<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <rss xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title>The Texas Tribune: POLITICS</title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/politics/</link><description>The latest articles about POLITICS</description><atom:link href="http://www.texastribune.org/feeds/sections/politics/" rel="self"></atom:link><language>en-us</language><lastBuildDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2015 11:24:37 -0500</lastBuildDate><item><title>Cruz Wants to Upend D.C. Laws on Contraception, Gay Rights </title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/19/cruz-wants-upend-laws-contraception-gay-rights/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</link><description> &lt;div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"&gt; &lt;a href="/2015/03/19/cruz-wants-upend-laws-contraception-gay-rights/"&gt; &lt;img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/2015/01/25/Ted_Cruz_IA_Freedom_Summit_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt="U.S. Sen Ted Cruz gives a speech at the Iowa Freedom Summit in Des Moines, Iowa on Jan. 24, 2015."&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Editor's note: This &lt;a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/sen-ted-cruz-seeks-to-upend-dc-laws-on-contraception-coverage-gay-rights/2015/03/18/c36b3e02-cda0-11e4-8a46-b1dc9be5a8ff_story.html?wpisrc=nl_pdmost&amp;amp;wpmm=1"&gt;story&lt;/a&gt; has been edited for length.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900903382214FjB"&gt;U.S. Sen. &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ted-cruz/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Ted Cruz&lt;/a&gt;, a conservative torchbearer and&amp;nbsp;&lt;a title="www.washingtonpost.com" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/03/15/ted-cruz-tries-to-drum-up-conservative-support-in-new-hampshire/"&gt;potential presidential contender&lt;/a&gt;, turned his attention to local D.C. politics this week by introducing a measure in Congress to&amp;nbsp;&lt;a title="apps.washingtonpost.com" href="http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/local/sen-ted-cruz-disapproving-dc-bill-in-approving-reproductive-health-non-discrimination-amendment-act-of-2014/1463/"&gt;upend one new city law regarding discrimination over reproductive health decisions&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;and another to keep&amp;nbsp;&lt;a title="apps.washingtonpost.com" href="http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/local/sen-ted-cruz-disapproving-dc-bill-in-approving-the-human-rights-amendment-act-of-2014/1464/"&gt;religiously affiliated colleges in the nation&amp;rsquo;s capital&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;from having to fund gay and lesbian student groups.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The measures, known as disapproval resolutions, could in theory halt local laws passed last year by the Washington, D.C. Council and signed by the city&amp;rsquo;s mayor. But to do so, Cruz&amp;rsquo;s measures would require support of both chambers of Congress and the signature of President Obama.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Although rarely successful at stopping D.C. laws, the resolutions are often more effective politically, giving members of Congress legislative records to build bona fides with constituent groups that feel strongly about the District&amp;rsquo;s often liberal stances on social issues.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;On the two issues at hand, there are more than a few with strong feelings.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Last month, more than a dozen prominent conservative groups and Catholic institutions&amp;nbsp;&lt;a title="www.washingtonpost.com" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/mike-debonis/wp/2015/02/06/conservative-catholic-groups-urge-members-of-congress-to-overturn-d-c-bills/"&gt;asked Capitol Hill leaders to overturn the two D.C. laws&lt;/a&gt;, calling them &amp;ldquo;unprecedented assaults upon our organizations.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The laws would restrict the ability of private groups to discriminate based on religious beliefs. One, the&amp;nbsp;&lt;a style="line-height: 1.35;" title="lims.dccouncil.us" href="http://lims.dccouncil.us/Download/31673/B20-0790-CommitteeReport1.pdf"&gt;Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act of 2014&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt;, would prevent employers from taking action against workers based on their decision to use birth control or seek an abortion. The other, the&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a style="line-height: 1.35;" title="lims.dccouncil.us" href="http://lims.dccouncil.us/Download/31754/B20-0803-CommitteeReport1.pdf"&gt;&amp;nbsp;Human Rights Amendment Act of 2014&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt;, repeals a longstanding, congressionally imposed measure exempting religiously affiliated educational institutions from the city&amp;rsquo;s gay nondiscrimination law.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;As is the case for all D.C. laws, the two are now under a mandatory 30-day review period before Congress. Without congressional action, they could take effect as early as next month. That happened last month with the city&amp;rsquo;s marijuana-legalization law, when, despite threats from House Republicans, no lawmaker introduced a measure to stop it. Some Republicans feared a vote on marijuana legalization could expose a rift between conservative and libertarian wings of the party.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Asked about the measures Wednesday while walking through the U.S. Capitol, Cruz referred questions to his office, which did not immediately respond to a phone call and e-mail seeking comment.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt;In a statement, Kimberly Perry, head of D.C. Vote, an organization that lobbies for voting representation for the District in Congress, criticized the effort as counter to Republicans&amp;rsquo; belief in greater states&amp;rsquo; rights.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt;Perry called on &amp;ldquo;every other member of Congress to step up and see this for exactly what it is &amp;mdash; un-American and un-democratic.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt;Religious groups were more pleased. &amp;ldquo;These bills are serious violations of religious freedoms,&amp;rdquo; said Casey Mattox, senior counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group. &amp;ldquo;We are pleased members of Congress are taking them seriously.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; </description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Aaron C. Davis and Mike DeBonis, The Washington Post</dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2015 11:24:37 -0500</pubDate><guid>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/19/cruz-wants-upend-laws-contraception-gay-rights/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</guid></item><item><title>Contracting Reform Bill Sails Out of Senate Committee </title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/19/contracting-reform-bill-sails-out-committee/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</link><description> &lt;div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"&gt; &lt;a href="/2015/03/19/contracting-reform-bill-sails-out-committee/"&gt; &lt;img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/2015/03/11/_F5U9857Nelson1_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt="Senate Finance Committee Chairwoman Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, confers with Sen. Juan &amp;quot;Chuy&amp;quot; Hinojosa, D-McAllen, during a March 11, 2015, committee hearing on state contracting issues."&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;*Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Amid an ongoing scandal over how the state awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to a private company, the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday approved a bill that would overhaul the state&amp;rsquo;s contracting processes.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=84R&amp;amp;Bill=SB20"&gt;Senate Bill 20&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;by committee chairwoman&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/jane-nelson/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Jane Nelson&lt;/a&gt;, R-Flower Mound, would require state agencies to record their contracts with outside vendors in a database run by the comptroller&amp;rsquo;s office. It would also prohibit state agencies from signing contracts with former state employees for two years after they left their post at the state &amp;mdash; an attempt to limit the revolving door between the private sector and state government.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The legislation would also cap at $1 million contracts awarded through the state&amp;rsquo;s Cooperative Contracts program, which is used to purchase computer products and services. The program, run by the Department of Information Resources, has spurred investigations and allegations of corruption after the Health and Human Service Commission used it in 2012 to sign a $20 million contract with little-known Austin software maker 21CT.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;We need to get a firm handle on contracting across state government, not only because they involve taxpayer dollars but because the delivery of services depends on it,&amp;rdquo; Nelson said in a statement.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The measure now goes to the full Senate.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Also Thursday, officials from the state's four largest agencies &amp;mdash; including the Health and Human Services Commission &amp;mdash; updated a House committee on their oversight of contracts.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Ron Pigott, the commission's new deputy executive commissioner of procurement, touted several reforms put in place before he arrived in February, but after the agency's inspector general and chief counsel were forced to resign amid questions about the 21CT contract. Pigott told the House Committee on Investigating and Ethics that&amp;nbsp;the commission has added a new ethics officer and now requires more top staff to review contracts before they are awarded.