TEXAS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

The decision to end work Tuesday leaves long odds for bills to boost school safety funding and make sure that election challenges don’t delay the implementation of property tax cuts, teacher pension raises and infrastructure spending.

The runoff features two Republicans from dueling factions of the party, Jill Dutton and Brent Money, vying to finish the term of former state Rep. Bryan Slaton, R-Royse City.

No members who voted against Abbott’s top legislative priority received the governor’s backing.

Murr, who represents Junction, suggested he wanted to come home to spend more time with family. He had become a target of hardline conservative supporters of Attorney General Paxton.

Despite intense political pressure, Republican Rep. Gary VanDeaver said he won’t support a bill that includes school vouchers. Rural Republicans like VanDeaver have long opposed school vouchers because of the unique role public schools they play in their communities.

The outcome was an embarrassment to Gov. Greg Abbott, who spent seven months lobbying two dozen Republicans who signaled opposition to vouchers in April.

The Texas House also voted to spend $1.5 billion on new state border walls, though that measure must be reconciled with the Senate version before it’s sent to Gov. Greg Abbott for consideration.

The committee action means school voucher legislation is poised to get its first House floor vote in recent history. Gov. Greg Abbott said if the Legislature fails to pass it this time, he will continue to call them back into session until they do.

House Bill 1, which stagnated during the previous special session, finally received a hearing in the lower chamber, a crucial step that will decide whether the proposal gets a full vote.

The revised bill promises a significant funding increase for public schools and academic accountability measures for students participating in the proposed voucher program, two of the biggest requests from voucher opponents.

Journalists covering the Texas Capitol discussed what came out of this year’s third special session and what is still to be resolved.

Gov. Greg Abbott just announced he’d reached a deal with the House to advance school vouchers, but with less than a week before the Legislature must adjourn the lower chamber took no action on the governor’s priority legislation.

With rural Texas relatively underserved by private schools, the potential for expansion could play a role in the debate over whether to let families use taxpayer money to pay for private education.

The far-right political action committee is getting involved in a critical special election for the Texas House, the first major test of its influence since its then-leader was spotted meeting with a prominent white supremacist.

Violations could bring a $50,000 fine under an amendment adopted Wednesday. The bill’s sponsor said the ban would be the strongest in the nation.

Republicans showed a more clear divide, giving the Senate higher marks than the House for how the attorney general’s impeachment was handled.

The Senate’s Republican bill would let state leaders grow the program by taking money from other agencies without the Legislature’s approval. The House bill would bar the practice.

House Bill 1 would make an educational savings account program available to 25,000 Texas students in its first year, with increased participation to follow. The governor’s office indicated that the proposal was lacking.

Nearly two-thirds of the state’s water and wastewater agencies say they need more workers.

The five-term House member, and his mustache, gained notoriety during the high-profile impeachment of Paxton. He warned tolerating corruption could hurt Republicans in the long term.

Gov. Greg Abbott needs a delicate coalition of Republicans to pass his top priority. But the House and Senate leaders aren’t getting along.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he will file criminal complaints against the group of state representatives who led his impeachment trial. He accused the lawmakers of violating a state law by releasing his personal information.

Paxton’s campaign promised more details soon on a “statewide Fall tour,” including campaign stops with the candidates.

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.

State Rep. John Bryant said Democrats will need to work together to block the “school choice” bill in October.

In his first remarks since being acquitted on 16 articles of impeachment, the suspended Texas attorney general blamed Democrats while also taking aim at a number of high-profile Republicans.

The Texas House and Senate were already far apart on “school choice.” Anger over the impeachment trial might make it even harder to find common ground.

The House impeachment managers faced a high bar: convincing enough Republican senators to vote against their own political self-interest.

The victory for Attorney General Paxton was not even close, it was overwhelming and it also was filled with much emotion especially afterwards from both sides with what took place in there.

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 lieutenant governor criticized the House for a secretive and rushed process that “wasted” taxpayer dollars. The House speaker fired back, saying Patrick confessed his bias and contempt.

Senators begin deliberating in private after defense lawyers and impeachment managers make impassioned pleas after two weeks of trial.

Texans will decide the fate of 14 constitutional amendments approved for the ballot by state lawmakers. Here’s a breakdown of each constitutional amendment and requirements to vote.

