Latest Texas state government News
Texas lawmakers eye sharing health care workers with other states to address provider shortages
A coalition of health industry leaders are backing a policy they say would help stop the statewide hemorrhaging of health care workers — allowing certain out-of-state professionals to practice in Texas. The plan would allow Texas to join existing interstate compacts for nine...
Texas developer at the center of attorney general's impeachment pleads guilty to federal charge
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A real estate developer whose relationship with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was at the center of the Republican's historic impeachment trial in 2023 pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal charge of lying to a financial institution. The plea by Nate Paul,...
Supreme Court seems open to age checks for online porn, though some free-speech questions remain
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed open to a Texas law aimed at blocking kids from seeing online pornography, though the justices could still send it back to a lower court for more consideration of how the age verification measure affects adults' free-speech rights. ...
Court lets Tennessee porn site age verification law take effect as Texas law goes to Supreme Court
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A panel of appeals judges has ruled that Tennessee can begin enforcing a law that requires pornographic websites to verify their visitors’ age as the First Amendment debate rises to the U.S. Supreme Court this week for oral arguments over a similar Texas law. ...
Supreme Court declines to hear from oil and gas companies trying to block climate change lawsuits
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday it won’t hear an appeal from oil and gas companies trying to block lawsuits seeking to hold the industry liable for billions of dollars in damage linked to climate change. The order allows the city of Honolulu's lawsuit against oil...
Judge largely blocks Tennessee's porn site age verification law as other states enforce theirs
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee law requiring pornographic websites to verify their visitors' age was largely blocked in court before it was to take effect Jan. 1, even as similar laws kicked in for Florida and South Carolina and remained in effect for more than a dozen other states. ...
As Texas Chief Justice Nathan Hecht prepares to retire, he reflects on the court he helped change
When Nathan Hecht ran for the Texas Supreme Court in 1988, no Republican had ever been elected to the state’s highest civil court. His election foreshadowed a coming transformation of the court, civil legal procedure and Texas itself. Hecht is the longest tenured Supreme Court...
Expanding college financial aid will help Texas meet workforce needs, new higher ed chief says
Wynn Rosser, a bow tie-wearing East Texan with multigenerational familial roots in rural life, will take the helm of Texas’ higher education agency in the new year. As higher ed commissioner, Rosser will serve as the chief executive officer of the Coordinating Board, the state...
Texas agency to ask for $300 million to fix “significant neglect” in Medicaid enrollment system
In Texas, health advocates often find themselves playing defense to encourage leaders to preserve the state’s relatively frugal public service offerings while also pushing for more. That’s why a $300 million ask to lawmakers next year from the state’s notoriously tight-lipped...
Texas hasn't updated a 2006 study that found undocumented immigrants contribute more than they cost
In 2006, Texas State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn set out to assess the impact undocumented Texans have on the state economy and found that they contributed more to Texas than they cost the state. “This is the first time any state has done a comprehensive financial analysis...
