Property TaxesTwo House members filed a package of homestead property tax bills Nov. 12 that would freeze school taxes for long-time homeowners whose bills have more than doubled, give first-time buyers a one-time credit of up to $3,000, and change how appraisal districts value homes.
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Two House members filed a package of homestead property tax bills Nov. 12 that would freeze school taxes for long-time homeowners whose bills have more than doubled, give first-time buyers a one-time credit of up to $3,000, and change how appraisal districts value homes.
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Identical Senate and House Bills Would End Prior Approval for Emergency, Mental Health and Preventive Care
Bills From Money and Campbell Would Give Texas Counties Land-Use Powers They Now Lack
Sunset Staff Say Texas’ Privatized Foster Care System Cost $528 Million in 2025 and Will Cost $135 Million More a Year by 2030
San Antonio’s Water Utility Challenges a Lennar Sewage Plant Planned for a South Bexar Subdivision, and State Regulators, Not the County, Will Decide
Texas Agency Urges Educator Board to Reject Three-Year Cap on Teacher Reprimands
Bills Would Require State Approval Before Big Home and Auto Insurance Rate Changes and Let Regulators Weigh Health Plan Affordability
Union activist Karen Silkwood died in a 1974 car crash while traveling to meet a federal official and journalist about safety concerns at an Oklahoma plutonium plant.
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When Texas publicly reprimands an educator, the censure is written onto the face of that person’s certificate, and nothing in the board’s disciplinary rules provides for it to expire. A petition asking the state to change that — to cap
Texas has one of the most aggressive school accountability triggers in the country, and this fall it went off again. In August, Burnet and Webb middle schools in Austin ISD received their fifth consecutive failing ratings. Under state law, that
Three bills filed Nov. 9 for the 2027 legislative session would raise the base amount Texas guarantees each school district per student from $6,160 to between $7,075 and $7,500 and then raise it automatically with inflation, according to bill texts
Three Texas House members prefiled bills Nov. 9 that would set aside part of the state's surplus revenue every two years to cut school district property taxes, and would bar districts from ever again levying their main operating tax once
Crystal City Independent School District failed the Texas Education Agency's (TEA) financial accountability rating for the second year in a row, and its score fell from 68 to 48, according to TEA's final 2025-26 ratings records. It is the only
Texas counties, which have no general power to decide what gets built outside city limits, would gain two different kinds of control under bills filed this week. House Bill 587 by Rep. Brent Money of Greenville would require a county
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, has filed Senate Bill 296 (90th Legislature), which would bar state agencies, cities and counties from approving new or expanded data centers of 20 megawatts or more for two years and bar utilities from
The Texas Water Development Board, the agency that plans and finances the state's water supply, is scheduled to vote Nov. 12 on Corpus Christi's request to push back when it borrows $210 million in state water loans for the Inner
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the nonprofit that runs the power grid for most of the state, on Nov. 10 asked the utilities that own the state's poles and wires to identify every energized customer site with a
State Sen. Judith Zaffirini prefiled a five-bill package Nov. 9 that would let Texas counties create zoning districts for large data centers in unincorporated areas and require special permits before one is built, and would require a separate state permit
Texans with private health insurance would no longer need their insurer's advance sign-off before getting emergency care, outpatient mental health treatment or recommended preventive services under identical bills filed Nov. 9 in both chambers of the Texas Legislature. Senate Bill
Texas spent $528.3 million in fiscal 2025 on its privatized foster care system, and that system is estimated to cost the state an additional $135 million a year by 2030, according to a staff report released Nov. 6 by the
Texas home and auto insurers could no longer put rate increases of more than 5% into effect on their own under a bill filed Nov. 9 by Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio. House Bill 226 would require the insurance
The state law that requires the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to get its legal, purchasing and technology services from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) carried a total cost of about $122.3 million in fiscal
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) paid Conduent more than $59.6 million on a Medicaid claims-processing contract before canceling it in 2024, and has not consistently penalized Medicaid health plans that miss performance standards, according to a staff
Texas spent $528.3 million in fiscal 2025 on its privatized foster care system, and that system is estimated to cost the state an additional $135 million a year by 2030, according to a staff report released Nov. 6 by the
The state law that requires the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to get its legal, purchasing and technology services from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) carried a total cost of about $122.3 million in fiscal
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) paid Conduent more than $59.6 million on a Medicaid claims-processing contract before canceling it in 2024, and has not consistently penalized Medicaid health plans that miss performance standards, according to a staff
Texas pays for most of its governor's inauguration with private donations, under a state law first passed in 1987. Each of the last three inaugurations raised between about $4.5 million and $5.3 million, much of it from corporations and private
A trooper or game warden at the top of the state pay scale now makes $98,085 a year, about $14,900 less than the average top pay for officers in Texas' seven largest local police agencies, the State Auditor's Office reported
Two House members filed a package of homestead property tax bills Nov. 12 that would freeze school taxes for long-time homeowners whose bills have more than doubled, give first-time buyers a one-time credit of up to $3,000, and change how
Medicaid expansion and homestead school tax bills need two-thirds of lawmakers and voters. Data center and savings account repeals need only a majority.
Three Texas House members prefiled bills Nov. 9 that would set aside part of the state's surplus revenue every two years to cut school district property taxes, and would bar districts from ever again levying their main operating tax once
Ending school taxes on Texas homesteads would cost $8.6 billion a year. Three big business tax breaks are worth $2.7 billion to $3.6 billion combined.
Voters in the Houston, Fort Worth and Austin areas rejected nearly every school tax-rate increase and bond package put to them on Nov. 3, according to unofficial county results, leaving districts to decide whether to cut spending, close campuses or