Impeachment at all levels of government are becoming more common, a political scientist said. It could make the political tool pointless.

Senators will hear closing arguments beginning at 9 a.m. Friday, after which they will deliberate in private before emerging to cast votes on whether the attorney general can remain in office.

Darren McCarty said the attorney general, his former boss, approached the Mitte Foundation lawsuit with “urgency and anxiety” — and a focus on helping his friend and political donor.

Houston lawyer Brandon Cammack said he was excited to help the attorney general’s office with a criminal investigation. But after a whirlwind month, he was fired without payment and felt he’d “gotten the rug pulled out from me.”

The senior pastor positioned himself as a leader who would represent all Texans in contrast to Cruz. The Democratic primary race has already drawn a congressman, a state senator and a South Texas district attorney.

On cross examination, Paxton’s defense attorney launched into whistleblower Ryan Vassar for bringing no physical evidence when he and others reported their boss to the FBI. Vassar said he was a witness and not an investigator.

The House unanimously voted in May to expel Slaton after a committee investigation found he had sex with a 19-year-old intern after getting her drunk.

Ryan Bangert, a former top official under the attorney general, said Paxton allowed a friend and political donor to hijack the state agency, diverting it from its mission to help all Texans.

Jeff Mateer testified that Paxton was so intent on helping Austin real estate investor Nate Paul that he worried the attorney general was being blackmailed.

After senators rejected the suspended attorney general’s bid to dismiss all accusations against him, lawyers for both sides laid out their cases and impeachment managers called their first witness.

The suspended attorney general argued that he should have the same protection from testifying as any defendant in a criminal trial. Patrick, acting as trial judge, agreed.

The pretrial motions required a majority vote. All but one were rejected by two-thirds of the Senate, suggesting an openness in the chamber to hear the allegations against Paxton.

Will the suspended attorney general testify, and will any — or all — articles of impeachment be dismissed before opening arguments? Answers are finally coming.

Paxton named House Speaker Dade Phelan, a fellow Republican, in his brief remarks Saturday in North Texas. The suspended attorney general faces a trial Tuesday that would remove him from office permanently.

The articles — including bribery, dereliction of duty and disregard of official duty — do not include four accusations originally adopted by the Texas House.

After criticizing Republican leaders on abortion, guns and race, Bishop will run as a Democrat against Rep. Angie Chen Button in a competitive district in Dallas County.

Lawyers for the suspended attorney general argue that compelled testimony would violate Paxton’s rights, but House impeachment managers disagree. The issue may be settled shortly after his trial begins.

The Senate, which is conducting the trial, published the exhibits Thursday night. House impeachment managers say Paxton abused his office to help friend and political donor Nate Paul.

Before 30 senators take on their role as impeachment trial jurors, they face a series of momentous decisions on whether to dismiss the charges as requested by the attorney general.

After Paxton’s lawyers sought to dismiss articles of impeachment as unsubstantiated, House managers responded by accusing the suspended attorney general of going to great lengths to cover up his relationship to the real estate investor.

The deeply conservative leader said he is looking forward to spending time with his family, church and business — but added that a return to politics is possible if a Texas Senate seat opened up.

The House blocked school vouchers during this year’s regular lawmaking session, but a report released Friday shows some members might be willing to approve such a scaled-back version of the program that doesn’t compete with public schools for funds.

Candidates are promising to restore integrity to the district, including one Republican who has welcomed endorsements from some of Slaton’s leading supporters.

If successful, the flurry of legal filings would halt the suspended attorney general’s September impeachment trial before it truly begins in the Texas Senate.

Supporters of the suspended attorney general find ways to make known their displeasure about the case — and evidence — ahead of the September trial before the Texas Senate.

The legislation comes after a bill to decriminalize the test strips passed the Texas House but died in the Senate despite support from Gov. Greg Abbott.

The longtime Rio Grande City representative, who switched parties in 2021, has played a key role in gun and immigration legislation this year.

McLaughlin, who led the small South Texas community through the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, was first elected in 2014.

Paxton’s top aide told senators that an agency-hired lawyer worked with the Travis County district attorney’s office to investigate a complaint by Nate Paul. County prosecutors dispute that.

The Amarillo Republican has led six committees and was among the rural GOP members to oppose school voucher proposals.

