Budget Board Sets $77.9 Billion Limit On State
The Texas Legislative Budget Board has set a $77.9 billion cap on state spending in the 2014-15 budget year, a 10 percent increase.
Watch CBS News
The Texas Legislative Budget Board has set a $77.9 billion cap on state spending in the 2014-15 budget year, a 10 percent increase.
Top Texas republicans are calling for some legal changes to the state's welfare and unemployment benefit programs. Governor Rick Perry and Lt. Governor David Dewhurst want to require mandatory drug screenings for applicants.
Texas lawmakers have begun filing their bills ahead of the 2013 legislative session. Many of them familiar reruns, while others set the tone for politics next year.
A school finance expert says Texas needs to spend at least an additional $8 billion annually to ensure its students meet tough new academic standards.
The sweeping school finance lawsuit going to trial Monday in Austin isn't only about money.
Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball) who authored an Arizona style immigration bill for Texas, thinks that allowing illegal immigrants to legally drive on roadways would be slap in the face to the Texas legal system.
Long-simmering tensions between a tea party-backed U.S. Senate candidate and a leading tea party voice in the Texas Legislature have boiled over.
The two Democrats competing in a runoff for their party's nomination to replace U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison disagreed on how the federal government should address the faltering economy, on immigration and on the war on drugs during a debate Tuesday afternoon.
Republican and Democratic state senators agreed Wednesday that Texas must do more to help the mentally ill by providing services before a crisis or crime takes place.
Deep cuts in school funding approved by the Texas Legislature last summer could energize angry parents to vote out incumbents.
Thursday is the deadline for the state Attorney General's office to respond to the Justice Department's request to delay the July trial date on Texas's controversial voter ID Bill.
Republicans say the law is necessary to prevent fraud, but Democrats say it will prevent the poor and the elderly from voting.
Crisscrossing the U.S. during his unsuccessful presidential bid appears to have left Rick Perry little time for Texas, with the governor logging only about 24 hours of official time handling state matters during his nearly six-month campaign.
The Texas Legislature may not return to work for another 11 months, but that hasn't kept the state's leadership from signaling what they think will be the big issues next year.
Governor Perry says he will not be calling a special session to deal with the on-going education funding issues.
Opposing sides continue to summon expert witnesses as a trial continues in a federal court in Washington on Texas political redistricting.
A three-judge panel hearing arguments about whether the Texas Legislature violated the federal Voting Rights Act when it redrew the state's political maps said Tuesday it is moving up closing arguments in the case because of a recent Supreme Court ruling.
Texas property owners may get their next tax bills by email because of a new state law that gives counties that option starting in 2012.
The Supreme Court of the United States has blocked the use of Texas state legislative and congressional district maps that were drawn by federal judges to boost minorities' voting power.
The Texas attorney general asked the Supreme Court on Monday to stop a federal court from implementing temporary legislative redistricting maps in Texas that could increase minority representation in the state House.
A federal court has issued a proposed interim map for Texas congressional districts ahead of the 2012 elections. The map released Wednesday will temporarily override plans drawn by the GOP-led Legislature.
A Washington-based federal court on Tuesday rejected Texas' request to approve new political districts without a trial. In a brief ruling, the court agreed with the U.S. Department of Justice that the GOP-led Legislature used an improper standard for determining whether the new districts discriminate against minorities.
The lawmaker was telling a state agency that it should pay legitimate claims.
While the state legislature hasn't been in session for months, North Texas is starting to see some of the side effects from massive education budget cuts.
The federal trial challenging the legality of new voting maps for Texas is over, but a three-judge panel considering the case has indicated it will wait for the Justice Department to weigh in before issuing a ruling.
