Texas politics was dominated by Democrats until the late 20th century when it became a solid Republican stronghold. Texas voters lean toward fiscal and social conservatism, though its growing Hispanic population is overwhelmingly Democratic. This could make Texas a very politically divided swing-state in the coming years. Hot political issues in the Lone Star state include: capital punishment, ballot access, redistricting, nullification, secession, and since Texas is a border state – border and immigration policy.
On Friday, members of the Texas Legislature agreed to a deal on the Texas State Budget that includes more money for public schools in exchange for $1 billion in tax cuts and fee rebates. The agreement comes after a tumultuous round of negotiations that was nearly derailed Wednesday
House Bill 928, also known as the “Come and Take It” law, passed the Texas House on May 8. The legislation mandates that no state money can be spent to enforce federal firearm regulations that do not also exist in state law and is a push-back against proposed federal rules
On April 30, the Texas Senate passed SB 1907, a campus handgun bill that would allow university and college students to store handguns in their vehicles while on campus. The bill was written by Republican State Senator Glenn Hegar.
On April 23, the Texas House Appropriations Committee passed HB 3791, a Medicaid bill that would reject its expansion in favor of private market strategies for insuring low-income Texans.
On Monday, April 8, Texas State Representative Patricia Harless pulled her bill, HB 2093, which would shorten the early voting period in the state after receiving opposition in the House Elections Committee. The bill would have shortened the amount of early voting days from fourteen to seven.
On April 4, the Senate Criminal Justice Committee passed SB 864, which would reduce the required classroom time to obtain a concealed handgun license from 10-15 hours, to 4-6 hours..
Democratic Texas state lawmakers have filed two bills aimed at recognizing the relationships of same-sex couples. The pieces of legislation come in after three resolutions were filed that would attempt to repeal the 2005…