“Prejudicial and inflammatory statements” from both sides have jeopardized the ability of senators to offer fair and impartial justice, Patrick says. Violators can be found in contempt, jailed and fined.

Paxton’s campaign said 2,343 donors contributed to the Republican attorney general in 12 days when a fundraising freeze lifted after the regular legislative session.

Efforts to repair rifts, particularly among Republican leaders, begin as another contentious special session looms on Gov. Greg Abbott’s call for “school choice.”

House Democrats attempted to insert benefits for renters and more money for public education into the tax-cuts package in a series of floor amendments but were unsuccessful.

After 18 years as a district and appellate judge, O’Neill returned to private practice in 2010. She called the case against Paxton “clear, compelling and decisive.”

The package could land on Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk by the end of the week. Voters must pass the plan in a constitutional election in November for it to take effect in the 2023 tax year.

King was first elected to the House in 1994.

The moderate Democrat from Robstown chairs the Corrections Committee.

The Democrat from San Antonio was initially sentenced in 2018 to 12 years in federal prison. His sentence was later reduced, and he will stay in a halfway house until December 2024.

The Wall Street Journal says the impeached attorney general, his wife and a family trust spent nearly $3.5 million buying properties in four states in 2021 and 2022.

Under a provision of the Texas Constitution, Fanny Jetton will represent her husband’s Houston suburban district during the Legislature’s second special session.

Gov. Greg Abbott quickly called lawmakers back to the Capitol for round two, hoping to break an impasse that has outlasted the regular session and one overtime period.

Sen. Angela Paxton will have no say in deliberations to convict or acquit impeached Attorney General Ken Paxton, but she will sit on the Senate court of impeachment. That means 21, not 20, votes will be needed to convict.

Supporters and opponents of impeached Attorney General Ken Paxton pressed for favorable rules governing a Senate trial that will begin on Sept. 5.

The attorney general’s fellow Republicans were about evenly split in their approval and disapproval, the University of Texas poll determined.

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.

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

Senators, who will sit as a court of impeachment for the suspended attorney general, spent two days drafting rules that were adopted late Wednesday.

Once high-ranking officials in the attorney general’s office, the four were fired after reporting concerns about Paxton’s behavior to law enforcement.

In 2020, deputies in the attorney general’s office met with FBI agents to accuse their boss of misconduct. Their accusations would form the backbone of articles of impeachment against one of the state’s most powerful officials.

In explaining the reason for eight recent vetoes, Abbott said other issues are off the table until the House and Senate come to an agreement over how to provide property tax relief.

All eyes are on a secretive Senate committee that is drafting rules for an impeachment trial. Those rules are expected to be presented to the Texas Senate on Tuesday.

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 special session churns on with the House adjourned, the Senate still working and the governor welcoming an agreement that has thus far eluded lawmakers.

The Austin real estate investor is a central figure in allegations that led the Texas House to impeach suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton last month. Paxton was not mentioned in the indictment.

The boisterous and outspoken attorney will be matched against two legal icons who will prosecute the attorney general in his upcoming trial before the Texas Senate.

The governor stands behind his support of the Texas House tax plan despite Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s insistence that the Senate has a better deal for homeowners.

Senators have been publicly silent, citing their role as jurors with a weighty decision: Whether to remove one of the state’s top Republicans from office.

Led by Andrew Murr, a West Texas rancher and lawyer, and Ann Johnson, a former prosecutor, the team of 12 includes 11 with a law degree.

Following Paxton’s impeachment on Saturday, Gov. Greg Abbott appointed former Texas Secretary of State John Scott to serve as the state’s top attorney.

The Houston-based attorneys are legends in their own right, having participated in numerous high-profile criminal and civil matters.

Cars in some of Texas’ larger counties will still be required to have their emission output checked.

Always happy to castigate the Texas House, Patrick breaks form to criticize the governor as misinformed and unsympathetic toward homeowners.

The defense team includes the agency’s chief appellate lawyer and head of its general litigation division.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick blasted Speaker Dade Phelan's handling of the issue, while Phelan indicated he hopes to pass out new tax legislation Tuesday.

At least five candidates have already announced their intention to run in the solidly Republican North Texas district.

The 2023 legislative session started with a $32.7 billion surplus. It was mired in Republican infighting and multiple scandals. Then, the House impeached the state’s attorney general.