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt;And the agency will no longer award contracts without a competitive bidding process,&lt;/span&gt; he said.&amp;nbsp;The commission secured $18 million from the federal government for the 21CT deal after telling the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services the company competed for the work. They did not.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;"We're going out and getting bids from everybody," Pigott said.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Terri Langford contributed to this report.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; </description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Edgar Walters</dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2015 10:39:46 -0500</pubDate><guid>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/19/contracting-reform-bill-sails-out-committee/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</guid></item><item><title>Houston鈥檚 Annise Parker Ponders Political Future </title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/19/houstons-annise-parker-ponders-her-political-futur/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</link><description> &lt;div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"&gt; &lt;a href="/2015/03/19/houstons-annise-parker-ponders-her-political-futur/"&gt; &lt;img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/_KCB9321_1_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt="Houston Mayor Annise Parker at the Texas Democratic Party&amp;#39;s convention in Houston on June 8, 2012."&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835HqC"&gt;&lt;span class="dateline"&gt;HOUSTON &amp;mdash;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/houstons-annise-parker-a-gay-mayor-in-a-red-state-ponders-political-future/2015/03/17/c06c8b3e-c7f1-11e4-a199-6cb5e63819d2_story.html"&gt;Annise Parker&lt;/a&gt; keeps a leather-bound journal on the desk in her wood-paneled office in City Hall. If it had a title, she says, it would be: &amp;ldquo;Would This Have Happened to Another Mayor?&amp;rdquo; Its pages are filled with her cursive script of the stories she could tell about being the first openly gay mayor of a major American metropolis.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835H0G"&gt;Parker is reserved and wonky, not the sort to tell tales, so the journal remains closed to prying eyes. In fact, she got elected mayor &amp;mdash; and was re-&amp;shy;elected twice &amp;mdash; not on charisma or personal narrative but by positioning herself as an effective manager.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835lMH"&gt;Because of term limits, Parker cannot run again, and as the Democrat moves through her final year as mayor, she has left her mark on the nation&amp;rsquo;s fourth-largest city and become a national figure in LGBT politics. Doing both at the same time hasn&amp;rsquo;t always been easy.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835tZH"&gt;Parker likes to present herself as mayor first, but her symbolic national significance hovers about her like Houston&amp;rsquo;s humid air &amp;mdash; comforting for some, clammy for others. She was in her fifth year as mayor before she engaged the city in a contentious gay-rights debate, and her handling involved some political missteps.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835a4C"&gt;&amp;ldquo;I was a gay and lesbian activist in my college days, so that&amp;rsquo;s always been part of my acknowledgment of the world,&amp;rdquo; said Parker, sitting at her large antique desk by a window overlooking the tangle of highways that engulfs Houston. &amp;ldquo;What is different as mayor is I&amp;rsquo;m not a spokesperson for the community. I am the public face and voice of the citizens of Houston. I just happen to be a lesbian when I&amp;rsquo;m doing it.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835MLH"&gt;Parker won the mayor&amp;rsquo;s race in 2009 after having first served on the City Council and as comptroller. As mayor, she pledged to make the difficult budget cuts to get Houston through the nasty recession that waylaid America&amp;rsquo;s cities. She cut hundreds of millions of dollars in spending and 776 jobs. Through attrition, she has downsized the government by about 1,000 workers. Conservatives and progressives in this largely Democratic city praised her steely resolve as she trimmed opening hours for city libraries and swimming pools.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835kaG"&gt;In recent years, Houston has found itself ranked high on lists of best places to live. In 2012, it was named the nation&amp;rsquo;s &amp;ldquo;coolest city&amp;rdquo; by &lt;em&gt;Forbes&lt;/em&gt;, noting its &amp;ldquo;stylish housing developments,&amp;rdquo; theater scene and world-class museums. Earlier this year, it was listed as the country&amp;rsquo;s fastest-growing city, and &lt;em&gt;Food &amp;amp; Wine&lt;/em&gt; magazine called it &amp;ldquo;America&amp;rsquo;s newest capital of great food.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835JEH"&gt;Parker&amp;rsquo;s supporters see these all as proof of her able stewardship.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835QAB"&gt;&amp;ldquo;It dispenses with the notion that when LGBT people run, they are running as activists,&amp;rdquo; said Denis Dison, the acting executive director of the Gay &amp;amp; Lesbian Victory Fund and Institute, which has backed all of Parker&amp;rsquo;s campaigns. &amp;ldquo;They are doing so to fill the potholes.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U90052121183585E"&gt;That part is true &amp;mdash; Parker&amp;nbsp;&lt;i&gt;is&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;trying to fill the city&amp;rsquo;s potholes, which are legion &amp;mdash; but it&amp;rsquo;s not the only truth. One of her most prominent moves in her final term has been pushing the city ordinance to protect gay rights, which has landed the city in a court battle that attracted national attention.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835gfE"&gt;&amp;ldquo;She talks about it in personal terms,&amp;rdquo; Dison said. Her election &amp;ldquo;changed for a lot of people what was possible for our community in politics.&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835FrG"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Parker, 58, grew up in Houston going to Astros games&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;with her father. After moving around with her family, she returned in 1974 to attend Rice University. There she studied anthropology, psychology and sociology, and helped to found a gay student group on campus.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U9005212118352KG"&gt;After Rice, she built a career in the oil and gas industry, working 18 years for oilman and Republican politician Robert Mosbacher, who later served as commerce secretary under George H.W. Bush. She remembers him fondly as a good boss and magnetic leader. &amp;ldquo;All the women in the office had a crush on him,&amp;rdquo; she recalled.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835NeF"&gt;She also established herself as an active leader in the city&amp;rsquo;s LGBT community, which had blossomed in the late &amp;rsquo;70s but was then facing challenges. In 1984, the City Council passed a law banning discrimination in city employment on the basis of sexual orientation. The next year, the ordinance faced a city&amp;shy;wide referendum and resoundingly failed.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835McG"&gt;About the same time, Parker was elected president of the city&amp;rsquo;s Gay Political Caucus.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835eWB"&gt;&amp;ldquo;It was a scary, very different time,&amp;rdquo; she told the &lt;em&gt;Houston Chronicle&lt;/em&gt; in 2009. &amp;ldquo;We had regular death threats, our tires slashed, vandalism.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835QEG"&gt;In 1988, Parker and a friend opened Inklings Bookshop, which catered to lesbians, gay men and feminists. Parker, who kept her day job, described the store as a kind of community center, bustling with author appearances and visitors who lingered: &amp;ldquo;You could bring your dog.&amp;rdquo; During her first campaign, she says, &amp;ldquo;one of my opponents went after me for having a gay bookstore &amp;mdash; [but] probably the biggest seller we had at that time was something called &amp;lsquo;Koko&amp;rsquo;s Kitten.&amp;rsquo; It was a children&amp;rsquo;s book about a gorilla that had a kitten.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835BCB"&gt;The bookshop closed in 1998, just as many other independent booksellers were getting crushed by big-box stores &amp;mdash; but before it shuttered, Parker met her future wife, Kathy Hubbard, an accountant. They later became foster parents of a son and adopted two daughters, and Hubbard was on stage with the political spouses in January 1998 when Parker was sworn in as a council member, becoming the first openly gay elected official in Houston.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835wvG"&gt;After winning six local races, she was elected mayor. Her victory made headlines internationally, and the president called to congratulate her. Locally, the celebration of the broken barrier was somewhat more muted.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835AjC"&gt;&amp;ldquo;I don&amp;rsquo;t know how to say this,&amp;rdquo; said Sean Theriault, who is a professor of government at the University of Texas and is gay. &amp;ldquo;She was one of the least-gay candidates who are openly gay that I&amp;rsquo;ve ever seen. She never ran as &amp;lsquo;Houston, elect your first gay mayor.&amp;rsquo; Her orientation never became an issue, but once you leave the 610 Loop it becomes pretty unfriendly territory.&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835CD"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Miles outside of Interstate 610, Houston&amp;rsquo;s beltway, is Republican-led Harris County.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;In recent years, party officials have tangled with Parker.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835PTH"&gt;&amp;ldquo;She has spent her last term pursuing her own social agenda over the will of the people&amp;rdquo; is how Paul Simpson, the recently elected head of the county Republican Party, described her.