Tag Archives: Eric Johnson

The status of Confederate monument removal

Posted on June 7, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

We still have a long way to go. Texas has removed the most Confederate symbols and statues in the country since 2015, according to a new Southern Poverty Law Center study. But the trend does not extend to the state … Continue reading →

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Rep. Eric Johnson declares for Speaker

Posted on May 3, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

It’s not as crazy as it sounds. State Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas, filed Wednesday to run for speaker of the Texas House, making him the first Democrat to enter the race to succeed retiring House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio. … Continue reading →

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Rep. Johnson files motion to dismiss Dallas County ballot lawsuit

Posted on March 20, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I wish him luck. State Rep. Eric Johnson on Monday asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit that would kick him and other Democrats off the November general election ballot. The suit, brought by the Dallas County Republican Party, contends … Continue reading →

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The women challenging Democratic men

Posted on February 5, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

One more point of interest from The Cut: And Democratic women aren’t leaving the men of their own party undisturbed. In Minnesota, former FBI analyst Leah Phifer is challenging incumbent Democratic representative Rick Nolan; Sameena Mustafa, a tenant advocate and … Continue reading →

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Straus backs removing Capitol Confederate monument

Posted on September 20, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Kudos. Texas House Speaker Joe Straus requested on Tuesday that a contentious Confederate plaque be removed from the Capitol. The plaque, erected in 1959, asserts that the Civil War was “not a rebellion, nor was its underlying cause to sustain … Continue reading →

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Confederate monuments in the Capitol

Posted on August 21, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Get rid of them, too. A state lawmaker wants all Confederate symbols removed from the Texas Capitol grounds, including a plaque that is 40 steps away from his office that rejects the idea that the South seceded from the Union … Continue reading →

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No special session for redistricting

Posted on May 26, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Buried in my Wednesday post about the SCOTUS ruling that declared North Carolina’s Congressional map to be an illegal gerrymander was a note that the court in the Texas redistricting case asked the state to consider a special session to … Continue reading →

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A bipartisan bill to address actual vote fraud

Posted on May 15, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Miracles do happen. Here’s something folks rarely see in Austin, or other statehouses, in these politically prickly times: a bipartisan effort to crack down on voter fraud. In the waning days of the 85th Texas Legislative Session, a group of … Continue reading →

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LGBT anti-discrimination bills voted out of House committee

Posted on May 7, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

One bit of good news this week. In an unprecedented vote, a House committee on Wednesday approved two bills to prohibit housing and employment discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. Dallas Republican Rep. Jason Villalba split with his … Continue reading →

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We now have data about police shootings of civilians

Posted on September 7, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron reviews the first year’s worth of data. Texas police reported shooting 159 people in the first year that the state tracked such cases under a groundbreaking new law. Officers in Houston shot 31 of them – compared to … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

More pre-K bills filed

Posted on March 1, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The Observer has the best reporting on the latest pre-k bills that have been filed in the Lege. There’s widespread support around the Capitol for more state spending on pre-kindergarten programs, and much less agreement about how to do it. … Continue reading →

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Abbott-style pre-k bill filed

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: State Representatives Eric Johnson (D-Dallas) and Marsha Farney (R-Georgetown) today filed a bill to provide incentive payments to school districts to provide full-day, quality pre-kindergarten. To receive the incentives, districts would be required to adopt best practices … Continue reading →

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The farm team

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Roll Call takes a look at the Texas Democrats of the future. Democrats rarely fielded competitive Senate candidates over the past two decades — the party’s three best performers in that time span received 44 percent, 43 percent and 43 … Continue reading →

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Committee time

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Now the real work gets started. House Speaker Joe Straus announced committee assignments for the Legislature’s lower chamber on Thursday, ending speculation over key chairmanships and giving lawmakers the go-ahead to start considering bills. Here’s his list. Of the standing … Continue reading →

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House passes its budget

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib has a good writeup of how it went down on Sunday. Mot of the heavy lifting was done before then, in the bills that closed the books on the previous biennium and allocated Rainy Day funds for them … Continue reading →

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It’s way past time to regulate payday lenders

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

From the Observer: As an industry, when you’ve got Tom Craddick, consumer groups, the Midland County District Attorney and Bible-quoting Baptists arrayed against you, most likely you’re facing a serious come-to-Jesus moment. Today, a House committee heard hours of impassioned … Continue reading →

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House Appropriations Committee passes a budget

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

It’s not much different than what they started out with. House budget-writers were able to sprinkle some extra money into education and health care but otherwise did little to change the bare-bones proposal with which they started. The 2012-13 budget … Continue reading →

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The itty bitty budget deal

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

It’s not nothing, but not by much. Gov. Rick Perry and House leaders struck a deal Tuesday to spend $3.2 billion from the state’s rainy day fund to fix one piece of the state’s budget shortfall. […] Perry said at … Continue reading →

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Sibley in for SD22 special election

Posted on March 17, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

With the official resignation of State Sen. Kip Averitt, his predecessor in SD22, David Sibley, has announced that he will be a candidate for the May special election to fill the remainder of Averitt’s term. The winner of the expected … Continue reading →

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Election results: The Lege

Posted on March 3, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

There are way too many races to recap here, and since the Trib has done such a thorough job of it, I’ll leave the heavy lifting to them. A few highlights: – Steve Ogden easily won re-nomination in SD5, and … Continue reading →

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Hodge pleads guilty, will resign

Posted on February 3, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Well, at least this got resolved before the primary. State Rep. Terri Hodge, D-Dallas, pleaded guilty early this morning to lying on her tax returns in connection with the FBI’s Dallas City Hall public corruption investigation, an act that ends … Continue reading →

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Election tidbits for 9/28

Posted on September 28, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Two weeks till Early Voting begins. Psst! Hey, Peggy! Rep. Kristi Thibaut represents HD133 here in Houston, not Galveston. Just FYI. As for the news that the GOP will be targeting State Rep. Abel Herrero, given the 2008 partisan index … Continue reading →

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Terri Hodge draws a challenger

Posted on June 12, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

State Rep. Terri Hodge, a fixture in HD100 since 1996, has drawn a challenger for next year. Dallas lawyer Eric Johnson announced [Friday] that he is running for the District 100 seat in the Texas House. That’s the seat currently … Continue reading →

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