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Tag Archives: Texas Legislature
Texas House bill takes aim at historic preservation rules
Fans of keeping historic buildings just as they are have sounded the alarm over a legislative bill that could bring wholesale change to preservation policies across the state, including here in Austin. State Rep. Gary Elkins, a Republican from northwestern…
Texas State Legislature • By Caleb Pritchard • Mar 23, 2017
Legislation spotlights Austin's fair chance rules
Members of the Texas House Business & Industry Committee heard lengthy and conflicting testimony Monday on fair chance hiring regulations but did not take a vote on Austin Republican Rep. Paul Workman’s House Bill 577 – which would overturn Austin’s…
Texas State Legislature • By Jo Clifton • Mar 21, 2017
Workman's bill could help Lake Travis town ditch Capital Metro
Leaders of one of the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s original members are hoping a state lawmaker can help them in their quest to quit the transit agency. Earlier this month, state Rep. Paul Workman filed House Bill 2627, which is…
Texas State Legislature • By Caleb Pritchard • Mar 21, 2017
Legislature drives closer to statewide ride-hailing regulations
Three bills that would trump Austin’s ride-hailing regulations swerved through the Texas Senate on Tuesday. In front of a standing-room-only crowd, the Committee on Business & Commerce took up Senate bills 113, 176 and 361. Each authored by Republican lawmakers,…
Texas State Legislature • By Caleb Pritchard • Mar 15, 2017
Troxclair, Adler present opposite views on tax bill
City Council Member Ellen Troxclair and Mayor Steve Adler presented diametrically opposite views at Tuesday’s Senate Finance Committee hearing on Senate Bill 2, which would prevent cities and counties from raising taxes by more than 4 percent above the effective…
Texas State Legislature • By Jo Clifton • Mar 15, 2017
Adler: A blue Texas "all but inevitable"
It’s something of an old saw in the political world that progressive cities in otherwise red states are like “a blueberry in a bowl of tomato soup.” Austin Mayor Steve Adler and his mayoral colleagues on Friday’s “America’s Mayors: Holding…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Mar 14, 2017
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Howard files bill to protect Barton Springs
State Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin) has filed legislation to prevent the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality from issuing new permits to authorize discharge of sewage effluent into any creek or other body of water in the contributing or recharge zone…
Water • By Jo Clifton • Mar 13, 2017
Bill would stop Austin from protesting pollution
State Rep. Jason Isaac (R-Dripping Springs) has filed a bill that appears to threaten to punish the city of Austin for opposing Dripping Springs’ controversial wastewater discharge permit before the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The city of Austin has…
Water • By Jo Clifton • Mar 8, 2017
Democrats urged to join fight against SB 4
Matt Simpson, policy strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, told members of the Central Texas Democratic Forum on Monday that Senate Bill 4, the so-called sanctuary cities bill, throws out policies created by sheriffs and police departments…
Austin • By Jo Clifton • Feb 28, 2017
Immigration discussion stokes heat at Commissioners Court
The issue of immigration enforcement caused sparks to fly at Travis County Commissioners Court on Tuesday, a rare moment of tension on a dais largely distinguished for its pragmatic cooperation on mundane issues of county administration. The weekly voting session…
Travis County • By Caleb Pritchard • Feb 15, 2017
Capital Metro could get permission to bypass voter approval of MetroRail extension
State Rep. Celia Israel and state Sen. Kirk Watson have filed legislation at the Capitol that would make it much easier for the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority to expand its commuter rail service. On Friday, Israel filed House Bill 1726,…
Transportation • By Caleb Pritchard • Feb 14, 2017
Reporter's Notebook: ICE, ghosts and trees
ICE in Austin… Over the weekend, protests dominated the local news as Austinites grappled with how to react to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that began on Thursday. Meanwhile, public officials and agencies worked to come up with their…