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835bjF"&gt;Simpson was referring to Parker&amp;rsquo;s decision to put to a City Council vote last year a measure to protect the rights of the lesbian, gay and transgender community in public and private places, which included a provision that would allow people to use the restroom that best fits their gender identity. Social conservatives called it &amp;ldquo;the bathroom bill.&amp;rdquo; The provision regarding public restrooms was amended out before the measure passed.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835PqF"&gt;&amp;ldquo;To my trans sisters/brothers: you&amp;rsquo;re still fully protected in Equal Rights Ordinance. We&amp;rsquo;re simply removing language that singled you out,&amp;rdquo; Parker tweeted after the vote.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835XS"&gt;A move by conservatives to bring the ordinance to a city&amp;shy;wide referendum has become a divisive mess: City lawyers subpoenaed the sermons of pastors backing the referendum, which triggered a backlash, so&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/10/29/houston-mayor-drops-church-subpoenas/"&gt;Parker dropped the subpoenas&lt;/a&gt;. The fate of the ordinance is still playing out in court.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835yXE"&gt;Robert Stein, a political scientist at Rice University, said she would have done better by taking a more detached approach to the ordinance and staying focused on core human rights values.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835d0G"&gt;&amp;ldquo;She made it very personal, so it took all the air out,&amp;rdquo; Stein said. &amp;ldquo;She called this a personal battle. &amp;hellip; She let her heart, rather than her head, lead us.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835pXE"&gt;The push for the law came about the same time that Parker married Hubbard in a California ceremony. Parker has said she and Hubbard decided to marry after the Supreme Court&amp;rsquo;s initial decision last year not to take up the issue, which effectively extended same-sex marriage rights in 14 states, but not Texas. (The court has since&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-agrees-to-hear-gay-marriage-issue/2015/01/16/865149ec-9d96-11e4-a7ee-526210d665b4_story.html"&gt;agreed to take up the issue of whether states can prohibit same-sex marriage&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or refuse to recognize marriages from other states.)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835jAH"&gt;The political battles have taken their toll. According to Stein&amp;rsquo;s polling for local news media organizations, her job approval ratings range between 55 and 60&amp;nbsp;percent &amp;mdash; substantially lower than those of her predecessor. But, he adds, if she were able to run for re-&amp;shy;election next year, she would probably win again.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835eoB"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On a recent Thursday afternoon, Parker&amp;rsquo;s schedule was packed &lt;/strong&gt;with meetings. She had been in an ugly battle with the leaders of the city&amp;rsquo;s firefighters pension fund and was eager to strike a deal that would lessen the amount the city is forced to contribute to the fund. The night before, she had stopped by the city&amp;rsquo;s livestock show and rodeo, an annual rite for the leader of this Southern city. That same week, she was honored at a Victory Fund champagne brunch for &amp;ldquo;changing the face and voice of America&amp;rsquo;s politics.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835e7D"&gt;She has begun identifying the successes she thinks will mark her time as mayor. Besides leading the city through a tough recession and helping to promote it as a great place to live, she&amp;rsquo;s pleased that efforts to reduce chronic homelessness have been gaining ground.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835qJ"&gt;One of her final priorities is an effort to do away with the city&amp;rsquo;s two-year terms in office, which she believes are too short. The change would not affect anyone now in office. But Parker said if she could run for mayor again, she would. She loves the job.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835JHH"&gt;She has begun to publicly contemplate her future in Texas. It&amp;rsquo;s the state that gave the nation Congresswoman Barbara Jordan and Gov. Ann Richards, two mold-breaking, colorful politicians. Parker has risen in a time very different from theirs. No Democrat has won statewide office in Texas for two decades, but she is seriously pondering a run for higher office in 2018.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="U900521211835LUF"&gt;It would clearly be a long shot. But Parker would like to have another journal someday. Call it: &amp;ldquo;Would This Have Happened to Another Governor?&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin and Rice University are corporate sponsors of The Texas Tribune.&amp;nbsp;A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/support-us/donors-and-members/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt; </description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Krissah Thompson, The Washington Post</dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2015 06:00:00 -0500</pubDate><guid>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/19/houstons-annise-parker-ponders-her-political-futur/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</guid></item><item><title>Analysis: Killing a Tax Without Changing Taxpayers' Bills </title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/19/analysis-tax-cut-wont-save-taxpayers-dime/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</link><description> &lt;div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"&gt; &lt;a href="/2015/03/19/analysis-tax-cut-wont-save-taxpayers-dime/"&gt; &lt;img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/2015/02/24/PropertyTax-DollarSigns_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt=""&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p&gt;Careful readers will find an Easter egg tucked in one of the tax measures approved by a Senate committee this week &amp;mdash; a mostly unmentioned clause that would constitutionally ban taxes on real estate transactions.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Don&amp;rsquo;t count your savings: Texas doesn&amp;rsquo;t even have a tax on real estate transactions.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The senators were not being sneaky so much as they were emphasizing what they hoped (successfully, it turns out) would dominate the headlines: their efforts to cut residential property and business margins taxes. The business tax cut is easy enough &amp;mdash;&amp;nbsp;all the Legislature has to do is pass a law and get the governor to sign it. Because the governor has already said he would veto the state budget if he doesn&amp;rsquo;t see some tax cuts, that&amp;rsquo;s a pretty safe bet.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Property taxes are a bit trickier, because the state is in the position of trying to cut a tax that it does not levy. Since legislators can&amp;rsquo;t set property tax rates &amp;mdash; those are set by local officials &amp;mdash; senators are instead proposing to increase the size of homestead exemptions. Their current proposal would give the average Texas homeowner a break of about $206 per year.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The current homestead exemption is in the state constitution, so the change would need to be in the constitution, too. That requires approval first from two-thirds of the Senate and the House, and then from a majority of Texas voters.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Texas is one of the 13 states without a tax on real estate transactions; a constitutional ban would prevent future lawmakers from imposing one without voter approval.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;It would make your friendly neighborhood Realtor happy, however. And it is especially delicious for the Texas Association of Realtors, the trade association for real estate agents and a wealthy and generous donor to political campaigns. For this industry, any talk of taxing home and building sales, leases and other transactions is a cardinal threat.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Their fears have some foundation. Most other states tax the transactions, and people and companies continue to buy and sell homes and buildings in spite of it. Unlike the property tax, a tax on a home sale doesn&amp;rsquo;t appear (and increase) year after year &amp;mdash;&amp;nbsp;the feature of property taxes that makes them economically and politically unpopular.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;One other thing: A sales tax on real estate transactions would raise a ton of money. In a &lt;a href="http://www.texaspolicy.com/library/doclib/2012-08-taxswap-laffer-update_0.pdf"&gt;2012 proposal&lt;/a&gt; to repeal property taxes and replace them with sales taxes, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Austin, cranked some of the numbers. That group estimated $49 billion in residential property transactions and $24 billion in commercial property transactions take place in Texas every year. The state&amp;rsquo;s sales tax rate is 6.25 percent. That&amp;rsquo;s $4.56 billion per year, on par with what the state brings in now from taxes on motor vehicle sales and leases.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;It has been a while since anyone seriously proposed raising taxes. The state has plenty of money, for one thing. For another, politicians are scared to death of conservative voters who want to hold down the price of government.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;So why the conversation about sales taxes on property? Because Sen. &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/jane-nelson/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Jane Nelson&lt;/a&gt;, R-Flower Mound, the leader of the Senate budgeteers, included it in her bill. It might be slightly cynical at this point to mention that the two political action committees with the biggest warchests in the state both belong to the Texas Association of Realtors. But the people in the Capitol know that, so you should, too.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The Realtors have not joined other business groups that would rather see a different mix of tax cuts, possibly including reductions to the state&amp;rsquo;s sales tax, which unlike a bigger homestead exemption would help them and everybody else at the same time.