CHARLES SCHWERTNER

Newly released body camera footage shows state Sen. Charles Schwertner’s February arrest for suspicion of drunk driving. Travis County prosecutors dropped the charge in July.

Democrats, however, said their GOP colleagues “caved” to outside pressure in voting to acquit and return Ken Paxton to his job as attorney general.

The Republican from Georgetown was arrested in Austin in February. But the county attorney said there wasn’t sufficient evidence to prosecute.

Lawmakers hope to hammer out a program to replace the embattled Chapter 313 program before the legislative session ends Monday.

Lawmakers are trying hard to come up with an agreement on how to replace an embattled 20-year tax abatement program for big companies that expired in December.

The bill would require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to focus enforcement and increase penalties on repeat violators and increase public outreach. Still, environmental advocates say the effort was too “modest” in its reach.

The bill would require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to focus enforcement on repeat violators and increase public outreach.

The plants would be activated during emergencies. Lawmakers haven’t decided whether to pay for them through state funds or higher charges to electricity customers.

Critics say the bills could lead to untold billions in added costs to customers and minimal benefits while ignoring needed efforts to reduce electricity demand.

Schwertner, a Georgetown Republican, was booked into the Travis County jail at 2:12 a.m.

A report from the state Sunset Advisory Commission found that Texas Commission on Environmental Quality commissioners have become “reluctant” regulators and often encourage industry to “self police.”

For some energy experts, the increase in donations for the officials at the close of the session looks like a reward for not passing more stringent regulations and raises questions about whether lawmakers let the oil, gas and the broader energy industry off easy for its massive failures.

House Bill 1535 expands eligibility for the Texas Compassionate Use Program to people with cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder. It's effective Sept. 1.

The agreement advances the legislation even closer to becoming law. Abbott has said he will sign such a proposal.

The Republican-led effort to allow Texans to carry handguns without any kind of license cleared what is likely its biggest remaining hurdle in the Capitol on Wednesday, when the Texas Senate moved in a nail-biter vote to bring the measure to the floor and then gave it approval.

The Texas Senate on Monday unanimously approved a sweeping bill that would overhaul the state’s electricity industry and infrastructure, including mandating that power plants prepare for extreme weather and outlawing risky indexed retail electric plans. Senate Bill 3, filed by Republican state Sen. Charles Schwertner of Georgetown, now heads to the Texas House where its prospects are uncertain. Experts say the process of retrofitting the state’s power plants for winter could be difficult and costly, but not impossible, depending on the types of upgrades eventually mandated by regulators. Known as TERC, the board coordinates state energy regulators, electricity generators and the natural gas fuel industry to ensure reliable gas distribution for electricity. The PUC regulates the Electrical Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the state’s main power grid.

A bill that would overhaul Texas’ energy industry — including mandating weatherization for natural gas and power generators — was approved by a Texas Senate committee on Thursday. Many power generators and gas companies were ill-suited for the freezing temperatures in February, which led gas pipelines to freeze and power transmission to falter. AdA Texas House committee earlier this month passed a similar weatherization bill. “I’m convinced that we’re making a big mistake by attacking a problem that isn’t a problem, just because we feel like it is a problem.”Earlier this month, the state Senate scrambled to pass Senate Bill 2142. Dan Patrick, who leads the Texas Senate, called for the resignation of its three members in the aftermath of the winter storm.

Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas TribuneTwo years ago, Texas Sen. Charles Schwertner voluntarily relinquished a prominent post chairing the Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee after an allegation of sexual harassment. @DanPatrick’s trust in my ability to lead this important committee.”The Senate committee Schwertner will lead is not as prominent as the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services he once oversaw. “No one works harder than the members of the Texas Senate,” Patrick said in a statement. Houston Democrat John Whitmire, the Senate longest-serving member, will continue to chair the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice. Democrat Eddie Lucio Jr. of Brownsville will serve as vice chair of the Senate Finance Committee, a change Patrick announced in December.