that 55% of Republicans believe Texas’ marijuana and cannabis laws should be less strict or left as they are now, compared to 40% who said they should be stricter. view article

An agenda driven by conservative priorities, schools’ financial duress and teacher needs led to an $8.5 billion boost, new discipline rules, more Christianity in classrooms and a DEI ban.  Texas’ 2025 legislative session will likely be remembered for its education agenda. From private school vouchers to a public school funding boost, through a heavier emphasis on Christianity and student discipline, to bans on cellphones and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, lawmakers advanced bills that will have a lasting impact on students, teachers and parents for years to come.  One proposal that would have scrapped the state standardized test fell through in the final days of session, while the much-awaited school funding package changed drastically from an earlier version school officials favored more.  When signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, much of the legislation approved by lawmakers will take effect in September, right around the time schools get going for the 2025-26 academic year. Here is a recap of the most significant legislative developments this session. view article