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Sen. &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/royce-west/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Royce West&lt;/a&gt;, D-Dallas, asked Nelson why the provision was needed. &amp;ldquo;I think it&amp;rsquo;s really nice to make a statement that we are not going to impose any taxes on our citizens that we don&amp;rsquo;t have to,&amp;rdquo; Nelson said. &amp;ldquo;I can&amp;rsquo;t imagine that we would do this, but I would like to make it clear in the constitution that we are not going to ask future generations to price themselves out of home ownership because of a new tax that is imposed on real estate transfers.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;West, saying Nelson was &amp;ldquo;putting a solution into the constitution for a problem that does not exist,&amp;rdquo; voted no.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;If the measure makes it through the Legislature and onto next November&amp;rsquo;s ballot, however, Nelson&amp;rsquo;s move could help it pass, if help is needed. She&amp;rsquo;ll have a legion of real estate agents on her side.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Disclosure: The Texas Association of Realtors and the Texas Public Policy Foundation are corporate sponsors of The Texas Tribune.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;i&gt;A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/support-us/donors-and-members/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;&lt;i&gt;here&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;i&gt;.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt; </description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Ross Ramsey</dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2015 06:00:00 -0500</pubDate><guid>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/19/analysis-tax-cut-wont-save-taxpayers-dime/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</guid></item><item><title>U.S. Rep. Castro Moves Up the Democratic Ranks </title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/19/castro-moves-democratic-ranks/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</link><description> &lt;div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"&gt; &lt;a href="/2015/03/19/castro-moves-democratic-ranks/"&gt; &lt;img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/2015/02/19/TTEvents_JoaquinCastro156_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt="U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro talks about the national 2016 political landscape during a TTEvents conversation with Evan Smith on Feb. 19, 2015."&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p&gt;WASHINGTON&amp;nbsp;&amp;ndash; Sophomore U.S. Rep. &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/joaquin-castro/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Joaquin Castro&lt;/a&gt; just landed a spot as one of the Democratic leadership's top&amp;nbsp;vote counters on the House floor.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Capitol Hill Democrats describe Castro's new job &amp;mdash; chief deputy whip &amp;mdash; as the eyes and ears for the House Democratic leadership. The San Antonio Democrat will be one of 10 chief deputy whips, who persuade holdouts in the Democratic caucus to go along with leadership's position on a vote. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland named Castro to the position.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;I&amp;rsquo;m really looking forward to taking on this new responsibility and serving as a voice on the whip team," Castro said in a statement.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt;One of the chief deputy whips from last term &amp;mdash; U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luj&amp;aacute;n of New Mexico &amp;mdash; is now the head of the House Democrats' political arm. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a style="line-height: 1.35;" href="http://atr.rollcall.com/elections-2016-nancy-pelosi-potential-dccc-chairmen/"&gt;Castro was in serious consideration&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;for that job in November.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Castro's new assignment will also include an increased focus on fundraising. At the end of last year, Castro exceeded the benchmarks his party set out for him as a freshman in 2013. In total, House leadership asked that he bring in $200,000 to the House campaign arm. Castro raised $305,000, according to an internal caucus dues sheet obtained by The Texas Tribune.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;In contrast, chief deputy whips last term were asked to bring in $800,000. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; </description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Abby Livingston</dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2015 05:05:00 -0500</pubDate><guid>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/19/castro-moves-democratic-ranks/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</guid></item><item><title>Post-Scandal, Lawmakers Changing Gears on Health Agency </title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/18/after-scandal-lawmakers-change-gears-health-agency/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</link><description> &lt;div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"&gt; &lt;a href="/2015/03/18/after-scandal-lawmakers-change-gears-health-agency/"&gt; &lt;img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/2015/01/14/Sunset027Nelson_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt="Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, wraps up the Sunset Advisory Commission hearing on Jan. 14, 2015."&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p&gt;As the state&amp;rsquo;s largest health agency reels from a scandal over how it awarded contracts to private vendors, lawmakers on Wednesday said they are slowing down on their ambitious &amp;mdash; and controversial &amp;mdash;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;plan to restructure it.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;A panel of lawmakers and citizens last year recommended that the state&amp;rsquo;s five health and human services agencies, including the massive Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC),&amp;nbsp;be combined into one &amp;ldquo;mega-agency&amp;rdquo; that was supposed to be more efficient. But now that lawmakers are scrutinizing HHSC's awarding of a $110-million contract outside of the competitive bidding process,&amp;nbsp;state leaders say the massive structural changes recommended by the so-called Sunset Commission&amp;nbsp;should take more time than originally planned.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;In light of recent events I propose that we implement these reforms over an extended timeline,&amp;rdquo; state Sen. &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/jane-nelson/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Jane Nelson&lt;/a&gt;, who chairs the Sunset Commission, said in a statement. &amp;ldquo;This allows us more time to monitor the reorganization over the next two sessions," the Flower Mound Republican added.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Nelson and her Sunset Commission co-chair, state Rep. &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/walter-t-four-price/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Four Price&lt;/a&gt;, R-Amarillo, said in the&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;Wednesday statement that&amp;nbsp;they were developing substitute legislation to reflect the changes.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;If passed, the new bills would direct the health and human services agencies to immediately streamline their &amp;ldquo;administrative&amp;rdquo; functions &amp;mdash; including contracting and legal services &amp;mdash; and create a new Medical and Social Services Division to house the state&amp;rsquo;s Medicaid program for the poor and disabled.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;But the five-agency consolidation would move forward on a slower timeline, the lawmakers said. Their bills would combine three agencies &amp;mdash; &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;HHSC,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;the Department of Aging and Disability Services, and the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;into one beginning next year. Texas'&amp;nbsp;Department of State Health Services, which oversees public health, and the Department of Family and Protective Services, which manages child welfare, would be looped in&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;starting in 2019.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The bills would also create a &amp;ldquo;think tank&amp;rdquo; called the Policy and Performance Office at HHSC&amp;nbsp;to promote coordination within the system.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Advocacy groups for children and people with disabilities have pushed back against the consolidation plan, saying the state&amp;rsquo;s neediest populations would be neglected under the new structure.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div id=":3ik.co" class="JL"&gt; &lt;div id=":3io.ma" class="Mu SP"&gt; &lt;p&gt;Price said while he stands by the consolidation plan, "u&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt;tilizing a graduated approach for the development of these recommendations is wise so that more time can be devoted to proper implementation."&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;This story was produced in partnership with&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/"&gt;Kaiser Health News&lt;/a&gt;, an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan health policy research and communication organization not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; </description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Edgar Walters</dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2015 17:31:29 -0500</pubDate><guid>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/18/after-scandal-lawmakers-change-gears-health-agency/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</guid></item><item><title>Costco Joins Wal-Mart, Kroger in Liquor Push </title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/18/costco-joins-wal-mart-kroger-liquor-fight/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</link><description> &lt;div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"&gt; &lt;a href="/2015/03/18/costco-joins-wal-mart-kroger-liquor-fight/"&gt; &lt;img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/2013/02/06/Liquors-4_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt=""&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p&gt;Wholesale giant Costco has joined Wal-Mart and other retailers in the fight to let public corporations sell liquor in Texas.