House Bill 26 advanced out of the Texas Legislature on Wednesday evening, two days after being added to the second special session’s agenda.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. complimented Texas as Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a prohibition on using state tax dollars on specific products with additives, among other measures.

In this week’s episode, Matthew and Eleanor talk to Texas Tribune climate reporter Emily Foxhall about the emotional pleas Camp Mystic parents made to state lawmakers and analyze the proposed new laws in response to the Kerrville floods.

The measure comes four years after the state’s highest criminal court ruled the agency could not bring election cases without an invitation from local prosecutors.

Emails show how overwhelmed West Texas officials were as they asked CDC for guidance on how to respond to the explosive outbreak.

Legislation pushed by Gov. Greg Abbott would bar voters at the polls from immediately casting a ballot based on a last-minute update to their address.

A Dallas businessman has proposed studying the aquifer to see if he can pump millions of gallons out of East Texas, a plan that residents distrust.

Texas cities and counties have already had their budgets compressed by a variety of factors, including the state’s current property tax limits.

Aaron Reitz and Chip Roy, positioning themselves as Paxton’s ideological heirs, have served as top aides for both the attorney general and Cruz.

Student fellows support vital initiatives like the Texas Tribune Festival and provide in-depth coverage of key issues.

Todd Smith was Miller’s longtime political consultant when he admitted to soliciting bribes for licenses the agency typically issues for $100. Miller then put him on the payroll at $218,000 per year.

Starting Sept. 1, cultured meat sales will be banned for the next two years even though the product isn’t ready to be sold at a large scale.

Democrats said the walkout inspired a national protest against GOP redistricting. But it also greased the path for other bills they oppose and unified Texas Republicans.

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.

Senate Bill 8, which now heads to the House floor, would restrict which bathrooms in government buildings transgender people would be allowed to use.

Republican lawmakers pushed the map through over fierce Democratic opposition, positioning the GOP to net up to five additional seats in Texas.

Here’s where the proposed laws to address camp safety, flood warnings and emergency response stand in the Legislature.

As speaker, Phelan oversaw passage of numerous conservative priorities, but he gave up the gavel under pressure from the far right over the House’s impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Health insurers are hiking policy premiums in response to proposed federal cuts and rising costs in various parts of the health care sector.

The governor announced he was expanding his special session agenda shortly after the Texas House passed a congressional map that Democrats had delayed by leaving the state.

A new petition claims Anderson County judges acted unconstitutionally multiple times in both Roberson’s case and in recognizing custody of his daughter.

Senate Bill 1, which would require more oversight of emergency plans and evacuation procedures at summer camps, was advanced after the emotional hearing Wednesday.

The order bars Paxton from prosecuting O’Rourke’s nonprofit or otherwise bringing legal action aimed at revoking Powered by People’s charter.

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

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.

Bobby Lumpkin, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s COO, will take over the the top role on Sept. 1, following Bryan Collier’s retirement.

The gang looks at what’s next in the extra-special session, as Republicans prepare to finally pass a new congressional map.

Senators moved fast on Gov. Greg Abbott’s agenda for the second special session. With House Democrats back in Texas, bills can now move through that chamber.

Texas Democrats return to Austin after a two week fight over GOP-drawn congressional maps

Texas lawmakers redrew congressional districts in a partisan bid to give Republicans five additional U.S. House seats. The move set off a bipartisan war across the U.S.

Now that the Texas House has a quorum following Democrats’ two-week absence, lawmakers are back to debate a wide range of issues, including redrawing congressional maps to benefit Republicans.

With no new cases reported in 42 days, the nation’s largest measles outbreak in 30 years, is declared over.

After two weeks out of state, Democratic lawmakers returned to Austin, paving the way for Republicans to pass their proposed congressional map.

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.

The state can take control of a school district if at least one of its campuses receives a failing grade five years in a row.

The second session is set to consider the same agenda that stalled in the first, with redistricting and disaster response at the top of the governor’s priorities.

