Tag Archives: Judith Zaffirini

Senate redistricting map approved by committee

That didn’t take long. Rejecting pleas to keep most of Travis County in a single Senate district, the Senate Select Committee on Redistricting [Friday] morning approved a plan that will divide the capital city into four senatorial districts. The Republican-dominated … Continue reading

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Senate redistricting hearing

So the Senate Redistricting Committee hearing was today. See if you can spot a theme here. Sen. Kirk Watson expressed his dissatisfaction with the map that was introduced by Sen. Kel Seliger. At a morning hearing of the Senate Select … Continue reading

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Senate map is out, controversy precedes it

Before we had a State Senate map, we had a brawl brewing over one proposed district on it. Accusing the state Senate’s Republican leaders of a “shameful partisan attack,” Sen. Wendy Davis said Tuesday that a new redistricting map for … Continue reading

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Senate makes progress on the budget

They still haven’t gotten to the actual budget yet, but they’ve passed a bill that allows for some extra “non-tax revenue” plus a bunch of accounting gimmicks, which makes their less-penurious-than-the-House budget possible. The Texas Senate, digging publicly for money … Continue reading

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Sonogram bill passes out of committee

As expected. One of Gov. Rick Perry’s designated “emergency” pieces of legislation cleared an early hurdle on Wednesday when the Senate State Affairs Committee voted in favor of a bill that would require a physician to perform a sonogram on … Continue reading

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Booster seats

The nine-month grace period for complying with the new booster seat law is officially over. While the law took effect in September, a nine-month grace period has given families time to prepare. Authorities have been issuing warnings, but now citations … Continue reading

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Monitoring the food stamps problem

State Sens. Judith Zaffirini and Tommy Williams will be keeping an eye on the food stamps situation. Zaffirini said in an interview that she and Williams will work with Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Tom Suehs on hiring more … Continue reading

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Tuition reregulation passes the Senate

Off to the House. The Texas Senate unanimously approved legislation today that would sharply restrict the ability of public university governing boards to raise tuition. The measure now goes to the House. Lawmakers granted boards of regents virtually unfettered authority … Continue reading

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More Tier I schools

Good news. The Texas House on Friday voted unanimously on a plan making it easier for the University of Houston to gain elite status by gradually becoming a national “tier-one” research institution. Houston, the country’s fourth largest city, deserves a … Continue reading

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Senate panel approves budget

As you know, the Lege has one task they absolutely must do every biennium, and that’s pass a budget. The Senate Finance Committee has taken its first step towards doing that. A two-year state budget that accepts federal stimulus money … Continue reading

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Dems seek repeal of new DPS rules

We didn’t have any voter ID action yesterday, but we did have this. Some Democratic lawmakers joined by Texas residents who have had trouble getting drivers’ licenses under new Department of Public Safety rules pushed Monday for legislation that would … Continue reading

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Senate committees

Elise Hu has the list of committees and members for the State Senate, which came out yesterday. Not much drama here – as she noted, Sen. John Carona, the on Republican vote against changing the rules for voter ID bills, … Continue reading

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