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Texans for Consumer Freedom, a group &lt;a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2015/02/18/new-coalition-takes-liquor-license-fight-capitol/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;formed last month&lt;/a&gt; to lobby Texas lawmakers to loosen restrictions on the state liquor market, announced Wednesday that Costco Wholesale Corporation would lend its name to the effort.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;We are glad to be joined by Costco in our efforts to level the playing field for the retail sale of spirits so Texas&amp;nbsp;consumers&amp;nbsp;receive the choice, convenience and lower prices competition provides,&amp;rdquo; Travis Thomas, a spokesman for the group, said in a statement.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Texas law currently excludes publicly traded corporations from selling hard alcohol and limits the number of liquor stores a company can own to five. Two&amp;nbsp;bills filed in February by state Sen.&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/kelly-hancock/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Kelly Hancock&lt;/a&gt;, R-North Richland Hills, and state Rep.&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/jason-a-isaac/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Jason Isaac&lt;/a&gt;, R-Dripping Springs, would&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://txlege.texastribune.org/84/bills/HB1225/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;repeal those laws&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Costco, a membership club that operates 25 warehouses in Texas, joins retail heavyweights Wal-Mart, Kroger and the Texas Association of Business in&amp;nbsp;backing those bills.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;Costco proudly stands with Texans for&amp;nbsp;Consumer&amp;nbsp;Freedom&amp;nbsp;in its efforts to eliminate the unusual Texas spirits laws that artificially restrict competition and prevent us from directly serving our over 1.3 million Texas members,&amp;rdquo; Executive Vice President Dennis Zook said in a statement.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Lance Lively, executive director of the Texas Package Stores Association, said in an email his group opposes the bills but that he did not have an immediate comment.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Current law requires liquor stores to operate in a separate location from other businesses, with their own entrance. If the proposal passes, Costco, Wal-Mart and other grocery stores still wouldn't be allowed to sell liquor in the same building as their other products.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Wal-Mart has also &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/02/12/wal-mart-sues-texas-right-sell-liquor/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;challenged state liquor laws in court&lt;/a&gt;, arguing that the ban on public corporations breaches consumer protection law.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Disclosure: The Texas Association of Business and Wal-Mart are corporate sponsors of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/support-us/corporate-sponsors/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections#all-time"&gt;&lt;i&gt;here&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;i&gt;.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt; </description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Ryan McCrimmon</dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2015 16:41:07 -0500</pubDate><guid>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/18/costco-joins-wal-mart-kroger-liquor-fight/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</guid></item><item><title>Texas Sues Feds Over Benefits for Same-Sex Couples </title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/18/ag-paxton-sues-feds-over-benefits-same-sex-couples/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</link><description> &lt;div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"&gt; &lt;a href="/2015/03/18/ag-paxton-sues-feds-over-benefits-same-sex-couples/"&gt; &lt;img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/2014/02/11/GayMarriage-Court_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt=""&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p&gt;The state of Texas is suing the Obama administration for giving medical leave benefits to certain same-sex couples, according to an announcement Wednesday from Attorney General &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ken-paxton/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Ken Paxton&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The lawsuit comes in response to a rule change announced by the president last month, which grants paid time off to legally married same-sex couples, even if they are living in a state, like Texas, that does not recognize gay marriage. The rule change to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, or FMLA, is scheduled to take effect March 27.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;The newly revised definition of &amp;lsquo;spouse&amp;rsquo; under the FMLA is in direct violation of state and federal laws and the U.S. Constitution,&amp;rdquo; Paxton said in a written statement.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The federal rule change would apply only to federal employees. Currently, same-sex couples cannot get married in Texas, so only couples who were legally married elsewhere would be eligible for the benefits.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Gay rights advocates criticized the lawsuit.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;I think there are a lot of people who would like to know why the attorney general cares if loving, committed couples are recognized as loving, committed couples,&amp;rdquo; said Daniel Williams, legislative director for Equality Texas, a group that lobbies for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The constitutionality of the state&amp;rsquo;s gay marriage ban is currently being considered at the federal level. After a &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/01/09/appeals-judges-appear-skeptical-texas-gay-marriage/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;January hearing&lt;/a&gt;, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to rule on Texas&amp;rsquo; gay marriage ban in the coming months. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to have the final word on the issue. It&amp;nbsp;has agreed to hear four gay marriage cases from other states&amp;nbsp;later this year.&lt;/p&gt; </description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Edgar Walters</dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2015 16:29:43 -0500</pubDate><guid>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/18/ag-paxton-sues-feds-over-benefits-same-sex-couples/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</guid></item><item><title>Judge Reaffirms Dismissal of Ethics Ruling Against Conservative Activist </title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/18/judge-reaffirms-dismissal-ethics-ruling-against-ac/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</link><description> &lt;div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"&gt; &lt;a href="/2015/03/18/judge-reaffirms-dismissal-ethics-ruling-against-ac/"&gt; &lt;img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/2014/07/01/FriRPT1329cms_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt="Republican activist Michael Quinn Sullivan visits at the State Republican Convention trade show on June 6, 2014."&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;*Editor's note: This story has been updated with comment from a Texas Ethics Commission attorney.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;A new judge has reaffirmed the dismissal of a ruling by the Texas Ethics Commission against conservative activist Michael Quinn Sullivan.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The decision came after a hearing that lasted over an hour Wednesday, according to Empower Texans, the group led by Sullivan.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Last year, the Ethics Commission &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2014/07/21/ethics-commission-slaps-conservative-activist-1000/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections" target="_blank"&gt;fined&lt;/a&gt; Sullivan for failing to register as a lobbyist in 2010 and 2011. Sullivan challenged the ruling in Denton County district court, where Judge Steve Burgess last month &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/02/18/ethics-case-against-mq-sullivan-tossed-denton-coun/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections" target="_blank"&gt;tossed&lt;/a&gt; the case.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Amid questions about his impartiality, Burgess &lt;a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/05/judge-removed-ethics-case-against-conservative-act/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections" target="_blank"&gt;was removed&lt;/a&gt; this month and replaced by David Cleveland.&amp;nbsp;On Wednesday, Cleveland signed a two-page order again dismissing the commission's ruling.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Joe Nixon, Sullivan's lead counsel, said the latest decision leaves no doubt where the court stands on the case.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;"The commission was flat-out wrong, which has now been twice affirmed," Nixon said in a statement.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Eric Nichols, an attorney for the commission, said it plans to appeal Cleveland's ruling to the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Cleveland also ruled Wednesday that the commission did not owe Sullivan any attorneys' fees, a move the activist had requested and the commission had opposed.