The Amarillo businessman said he would tap into the $20 million political action committee he launched last year to preserve ballot access for censured Republicans.

The third-term governor appears determined to win any battle — even if it means scorched-earth primary crusades or trying to boot duly elected legislators from office.

Texas law bans the sale of synthetic kratom, but it isn’t enforced. Earlier this year, legislation died in the Texas House to ban the natural plant, too.

In a statement, the House Democratic Caucus said its lawyers had advised returning “to build a strong public legislative record for the upcoming legal battle” against the GOP’s map.

The Fourth of July flood bore a striking similarity to the Hill Country flood that killed 10 summer campers in 1987. In the following years, officials took little action to protect against the next storm.

Senate Bill 11 would shield victims from prosecution from some crimes if they’re threatened or coerced into the act by their trafficker.

Judge Scott Larson ruled that the Texas speaker and attorney general had “failed to present a legal basis for the court” to take up the issue.

Crime lab officials told lawmakers Wednesday they are struggling to keep up with deadlier drugs like fentanyl and a THC ban or new regulations would add to the challenge.

With Democrats’ walkout over redistricting bringing the House to a standstill, both parties are accusing each other of abandoning Central Texas flood victims.

Democrats' absence has halted work in the Texas House, which must also approve the new boundaries, for more than a week.

The leaders of both chambers said they would adjourn for the session Friday if Democrats do not return, while the governor said he might add more items to his agenda.

The governor and attorney general have asked the court to find that Democratic lawmakers abandoned their seats when they left Texas to delay a new congressional map.

Since Democratic lawmakers left Texas to delay Republicans’ new map, state leaders have challenged the limits of traditional democratic norms to break the impasse.

Local records released this week — after a yearslong lawsuit —affirm previous reporting about law enforcement’s flawed response to Texas’ deadliest school shooting.

The order came at the request of Attorney General Ken Paxton, who O’Rourke accused in a separate lawsuit of going on a “fishing expedition, constitutional rights be damned.”

Gov. Greg Abbott previously asked the court to expel Rep. Gene Wu, the House Democratic leader. Paxton disputed the governor’s authority to make the request.

The Democratic state lawmaker has inquired about Senate television ad rates, two sources told the Tribune.

The attorney general is calling on the “full faith and credit” clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says states should typically honor each other’s judicial proceedings.

Jaime Galvan Sanchez has lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years. He was deported in less than 24 hours without due process and allowed to return. But his family is still suffering from the aftermath.

The Texas Supreme Court said in 2021 the Constitution allows members to thwart legislation by leaving the state. Abbott wants them to reconsider.

The proposal would put tighter limits on how much property tax revenue cities and counties of a certain size can collect each year.

Two youth camp owners told lawmakers more layered disaster plans would create critical backstops and improve communication with first responders.

The situation is an opportunity for the speaker to bolster his credibility with the right, but he has limited tools to combat a prolonged Democratic absence.

Only one Democrat taking part in the quorum break was absent from the panel as the group discussed five bills and the chair vowed their work would go on.

The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found that the state’s voter ID requirements for mail-in ballots do not violate the Civil Rights Act.

Legal experts say it’s “inconsistent with the Texas Constitution” to argue that leaving the state to halt legislative action qualifies as abandoning an office.

The former El Paso congressman also contributed to House Democrats’ 2021 quorum break. A PAC backed by Democratic donor George Soros is also involved in this year’s effort.

The three-judge panel agreed with a lower court that Ken Paxton’s office can’t question officials from Catholic Charities under oath without first filing a lawsuit.

Texas Republicans are trying to redraw congressional districts to pick up five additional U.S. House seats. Democrats face financial and political risk in their bid to block the GOP plan.

Senate Bill 7 would require people to use restrooms that match their birth gender and fine institutions up to $25,000 for repeated violations.

Democrats fled the state to stop Republicans’ attempt to redraw congressional districts, but bills aimed at everything from a THC product ban to bolstering flood response are now in doubt.

The warrants apply only within state lines, making them largely symbolic as most of the legislators in question decamped to Illinois, New York and Massachusetts.

