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The Latest Breaking News from Paul Bettencourt

Analysis: The 2023 Texas Senate, from right to left

Here’s a look at Senate members, ranked from most conservative to most liberal, based on votes cast during the 2023 regular session.

The Texas Tribune

Texas senators include more property tax cuts for businesses in new pitch to break impasse with House

The Senate’s latest proposal is an apparent effort to appease Gov. Greg Abbott and the lower chamber. The state’s top Republicans have been at odds for months over how to use the state’s historic budget surplus to cut property taxes.

The Texas Tribune

Gov. Greg Abbott vetoes more than 70 bills amid property tax impasse

The governor says other issues aren’t as important as breaking a House-Senate stalemate over the best course on reducing property taxes.

The Texas Tribune

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Gov. Greg Abbott threatens string of vetoes if lawmakers can’t agree on property tax cuts

With several hundred bills awaiting action by the governor, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called the veto threat an affront to Texans and the legislative process.

The Texas Tribune

Texas Republicans target how elections are run in Democratic-leaning Houston area

Texas Republican lawmakers sent bills to Gov. Greg Abbott's desk that would dramatically interfere with elections administration in the state's largest, Democratic-run county.

WEKU

Legislature enters homestretch with many of the session’s biggest issues unresolved

The list of potential hurdles includes property tax cuts, school choice, the power grid, the state budget, plus diversity and tenure in higher education.

The Texas Tribune

Election legislation roundup: Texas State Senate

As of April 9, Ballotpedia has tracked 113 election-related bills in the Texas State Senate since the beginning of the year. Of the 113, Ballotpedia tracked seven from April 3-9. Republicans sponsored six, while Democrats sponsored one. Five of seven bills are below:

Ballotpedia

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Rift grows between Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan over how to cut property taxes

The Senate wants to raise the homestead exemption. The House wants to tighten the appraisal cap. Both chambers’ leaders are skeptical of each other’s proposal.

The Texas Tribune

Texas Senate passes $16.5 billion package to lower property taxes

The proposals target the taxes homeowners pay and require school districts to lower their tax rates.

The Texas Tribune

To tackle high housing costs, Texas lawmakers push to build more homes

Housing advocates, builders and real estate experts agree that the state simply isn’t building enough homes to keep up with its booming population and economic growth.

The Texas Tribune

The Texas House and Senate differ on how to cut property taxes. Here’s what their proposals say.

Cuts to school property tax bills. Bigger tax benefits for homeowners. A controversial idea to limit property tax growth. Here’s what you need to know about the brewing property tax debate at the Texas Legislature.

The Texas Tribune

Texas House’s property tax bill calls for $17 billion in cuts, tighter appraisal cap

Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan’s proposal reveals the different roads the Texas House and Senate want to take on property taxes — and the fight that might emerge between the two chambers this session.

The Texas Tribune

These bills could reshape Texas elections, voter fraud penalties

AUSTIN, Texas — Elections have remained a hot button issue among Democrats and Republicans amid continued concerns about election security stoked by a rise in misinformation and disinformation that arose with the election of former President Donald Trump in 2016.

Tribune News Service

Texas Senate leaders signal intent to spend big on border security

The state has spent $4 billion on border initiatives in the past two years, including $40 million to bus migrants out of Texas into Democrat-led cities.

The Texas Tribune

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The Texas Tribune

Here’s what you need to know about the fight over property tax cuts in the Texas Legislature

Republicans are wrestling over how much of the state’s nearly $33 billion budget surplus to spend on property taxes. Democrats have their own ideas about what to do with the cash.

The Texas Tribune

Texas’ private and rural schools again brace for a showdown on school choice

Rural school leaders in Texas have been able to stave off the legislative priority of some of the state’s most prominent Republicans. But private school officials hope this year will be different.

Salon

Texas GOP pushes new voting bills

Democrats are seeking to expand voting access and Republicans pledge to make elections more secure

The Texas Tribune

Two years after Texas’ voting rights showdown gripped the nation, lawmakers again push dozens of elections bills

State policymakers have mapped out familiar territory early in the legislative session, with Democrats seeking to expand voting access and Republicans pledging to make elections more secure.

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The Texas Tribune

Property tax revision, judicial branch expansion among new Texas laws that took effect Jan. 1

While the Legislature will soon start its new session, some laws passed in 2021 are just now taking effect.

The Texas Tribune

GOP lawmakers accuse investment firms of breaking a law that prohibits divesting from oil and gas

At a senate committee hearing in Marshall, Texas Republican lawmakers accused investment firms of pulling back on fossil fuels, running afoul of a 2021 law that prohibits the state from contracting with or investing in companies that “boycott” oil, natural gas and coal companies.

The Texas Tribune

Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick diverge ahead of the legislative session on property taxes, power grid

The dueling approaches are coming into focus as lawmakers prepare to return to Austin for the session which begins Jan. 10.

The Independent UK

Difficulties again put Houston at center of Texas elections

A Democrat who is the top official in Texas’ largest county on Thursday acknowledged problems around Houston on Election Day that included paper ballot shortages and delayed openings of polling locations

The Texas Tribune

As inflation skyrockets, local Texas governments ponder tax rate increases as they balance budgets

Local governments in Texas have spent the summer preparing their budgets for next year, wrestling with inflation and a law that prohibits them from raising property tax revenues beyond 3.5% without voter approval.

The Independent UK

Top Texas cop: Uvalde police response was 'abject failure'

The head of the Texas state police pronounced the law enforcement response to the Uvalde school shooting an “abject failure.”

The Texas Tribune

Uvalde school police chief “decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children,” Texas DPS director says

Steve McCraw testified before a Texas Senate committee, laying blame on local police officers in Uvalde for not acting faster to save children during the school shooting.

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the Texas Legislature

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the Texas State Senate

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