Fun day ahead, huh? It’s the usual churn, with tons of newbies

By Robert T. Garrett rtgarrett@dallasnews.com And we’re off to a climactic day of legislating, with lots of rumblings in both chambers. The Senate’s beef is captured by the milk carton above. Senate leaders want the House to quit stalling on the water-fund constitutional amendment. In the House, ...

Senate rewrites bill to reduce hoarding of dedicated taxes

By Robert T. Garrett rtgarrett@dallasnews.com The Texas Senate on Tuesday rewrote, passed and returned to the House a bill that would gradually reduce hoarding of tax and fee money intended for a specific purpose. The Senate made an $800 million reduction of the habit this session contingent on —...

Senate passes $630 million refund bill

By Robert T. Garrett rtgarrett@dallasnews.com The Senate on Tuesday finally passed and returned to the House a dedicated-taxes bill that would advance Sen. Tommy Williams’ plan to refund $630 million of electricity-bill fees collected to help poor people but never used for that purpose. The Syste...

Fragile budget deal hinges on multiple bills

By Aman Batheja With little debate, the House voted 148-1 to suspend its rules to delay by a day voting on a measure critical to a budget deal this session. State Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, was the sole opposing vote. The move was the latest sign of straining relations between the House and ...

Budget talks turn tense as deadlines near

By Kate Alexander – American-Statesman Staff The budget deal that House and Senate leaders stitched together last week began to fray Monday as legislators disagreed about what they had agreed to. As a result, questions lingered all day whether the House would take up a must-pass measure ask...

Budget deal stumbles

  By ROBERT T. GARRETT Austin Bureau rtgarrett@dallasnews.com Published: 20 May 2013 11:12 PM AUSTIN — House and Senate leaders struggled Monday to protect their complicated deal on the two-year state budget. The two chambers’ budget chiefs clashed over whether a tax-relief package should re...

Budget deal would restore school funding cuts

ROBERT T. GARRETT Austin Bureau rtgarrett@dallasnews.com AUSTIN — House and Senate negotiators tentatively approved a state budget Friday that they say will all but erase the $4 billion cut to basic aid for public schools enacted two years ago. Exhausted members of a budget conference committee s...

Budget settled after tumultuous negotiations

By Kate Alexander American-Statesman Staff The Legislature’s tumultuous state budget negotiations came to close Friday when all sides agreed to a deal including more money for public schools in exchange for $1 billion in tax cuts and fee rebates. “This is a very good budget, and I don’t know how ...

State leaders reach budget deal

Top House and Senate negotiators on Friday agreed to a two-year state budget that restores about $4 billion of $5.4 billion in cuts to public education made in 2011. It also creates a path for lawmakers to put $2 billion toward water infrastructure projects. The five House members and five senato...

Texas Senate Passes Legislation Allowing Colleges to Run Criminal Background Checks on Students Applying for On-Campus Housing

SB 146 would apply only to state supported colleges AUSTIN – Texas colleges and universitie...

Senate Passes SB1

Budget Holds Spending Below Inflation and Population Growth ; Increases Education, Mental Health ...

Texas School District Security Act Filed by Senators Williams and Whitmire

AUSTIN - Two leading state Senators filed legislation Tuesday to give local parents and taxpayers...

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e-Message from Senator Tommy Williams – May 20, 2013

We reached tentative agreement on a new budget over the weekend and now are trying to line up all...

e-Message from Senator Tommy Williams – May 13, 2013

You may have heard or read about budget negotiations breaking down last week between Senate and H...

e-Message from Senator Tommy Williams – May 7, 2013

Much of the legislative spotlight remains focused on budget negotiations between Senate and House...

e-Message from Senator Tommy Williams – April 29, 2013

I wasn’t kidding last week when I recounted how I woke up at 2:30 in the morning worried ab...

e-Message from Senator Tommy Williams – April 24, 2013

  I appreciated my first-ever experience testifying before a congressional committee in Washingto...

e-Message from Senator Tommy Williams – April 15th, 2013

Several good things happened last week which again reinforced the notion public service is worth ...

e-Message from Senator Tommy Williams – April 8th, 2013

One of the more interesting and important issues still churning inside the Texas Capitol this leg...

e-Message from Senator Tommy Williams – April 4th, 2013

Those of us in the Houston metro area know we spend way too much time stuck in traffic and too mu...

e-Message from Senator Tommy Williams – March 25th, 2013

If you’ve traveled any Texas road lately, you’ve seen and probably felt the impact of 1,000 p...