On Wednesday, Gov. Greg Abbott revealed his priority items and agenda for the special legislative session set to begin Thursday. It includes much of the controversial legislation that did not come to pass the last session, including changes to election law, more...
Texas Legislature
back to archiveReturned from Washington, Texas Democrats reflect and regroup
For several Texas House and Senate members, the past week has been a whirlwind of meetings, photos, and press hits in Washington. They traveled to Washington to make a pitch regarding federal voting rights legislation, and now they finally have some time to reflect on...
Texas Black Leaders discuss 2021 legislative session
The NAACP Houston Branch hosted a crucial conversation with the community at the Buffalo Soldiers Museum last week to discuss how the latest bills in the Texas legislative session will impact the Black community. Texas legislators, community organizers, and...
87th session ends with few victories for GOP, Texans
The walkout by Democratic lawmakers on Sunday night to kill Gov. Greg Abbott’s favorite voter suppression bill was a fitting end to a dramatic legislative session that had no business being dramatic. Entering session amid a pandemic, economic recession, recovering oil...
Trey Martinez Fischer on the walkout, and what’s next in the fight against voter suppression
For the moment, Senate Bill 7, the controversial voter suppression bill that Texas Republicans were attempting to pass before a midnight deadline, has been stopped. The current defeat came after Democrats in the Texas House walked off the floor and broke quorum. Texas...
The other bill that was stopped by the Democratic walk-out
Much attention has been given to Democrats blocking the passage of SB 7, a Republican “election integrity” bill, by staging a dramatic walkout late Sunday night to break quorum. SB 7 has received quite a bit of attention nationwide as part of a wave of GOP efforts to...
Texas House Dems: ‘this session was defined by extremism’
Members of the Texas House Democratic Caucus held a press conference on Monday to reflect on the legislative session and missed opportunities from Republican leaders in Austin. “We should have been dealing with the effects of a global pandemic that left 50,000...
Bill to quash local worker benefits passes Texas House
On Wednesday, the Texas House voted 94-52 to pass Senate Bill 14, legislation that prohibits local governments from passing laws that guarantee worker protections and benefits. The intent of the bill, Republican lawmakers and Democratic co-author Rep. Eddie Lucio III...
Texas loses chance to send stimulus checks to residents (unlike California)
Low-income residents in California have until October of this year to receive their “Golden State Stimulus,” a one-time payment of $600 for residents making under $30,000. A similar proposal in the Texas Legislature to deliver between $1,000 to $2,500 to...