Automatic denial of bail for some migrants fails to Texas House
ers said the proposal, which sought to amend the state constitution, would improve safety. Critics said it would violate due process and unfairly target minority groups.
Bill that would have banned Texas minors from social media misses key deadline
House Bill 186, approved by the lower chamber in May, never received a vote in the Senate.
Texas Legislature 2025
Texas Legislature 2025
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Texas to increase funding to state film incentive program by $300 million
The Senate accepted amendments to a bill that initially sought $500 million over the next two years into projects filmed in Texas. Full Story
![Charles Steen, an operator during a film production showcase hosted on the Texas Capitol grounds on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.]()
Credit: Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman/USA TODAY Network via REUTERS -
Texas to expand how schools discipline students
House Bill 6, which now heads to the governor, targets the increase in violence that has plagued schools since the pandemic. Full Story
![A student walks through the halls of Lufkin High School in Lufkin on Jan. 29, 2023.]()
Credit: Callaghan O'Hare for The Texas Tribune
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Lawmakers near deal to spend $20 billion over two decades on water crisis
The deal allocates $1 billion a year to water projects for 20 years, which some groups estimate is a fraction of what Texas needs to save its water supply. Full Story
![The SAWS’ Steven M. Clouse Water Recycling Center in San Antonio on Aug. 23, 2024.]()
Credit: Chris Stokes for The Texas Tribune -
Texas bill allowing smaller homes on smaller lots amid housing affordability crunch advances in House
Senate Bill 15, a top priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, is part of a broad push by lawmakers to put a dent in the state’s high home prices. Full Story
![A construction worker builds homes in far west San Antonio on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024.]()
Credit: Scott Stephen Ball for The Texas Tribune
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Texas parents, school boards may have more control over school library books after House OKs bill
Senate Bill 13 would require school boards or advisory councils to approve new books and review complaints. Critics worry the bill would lead to banning classic titles and create istrative logjams. Full Story
![The Josefa L. Sambrano Elementary School library in San Elizario on July 23, 2024.]()
Credit: Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribune -
Is it law yet? See how far some of the most consequential bills have made it in the 2025 Texas Legislature
We’re tracking the status of major bills through the final stretch of the session. Full Story
![Four squares with four icons: the top left icon is of the Texas capitol with a yellow question mark over it, the top right icon is of a bill with with a yellow question mark over it, the bottom left icon is of the Texas capitol with a red checkmark over it and the bottom right icon is of a bill with a green checkmark over it.]()
Credit: Illustration by Ben Hasson -
Texas DEI ban in public schools approved in the House
Senate Bill 12’s ers say DEI programs use class time and public funds to promote political agendas. Full Story
![ing period at United South High School in Laredo.]()
Credit: Rachel Zein for The Texas Tribune
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Political appointees would have more control over Texas universities’ courses and hiring under bill approved in House
Senate Bill 37 would give more power to university regents, who are appointed by the governor, to vet and veto new curricula and s. Full Story
![Texas State University campus in San Marcos, Texas.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
New limits for personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits may become a reality in Texas
The House made changes to the proposal that leave open ways for victims to be compensated beyond medical bills. Full Story
![An ambulance is parked at Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas
at Austin in 2018.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
Bill limiting protests at public universities approved by Texas House
The proposal is largely in response to massive pro-Palestinian demonstrations last year. Critics say it would walk back free speech protections that conservatives advocated for in previous legislative sessions. Full Story
![Protestors chant at Texas Department of Public Safety troopers as they begin to push students towards Guadalupe Street from the South Lawn during a demonstration in of Palestine Wednesday, April 24, 2024, at the University of Texas in Austin.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune
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Top deputies to Attorney General Ken Paxton pushed out over sexual harassment allegations, lawsuit says
The harassment allegedly took place while the two were on leave from the agency working on Paxton’s impeachment defense. Full Story
![Then-Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone II speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on April 26, 2022.]()
Credit: Eric Lee for The Texas Tribune -
Texas will ask voters to approve $3 billion to study dementia
State lawmakers have been pushing the dementia fund for years, modeling it after a state fund for cancer research. Full Story
![Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick at a press conference at the Capitol in Austin on April 23, 2025.]()
Credit: Kaylee Greenlee for The Texas Tribune -
Proposal to automatically deny bail to some previously accused of felonies falls in Texas House
Democrats declined to Senate t Resolution 87, which sprinted through the Senate and needed 100 votes to clear the lower chamber. Full Story
![Groveton, Texas: Inmates sleep in their cell on June 4, 2024 at the Trinity County Sheriff’s office and jail in Groveton, Texas. Mark Felix/The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune
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Oil companies win protections from Texas Legislature ahead of selling fracking water
At least four companies say they are prepared to treat the water well enough to be released into rivers in West Texas. Environmental groups say the state is moving too fast. Full Story
![Produced water ponds, constructed by Martin Water, in Lenorah, on Feb. 24, 2024. The Railroad Commission approved the construction of the ponds, used to treat and recycle produced water from fracking, next to the Circle 6 Baptist Camp in the Permian Basin.]()
Credit: Julian Mancha for The Texas Tribune/Inside Climate News -
Once again, Texas Legislature unlikely to ethics legislation this year
Lawmakers filed dozens of bills that would increase transparency around spending in elections and strengthen penalties for campaign and lobbying violations. None are poised to . Full Story
![work to get bills in by deadline on the House floor on May 15, 2025. May 15 was the final day for the House to file bills, with the hard deadline at midnight.]()
Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune -
Texas will require public school classrooms to display Ten Commandments under bill headed to governor
Both houses have approved Senate Bill 10 even though a similar Louisiana law was deemed unconstitutional. ers say Christianity is core to U.S. history. Full Story
![The Ten Commandments, written out on a monument, sit outside the Texas Capitol on March 17, 2025.]()
Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune
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Bill curbing the flow of abortion pills into Texas likely dead
Proponents of SB 2880 have singled out Rep. Ken King, House State Affairs committee chair, for letting the bill languish. Full Story
![Nurse practitioner Debra Lynch holds a box of mifepristone, the first drug used in a medication abortion regimen. Practicing under Delaware's shield law, Lynch prescribes the pills via telehealth, largely to patients in abortion-restricted states like Texas.]()
Credit: Bridget Grumet/American-Statesman/USA TODAY NETWORK via REUTERS -
Texas’ mail-in voting rules pushed voters to cast ballots in person — or not vote at all, study finds
New research from the Brennan Center for Justice suggests that 2021 ID requirements in a recent overhaul of Texas election laws could explain some of the drop in mail voting. Full Story
![Then-interim Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins shows what a mail-in ballot envelope looks like at election headquarters inside NRG Arena on Oct. 5, 2020.]()
Credit: Pu Ying Huang for The Texas Tribune -
Texas likely to expand medical marijuana program eligibility amid looming hemp ban
House Bill 46, which awaits Gov. Greg Abbott’s approval, would include more patients with chronic pain and allow for prescribed vaporized and aerosol products. Full Story
![An engineer at Texas Original Comionate Cultivation in South Austin tests for impurities on April 30, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune - More News