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; </description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Patrick Svitek</dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2015 14:49:37 -0500</pubDate><guid>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/18/judge-reaffirms-dismissal-ethics-ruling-against-ac/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</guid></item><item><title>Cruz's Digital Guru Tapped for Likely 2016 Campaign </title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/18/cruzs-digital-chief-heads-likely-2016-campaign/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</link><description> &lt;div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"&gt; &lt;a href="/2015/03/18/cruzs-digital-chief-heads-likely-2016-campaign/"&gt; &lt;img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/2015/03/15/Cruz_NH_copy_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt="Sen. Ted Cruz campaigns in a Barrington, N.H. manufacturing plant."&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p&gt;Josh Perry, &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ted-cruz/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Ted Cruz&lt;/a&gt;'s top digital strategist, is joining the Texas senator's 2016 presidential campaign-in-waiting, the latest sign Cruz is building a ready-to-go operation in his hometown of Houston.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Perry is transitioning at the end of the month to Cruz's Jobs, Growth and Freedom PAC, the group that has been laying the groundwork for his likely 2016 bid, according to aides to Cruz. Perry already has moved to Houston, where he'll join several others&amp;nbsp;who have signed on with the PAC, including &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/10/spokeswoman-heads-likely-cruz-campaign/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections" target="_blank"&gt;Catherine Frazier&lt;/a&gt;, Brian Phillips and Rick Tyler.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;A native of Port Arthur and University of Texas at Austin graduate, Perry has been with Cruz since the beginning of his 2012 Senate bid. Perry helped lead digital efforts for Cruz's campaign and then in his office, &lt;a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/01/politics/ted-cruz-twitter-josh-perry/" target="_blank"&gt;serving&lt;/a&gt; as the gatekeeper of the senator's online presence.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Tech talent recently took center stage in Texas with the &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/16/rand-paul-opens-austin-office-ahead-likely-2016-ru/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections" target="_blank"&gt;opening&lt;/a&gt; of an Austin outpost of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul's all-but-announced presidential campaign. The office is being helmed by two former Cruz staffers, including Vincent Harris, Paul's digital guru. Perry worked with Harris at the latter's Austin firm before joining Cruz's Senate campaign.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; </description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Patrick Svitek</dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2015 13:01:18 -0500</pubDate><guid>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/18/cruzs-digital-chief-heads-likely-2016-campaign/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</guid></item><item><title>Campus Carry Gets Initial OK in Texas Senate </title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/18/campus-carry-debate-hits-senate-floor/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</link><description> &lt;div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"&gt; &lt;a href="/2015/03/18/campus-carry-debate-hits-senate-floor/"&gt; &lt;img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/2015/03/18/7C2A4712_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt="Sen. Kirk Watson speaks with the author of Senate Bill 11, Sen. Brian Birdwell, as Sen. Joan Huffman listens on. The Senate&amp;#39;s campus carry debate began on Mar. 18, 2015."&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt;*Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt;Texas is now a step closer to&amp;nbsp;requiring public colleges and universities to allow&amp;nbsp;concealed handguns on&amp;nbsp;campus&amp;nbsp;&amp;mdash; a policy opposed by many higher education leaders.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;After nearly five hours of debate on Wednesday, the state Senate gave preliminary approval to a measure&amp;nbsp;that would repeal existing law prohibiting concealed handgun license holders from carrying their weapons there.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;The vote on Senate Bill 11 was along party lines, with all 11 of the chamber&amp;rsquo;s Democrats opposing it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;ldquo;My concern is to expand the freedom of our most trustworthy citizens,&amp;rdquo; said the bill&amp;rsquo;s author, state Sen.&amp;nbsp;&lt;a title="" href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/brian-birdwell/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Brian Birdwell&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, R-Granbury, as he introduced the legislation.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Birdwell, along with other gun rights advocates, has argued that restrictions on where such license holders can carry their firearms infringe on Second Amendment rights.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Lawmakers have struggled to pass such a law for several sessions &amp;mdash; in part because of procedural rules in the Senate that required the approval of two-thirds of senators before any bill could come to the floor. That rule was changed at the start of the current legislative session at the prompting of Lt. Gov. &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/dan-patrick/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Dan Patrick&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1770657060"&gt;&lt;span class="aQJ"&gt;On Wednesday&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, Senate Democrats acknowledged at several points that they knew the bill already had the votes to pass. But they put up a spirited defense, offering about two dozen amendments attempting to derail or highlight flaws in the legislation.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;That included asking whether it was fair to exempt private universities from the law. (&lt;/span&gt;Private campuses may already allow concealed carry if they choose.)&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;ldquo;How in the world can your bill require University of Houston, [Texas Southern University], Houston Community College to allow students to have concealed weapons but Rice University in the same community can opt out?&amp;rdquo; asked state Sen. &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/john-whitmire/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;John Whitmire&lt;/a&gt;, D-Houston.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;State Sen.&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/rodney-ellis/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Rodney Ellis&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, D-Houston, suggested Birdwell had bowed to pressure from Baylor University, a large employer and private campus in Birdwell's district.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;ldquo;It is interesting that you would put this in public universities, in other people&amp;rsquo;s districts, but not private when the largest employer in your district is a private university,&amp;rdquo; Ellis said.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Birdwell responded that the bill was designed to respect private property rights &amp;mdash; and that private universities could decide whether to allow firearms just like any other property owner.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt;State Sen.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a style="line-height: 1.35;" href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/sylvia-r-garcia/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections" target="_blank"&gt;Sylvia Garcia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt;, D-Houston, questioned why higher education administrators shouldn&amp;rsquo;t be trusted to make their own policies.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;ldquo;This really should be left up to local officials who deal with this on a daily basis,&amp;rdquo; she said.&amp;nbsp;"You put so much trust in the [license] holder but not in university presidents.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;She also relayed the alarm university administrators have raised about the&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/Campus-carry-would-cost-Texas-colleges-millions-6094445.php" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;span&gt;costs of allowing concealed handguns&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;on campus.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Birdwell said he thought such concerns were &amp;ldquo;improperly placed.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;ldquo;A fundamental right granted by the creator is not subordinate to the financial costs or speculation &amp;hellip; of our universities," he added.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Among the higher education leaders who have asked the Legislature not to change the law is University of Texas System Chancellor William McRaven.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;McRaven, a former Navy SEAL commander who led the successful raid on Osama bin Laden,&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/01/29/mcraven-campus-carry-would-create-less-safe-enviro/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;span&gt;wrote a letter&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;to lawmakers at the start of the session cautioning that such a policy would make colleges campuses less safe.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;"There is great concern that the presence of handguns, even if limited to licensed individuals age 21 or older, will lead to an increase in both accidental shootings and self-inflicted wounds," he said.