Amid housing affordability crisis, Texas House votes to take some power from NIMBYs
Texas lawmakers have sought to make it easier to build more homes — and harder for neighbors to block projects. Full Story
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![Newly developed apartments sit next to older homes in Dallas' Oak Cliff neighborhood on July 11, 2024.]()
Credit: Azul Sordo for The Texas Tribune -
Texas homeowners could see lower property tax bills if deal from Republican lawmakers passes
Legislators in the House and Senate have reached an agreement on more property tax relief. But some critics worry the cuts aren’t sustainable forever. Full Story
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![Homes along Lake Austin on March 06, 2023,]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
SpaceX workers in South Texas vote yes to create City of Starbase
Critics of Elon Musk and SpaceX say that a new city will give more power to a company they believe is harming the environment. Full Story
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![SpaceX Starbase, situated off of State Highway 4, is framed in a windshield on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, in Brownsville, Texas.]()
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Will Saturday’s elections be the last one in May for Texas?
The Texas House is considering a bill to abolish May elections, which have the lowest turnout of any election. Full Story
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![Love Vial, center, votes at the West Gray Multiservice Center in Houston on Election Day, Nov. 7, 2023.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
Texas lottery bans online sales through third-party couriers amid mounting criticism
After years of claiming that companies selling lottery tickets online could not be regulated, the Texas Lottery Commission voted to ban the practice. Full Story
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![Members of the Texas Lottery Commission sit at the front of the room during a Texas Lottery Commission meeting on April 29, 2025.]()
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Requiring voters to prove citizenship spurs concern that eligible Texans won’t be able to cast ballots
Democrats and other critics say Texas legislation threatens to keep citizens who can’t easily access the right documents from voting. Full Story
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![The Texas House Elections Committee listens to public testimony on House Bill 5337 at the Capitol in Austin on April 24, 2025. The bill seeks to require people to submit proof of citizenship to register to vote.]()
Credit: Kaylee Greenlee for The Texas Tribune and Votebeat -
Texas lawmakers consider barring counties from mailing unsolicited voter registration forms
Voting rights advocates worry that legislation approved by House and Senate committees could make it harder to get more people on the rolls. Full Story
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![Alex Flucke, regional program manager of Texas Rising in Corpus Christi, right, helps Jessica López, 42, center, register to vote during a Pride celebration in Corpus Christi on Oct. 5, 2024.]()
Credit: Gabriel Cárdenas for VoteBeat -
Texas bill increasing public school funding and teacher pay gets final House approval
The lower chamber overwhelmingly voted in favor of House Bill 2, a sweeping $8 billion piece of legislation that would also limit schools’ reliance on teachers without formal classroom training. Full Story
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![State Rep. Will Metcalf, R-Conroe, shakes hands with Rep. Brad Buckley R-Salado, House Education chair, after the vote on school finance on April 16, 2025. The bill passed, 144-4.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
The Texas Legislature is having big battles over gender and sexuality. Track them here.
The Senate voted Wednesday to give initial approval to a bill that would require buildings, including public schools and universities, among others to segregate private facilities, like bathrooms, by sex. Full Story
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![Attendees wave a trans flag while marching with over 300 activists and supporters from the Bexar County Courthouse to Crockett Park in “March for Us,” San Antonio's third annual celebration of Transgender Day of Visibility, on Saturday, March 29, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas.]()
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Toilet to tap: El Paso is about to embark on a whole new way to save its limited water supply
El Paso’s dry climate — it rains just 9 inches annually — is one of the reasons the city has taken water management so seriously. Full Story
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![Contractors work on expanding the Roberto Bustamante Wastewater Treatment Plant in El Paso on March 5, 2025. By 2028, the utility expects treated wastewater from the plant to be further purified at the new Pure Water Center next door to produce up to 10 million gallons of drinking water.]()
Credit: Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribune -
Verifying hand-counted ballots in Texas elections may be easier under GOP bill
The proposal would require counties who opt for hand counts to use ballots that can be scanned and tabulated by a voting machine. Full Story
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![Election workers count ballots by hand inside of The Edge in Fredericksburg on Mar. 5, 2024. Early voting ballots for the Republican primaries were hand counted on Election Day at this location.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
Texas’ clarifying abortion bill draws criticism
While Democrats and abortion access advocates pushed to ensure pregnant women aren’t criminalized, some conservatives questioned whether this bill is needed. Full Story
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![An empty emergency room at Goodall-Witcher Hospital in Clifton on August 3, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Despite Texas defendant’s death in Louisiana prison, lawmakers unlikely to end reliance on out-of-state lockups
Lawmakers are pursuing legislative changes that would keep more people locked up in overcrowded county jails while awaiting resolution to their cases. Full Story
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![Sarah Knight poses for a portrait at her home in Houston with a birthday card she made for her son Jaleen Anderson on May 13, 2024. Anderson died earlier in the year while being held in LaSalle Correctional Facility in Louisiana.]()
Credit: Danielle Villasana for The Texas Tribune -
Bill requiring voters to show proof of citizenship clears Texas Senate
Senate Bill 16 would create new barriers for voters and new burdens for election officials. Full Story
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![Voters visit the White Oak Community Center during the first day of early voting on Monday October 21, 2024, in White Oak.]()
Credit: Michael Cavazos for The Texas Tribune -
Private school voucher bill clears first test in Texas House
The House Public Education Committee voted to advance a pair of priority bills to create education savings accounts and to raise how much state money public school districts receive. Full Story
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![The Texas House of Representatives Public Education Committee holds a hearing in Austin on March 18, 2025.]()
Credit: Kaylee Greenlee for The Texas Tribune -
Telehealth for pets? It’s the cat’s meow, a Texas lawmaker says.
Animal health care experts raised concern that telehealth would lead to misdiagnosis and erode what little care already exists in rural Texas. Full Story
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![Genna Deleon, 32, vet technician, holds Roco, an 11-year-old Silky Terrier, during a wellness visit at the Spay Neuter Network Crandall clinic in Crandall on Sept. 27, 2024.]()
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Store, harvest, fix: How Texas can save its water supply
State lawmakers are poised to devote billions to save the state’s water supply. These are some of the ways the state could spend the money. Full Story
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![Treated water at the Walnut Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant on Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Austin, TX. The treatment plant will undergo a billion dollar expansion starting this summer to meet the increasing demand due to the growth the city has faced. Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune -
Texas’ DEI debate centers on a disagreement about whether programs perpetuate or prevent discrimination
Supporters say diversity initiatives close educational and income gaps born from a history of prejudice. Republican officials say they prioritize identity over merit. Full Story
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![Illustrated posters reading “We Belong Here” litter the Capitol’s rotunda floor during Texas Students for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s protest of HB1 Rider No. 186, which would defund DEI initiatives at public universities, on Mar. 23, 2023.]()
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Republican lawmakers revive effort to give attorney general more power to prosecute election crimes
Critics fear increased election prosecutions could intimidate voters and local election officials. Attorney General Ken Paxton has long sought more autonomy over election cases. Full Story
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![Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas, speaks to the media Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, during a press conference following arguments in the case “Free Speech Coalition, Inc., et al. v. Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas,” at the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington, D.C.]()
Credit: Luke Johnson for The Texas Tribune -
These are the proposals lawmakers hope will save Texas’ water supply. Track them here.
Most lawmakers — as well as Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — want to invest big in water. Here are the proposals that would do it. Full Story
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![Cotton fields near the High Plains town of Ralls, about 30 miles east of Lubbock, on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. Like much of Texas, the High Plains and Panhandle are facing drought conditions and extraordinary heat.]()
Credit: Trace Thomas for The Texas Tribune