While the Democrats could technically derail the GOP’s redistricting map, such efforts have been largely symbolic and had limited success blocking past legislation, experts say.

The plan increases the share of Hispanic voters in three of the five districts targeted by the GOP, banking that enough will turn out and vote for Republicans without Donald Trump on the ballot.

The agency initially blocked the payout because of two state investigations into now-banned lottery courier services, one of which sold the winning ticket.

The new district lines could be considered by the entire state House as soon as early next week.

As lawmakers continue to debate banning hemp-derived THC, some rural Texans say it helps ease addiction, health concerns and economic woes that hit their communities the hardest.

Competing legislative priorities and an industry that has pushed against certain regulations could challenge a suite of camp safety bills this special legislative session.

Miller denies wrongdoing after allegations surfaced during an investigation into one his aides, who pled guilty to bribery. The agriculture commissioner has not been charged with a crime.

The Senate’s decision signals another potential standoff with Gov. Greg Abbott, who vetoed a similar ban earlier this year as he called for more regulations instead.

The money could be used to cover the $500-a-day fines lawmakers would incur under House rules set to discourage members from absconding after Democrats fled the state in 2021.

The fund opens a new era of public land acquisition and park development for Texas, which ranks 35th nationally in state park acreage per capita.

A conservative news site published an interview with a woman who alleges a 17-year affair with the Southlake representative, who said this week he wouldn’t seek reelection.

At the first of at least seven hearings, members of the public aired grievances about the unusual mid-decade redistricting effort.

Senate Bill 5 would ban products containing any detectable amount of any cannabinoid, creating criminal offenses for possession of hemp-derived THC.

Experts say poison control data don’t specify which calls are related to hemp versus more dangerous K2, but show that most THC poisonings cause minor side effects.

The Texas attorney general said U.S. Masters Swimming violated the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act by allowing trans athletes to compete in women’s events.

In a statement, Angela Paxton said she moved to end her 38-year marriage “on biblical grounds,” citing “recent discoveries.”

The Republican governor laid out an ambitious agenda that includes an unexpected array of conservative bills that failed during the regular session.

The governor said Tuesday that the state had “assets, resources and personnel” in place before the July 4 floods. On Wednesday evening, the death toll rose to 120.

A GOP state lawmaker who represents Kerr County says he likely would vote differently now on House Bill 13, which would have established a grant program for counties to build new emergency communication infrastructure.

Girls remain missing from the camp, which has hosted the daughters of governors and one president.

While the state says undocumented patients cost hospitals $329 million over three months, critics say the data lacks payment information and more context.

Medical program leaders want a ban on synthetic delta-8 THC, which makes up the bulk of consumable hemp products.

Texas’ attorney general alleged the City of Dallas and the fair were violating state law and the second amendment with the ban, which was adopted after a 2023 shooting.

Soon after Birdwell announced his retirement, state Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, said he was running for the seat.

As federal pandemic aid ends and sales tax revenues cool, analysts say it could constrain the Texas Legislature in coming years. But they don’t see an immediate budget crisis on the horizon.

A North Texas man charged with capital murder after slipping mifepristone into his girlfriend’s food signals another attempt to rein in abortion pills.

The contest coincides with the state’s November uniform election, when voters across Texas will already be at the polls to decide local offices and ballot measures.

The decision, stemming from a 2022 lawsuit, narrows the public’s legal options to challenge Texas officials under the state’s open records law.

The case involves a 2023 state law requiring adult websites to verify users’ ages, but the ruling is expected to have broader implications for free speech law.

Although Patrick and hemp industry leaders have quarreled over the risks and benefits of THC, cannabis researchers say it can be addictive but doesn’t usually cause widespread psychosis or brain damage.

In dueling lawsuits, current and former employees of the attorney general’s office sling allegations that threaten to intrude on Paxton’s U.S. Senate bid.

Abbott ordered two Texas agencies to begin working together and with residents and business leaders to stop the spread of the invasive fly before it even starts.