Reps. Tom Oliverson and Shelby Slawson, both members of House Republican leadership, became the first two candidates to challenge Phelan’s speakership.

Several city and state officials spoke up recently to address an issue they say is becoming a larger pattern: CenterPoint workers being attacked or threatened while working to restore power to the Houston area.

The action comes after The Texas Tribune reported that influencers were being paid to defend impeached Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The announcement came two days after Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, narrowly survived a runoff challenge from the GOP’s hard right.

Phelan’s foe Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick urged Republicans to stop giving Democrats a say in the speaker election.

Oliverson, one of Phelan’s committee chairmen, said the speaker has lost the confidence of the Republican caucus.

After a June gathering in Fort Worth sponsored by a new company, Influenceable, social media leaders began backing the suspended Texas attorney general and a controversial human trafficking film. Those who favor transparency in political advocacy are concerned.

Senate Bill 14, which is set to take effect on Sept. 1, bans transition-related care for minors. Parents of transgender kids say it blocks their ability to support their children.

So-called environmental, social and governance policies are often adopted by companies to reduce their carbon footprints. The new Texas bill aims to stop insurers doing business in Texas from using ESG criteria, but it doesn’t include penalties for violations.

The House approved a bill Monday that would ban doctors from providing transition-related care to children. It now heads back to the Senate, which can accept the changes or ask for a committee to iron out the chambers’ differences.

Texas state police detained and handcuffed people protesting legislation that would prohibit transgender kids from getting puberty blockers and hormone therapy. The House separately delayed a vote on Senate Bill 14 until later this week.

As Texas House members could soon vote to ban transition-related care for minors, many lives are in limbo, and trans kids like 16-year-old Randell are grappling with difficult decisions.

The bill would take fentanyl test strips off the state’s “drug paraphernalia” list, meaning it would no longer be a crime to carry them.

In Austin on Thursday, Governor Greg Abbott announced immediate emergency actions to combat the rising number of fentanyl deaths in Texas. The governor making the announcement at a fentanyl summit consisting of more than 250 people where the governor announced his One Pill Kills campaign.

Texas lawmakers this year are debating whether to block transgender kids’ access to transition-related health care, classify businesses that host drag shows as sexually oriented establishments and limit public school lessons on sexuality and gender identity.

Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republicans have expressed support for legalizing fentanyl test strips, which help users identify whether the drugs they are planning on taking contain the deadly synthetic opioid.

A prohibition on vaccine mandates was one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s priorities for the special session, but it did not have enough support in the Legislature.

Senate Bill 51 would make any entity, including hospitals, vulnerable to discrimination lawsuits if they mandate vaccinations for all employees.

The Senate bill originally applied to all local Texas jurisdictions, but was changed in a House committee. A House bill that is in the Senate would financially punish the state’s larger cities if they cut police funds.

The Texas House removed a requirement Thursday that people wear face masks on the House floor and during House committee meetings for the remainder of the legislative session that ends May 31.

In the initial chapters of the pandemic, there was much written and learned about contact tracing. Channel 2 Investigates spoke with State Rep. Tom Oliverson on Monday about contact tracing and it’s relevance with significantly higher case numbers. “I think contact tracing is still very relevant especially where you have discreet outbreaks in sort of a more closed environment,” Oliverson said. Oliverson points to nursing homes, camps, organized team practices and indoor environments as examples where contact tracing now works best. However, if outside those kinds of areas contact tracing doesn’t have the same impact.