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Birdwell's proposal is&amp;nbsp;among a&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/01/28/texas-open-carry-legislation-not-quite-dead/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;span&gt;slate of high-profile gun bills&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;lawmakers are considering this session. A second &amp;mdash; SB 17, which would allow handgun license holders to carry their weapons openly in a holster, instead of keeping them concealed &amp;mdash;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/16/texas-senate-considers-key-gun-bill/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;span&gt;was passed out&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;of the Senate earlier this week. That bill would not apply to university campuses if both pieces of legislation become law.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;To receive a concealed handgun license, a Texan must be 21 or older, take a half-day training course, and pass criminal background and mental health checks.&amp;nbsp;Currently, public universities can opt to allow guns on campus, but&amp;nbsp;Texas A&amp;amp;M University is the only one that has chosen to do so.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;After a final vote&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1770657061"&gt;&lt;span class="aQJ"&gt;Thursday&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, the legislation will advance to the House for approval.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="content"&gt; &lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Disclosure: Texas A&amp;amp;M University, the University of Houston and the Texas A&amp;amp;M University System are corporate sponsors of The Texas Tribune. Texas Southern University was a corporate sponsor in 2014, and Rice University was a corporate sponsor from 2011 to 2013.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/support-us/donors-and-members/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;&lt;i&gt;here&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;i&gt;.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/div&gt; </description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Morgan Smith</dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2015 12:19:01 -0500</pubDate><guid>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/18/campus-carry-debate-hits-senate-floor/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</guid></item><item><title>Map: Breast and Cervical Cancer Program Providers </title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/18/breast-and-cervical-cancer-services-map/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</link><description> &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;T&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span id="docs-internal-guid-e02c6f3a-239d-b591-7901-206eb5248e15"&gt;he Texas Senate has proposed changing how funding is distributed from the joint federal-state Breast and Cervical Cancer Services program to &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/01/28/senate-renews-effort-keep-funds-planned-parenthood/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;gut funding&lt;/a&gt; for Planned Parenthood. Opponents say the changes&amp;nbsp;could disproportionately affect low-income women in rural areas and West Texas.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Under the Senate&amp;rsquo;s version of the state budget, dollars for clinics that offer breast and cervical cancer screenings for poor women would be prioritized for public entities like state, county and community health clinics. Private clinics that provide cancer screenings as part of &amp;ldquo;comprehensive&amp;rdquo; primary and preventive care would come in second place. Private specialty clinics, like Planned Parenthood, would only get cancer-screening funding if there&amp;rsquo;s money left over.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Use this map to see the locations of public and private providers that participate in the Breast and Cervical Cancer Services program. Click the legend to see how the map could change, and zoom in to take a closer look at how different areas of the state could be affected by the proposed changes.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div id="pym-graphic"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;p&gt;The funding mechanism, which&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;has&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/06/funding-fight-cancer-clinics-could-be-collateral-d/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;sparked concerns&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;among providers and&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/10/house-budget-writers-modify-womens-health-proposal/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;some lawmakers&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;is meant to target the 17 Planned Parenthood clinics that participate in the program. (Under state law, these clinics are already prohibited from performing abortions if they accept taxpayer dollars.)&amp;nbsp;But under the proposed funding revisions, at least 34 providers not affiliated with Planned Parenthood &amp;mdash; nearly one-fifth of those currently using program dollars &amp;mdash; could see their funding reduced or cut entirely.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Program providers in rural areas of of the state and in West Texas say they will be most affected by the Senate's proposal. For example, all seven cancer-screening providers in the Panhandle would likely fall to second or third priority for funding. In the El Paso area, only one provider is likely to qualify for first-priority funding.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Disclosure: Planned Parenthood was a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune in 2011.&amp;nbsp;A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/support-us/donors-and-members/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt; </description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Alexa Ura and Becca Aaronson</dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2015 06:00:00 -0500</pubDate><guid>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/18/breast-and-cervical-cancer-services-map/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</guid></item><item><title>Bill Would Bar Doctors From Asking About Guns </title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/18/bill-would-prohibit-doctors-asking-about-guns/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</link><description> &lt;div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"&gt; &lt;a href="/2015/03/18/bill-would-prohibit-doctors-asking-about-guns/"&gt; &lt;img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/HandgunsAtFiringRange_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt=""&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p&gt;While legislation expanding how and where Texans can carry weapons is dominating the Legislature this week, one state lawmaker is targeting the doctor's office as a place to keep the federal government from learning who owns guns.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Over the objections of the medical community, state Rep. &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/stuart-spitzer/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Stuart Spitzer&lt;/a&gt;, R-Kaufman, has filed a bill that would prohibit doctors from asking patients whether they own a firearm and makes the&amp;nbsp;Texas Medical Board, which licenses physicians,&amp;nbsp;responsible for doling out punishment.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;Pediatricians are asking children away from their parents, &amp;lsquo;Do you have guns in your house?&amp;rsquo; and then reporting this on the electronic health records, and then the federal government, frankly, has access to who has guns and who doesn&amp;rsquo;t,&amp;rdquo; Spitzer said in a recent interview. He said he experienced the phenomenon firsthand when he took his daughter to the doctor, who asked her whether there were any guns in the house.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Spitzer, a surgeon, said he wanted to make sure that doctors &amp;ldquo;have the right not to ask that.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;But doctors&amp;rsquo; groups say&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=84R&amp;amp;Bill=HB2823" target="_blank"&gt;House Bill 2823&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;would&amp;nbsp;squelch important discussions that are part of the physician-patient relationship.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;We, as physicians, ask all sorts of questions &amp;mdash; about bike helmets and seat belts and swimming pool hazards, dangerous chemicals in the home, sexual behaviors, domestic violence. I could go on and on,&amp;rdquo; said Gary Floyd, a Fort Worth pediatrician and&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.texmed.org/Template.aspx?id=473" target="_blank"&gt;board member&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;of the Texas Medical Association.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;All of that&amp;rsquo;s geared mainly to how we should direct our advice,&amp;rdquo; he said. &amp;ldquo;As a pediatric [emergency room] doc, one of the worst things you have to do is sit down with the family and explain that the child has died, or may never be the same, because of an unintended gunshot wound.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Spitzer said his bill would still allow psychiatrists, who are more likely to encounter suicidal patients, to ask about gun ownership. But for most physicians, he said, asking about gun ownership is &amp;ldquo;not appropriate.&amp;rdquo; He suggested they could instead ask more &amp;ldquo;open-ended&amp;rdquo; questions about a person&amp;rsquo;s means to harm himself.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Florida passed a similar law in 2011. Challengers, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, challenged the law in court arguing that it infringed on doctors&amp;rsquo; free-speech rights. The 11&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt;&amp;nbsp;U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta last year upheld the law as constitutional.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;The Act simply informs physicians that inquiring about a private matter irrelevant to medical care isn&amp;rsquo;t part of the practice of good medicine and that, as always, a physician may face discipline for not practicing good medicine,&amp;rdquo; Judge Gerald Tjoflat wrote in the&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201214009.pdf" target="_blank"&gt;majority opinion&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Spitzer&amp;rsquo;s bill&amp;nbsp;was referred Monday to the House Public Health Committee.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;This story was produced in partnership with&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/"&gt;Kaiser Health News&lt;/a&gt;, an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan health policy research and communication organization not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Disclosure: The Texas Medical Association is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/support-us/donors-and-members/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;&lt;i&gt;here&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;i&gt;.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt; </description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Edgar Walters</dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2015 06:00:00 -0500</pubDate><guid>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/18/bill-would-prohibit-doctors-asking-about-guns/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</guid></item><item><title>Denton Fracking Ban Tees Up Local Control Fight </title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/17/local-control-and-fracking-debate/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</link><description> &lt;div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"&gt; &lt;a href="/2015/03/17/local-control-and-fracking-debate/"&gt; &lt;img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/2013/10/17/TxTrib-UrbanDrilling005_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt="Fracking in Fort Worth, Sept. 27, 2013"&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p&gt;As policy dilemmas go, the one triggered when Denton voters decided last fall to ban hydraulic fracturing in their city looked like a whopper: The oil and gas industry versus local control &amp;mdash; two things Texas holds dear &amp;mdash; in intractable opposition. There seemed little doubt lawmakers would weigh in upon their return to Austin.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;But four months after the &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2014/12/15/dissecting-denton-how-texas-city-baned-fracking/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;North Texas city&amp;rsquo;s historic vote&lt;/a&gt;, top state lawmakers don&amp;rsquo;t appear to be scratching their heads. Petroleum is winning hands down, and local control appears headed for a beating.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Several legislative proposals so far leave less wiggle room for Texas cities to regulate oil and gas production.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;We need to restate that principle that the state has responsibility to regulate the oil and gas industry,&amp;rdquo; said state Rep. &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/drew-darby/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Drew Darby&lt;/a&gt;, R-San Angelo, who chairs the House Energy Resources Committee. &amp;ldquo;I don&amp;rsquo;t know where people might have believed that the state was not going to assert fully its rights to regulate that.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Texas lawmakers this session have filed &lt;a href="http://txlege.texastribune.org/topics/energy/combating-local-drilling-ordinances/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;at least 11 bills&lt;/a&gt; that would discourage local governments from enacting or amending certain drilling rules. Meanwhile, those watching legislation on the issue say they haven&amp;rsquo;t noticed one proposal to bolster &amp;ndash; or even support &amp;ndash; local control on petroleum development.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;We didn&amp;rsquo;t expect these to be just completely one-sided," said Bennett Sandlin, executive director of the Texas Municipal League.&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;ldquo;Instead, they&amp;rsquo;re swinging for the fences, and it&amp;rsquo;s quite alarming."&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The trend is part of a &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/12/analysis-local-control-sometimes/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;broader debate&lt;/a&gt; &amp;mdash; touching on issues including plastic bag bans and &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/16/sanctuary-cities-bill-back-play-capitol/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;sanctuary cities&lt;/a&gt; &amp;mdash; that some Republicans have sought to reframe as a debate about the size of government.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt;Supporters of Denton&amp;rsquo;s fracking ban &amp;ldquo;accused me of violating my conservative principles, arguing that since a local government passed a measure, any attempt to overturn it would be using 'big government' to squash dissent,&amp;rdquo; state Rep. &lt;a href="https://www.texastribune.org/admin/stories/story/83612/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Phil King&lt;/a&gt;, R-Weatherford, wrote in a recent &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a style="line-height: 1.35;" href="http://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/other-voices/article11387996.html"&gt;op-ed&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt; in the &lt;em&gt;Fort Worth Star-Telegram.&lt;/em&gt; &amp;ldquo;They have it backwards, because 'big government' is happening at the local level.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;One of King&amp;rsquo;s bills would require cities to get the attorney general's blessing before enacting or repealing any ordinance by voter initiative or referendum, the tool Denton activists used to push that city's fracking ban.&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/84R/billtext/html/HB00539I.htm"&gt;Another&lt;/a&gt; would require cities that tighten drilling regulations to reimburse the state for any lost tax revenue.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Other bills have addressed &lt;a href="http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=84R&amp;amp;Bill=SB360"&gt;compensation for mineral rights owners&lt;/a&gt; harmed by a local ordinance, while &lt;a href="http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/84R/billtext/pdf/SB00440I.pdf#navpanes=0"&gt;legislation&lt;/a&gt; from state Sen. &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/konni-burton/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Konni Burton&lt;/a&gt;, R-Colleyville, gets right to the point of the Denton debate: It would ban fracking bans.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Perhaps the most controversial proposals, however, are those most likely to pass. &lt;a href="http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/history.aspx?LegSess=84R&amp;amp;Bill=HB40"&gt;Identical bills&lt;/a&gt; from Darby and Sen. &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/troy-fraser/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Troy Fraser&lt;/a&gt;, R-Horseshoe Bay, chairman of the Senate Committee on &lt;span&gt;Natural Resources,&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;would limit cities&amp;rsquo; power to regulate the industry to &amp;ldquo;surface activity that is incident to an oil and gas operation, is commercially reasonable, does not effectively prohibit an oil and gas operation, and is not otherwise preempted by state or federal law.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Texas law says the state intends its mineral resources to be &amp;ldquo;fully and effectively exploited,&amp;rdquo; but courts have said the power isn&amp;rsquo;t absolute. The Texas Railroad Commission oversees the state&amp;rsquo;s oil and gas industry, with authority to adopt &amp;ldquo;all necessary rules for governing and regulating persons and their operations.&amp;rdquo; Local governments have the right to impose reasonable health and safety restrictions, and the Legislature has granted most Texas cities the power to &amp;ldquo;regulate exploration and development of mineral interests.&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Those cities have long sought to regulate noise and to control the location of wells or related sites like compressor stations.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Where fracking falls on that spectrum is unclear.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="body"&gt;Darby said his legislation, &lt;a href="https://www.txoga.org/news-events/news/view/150612/texas-municipal-league-totally-off-base-hb-40-and-sb-1165-preserve-local-au"&gt;backed by the Texas Oil and Gas Association&lt;/a&gt;, seeks to add clarity on the matter. &amp;ldquo;We&amp;rsquo;re establishing legislative intent that there should be a test to view these ordinances," he said in an interview.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="body"&gt;But critics and some legal experts say the language as is would only add to the confusion, with the potential to take away tools cities have long used to police health and safety. That could include enacting setbacks &amp;ndash; buffer zones between wells and homes or businesses &amp;ndash; that operators do not consider "commercially reasonable."&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;That is a total wildcard for a city to have to satisfy,&amp;rdquo; said Jim Bradbury, a Fort Worth-based lawyer who focuses on environmental and energy issues.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;As written, Darby's bill might even retroactively strike down drilling ordinances across Texas, Bradbury added, because it says cities may not &amp;ldquo;enact or enforce&amp;rdquo; certain measures.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Cathy McMullen, who led Denton&amp;rsquo;s push against fracking, said she was &amp;ldquo;absolutely shocked,&amp;rdquo; by the language &amp;ndash; particularly because she had recently attended a meeting in Darby&amp;rsquo;s office, where she initially felt he was responsive to her concerns.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;It was like we drove to Austin and didn&amp;rsquo;t have our voice heard,&amp;rdquo; she said.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Darby said he does not intend to keep cities from using setbacks or tampering with ordinances already on the books.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;This is not a nuclear option. It&amp;rsquo;s an attempt to bring some common sense to this issue,&amp;rdquo; he said. &amp;ldquo;There&amp;rsquo;s plenty of opportunity to address those concerns.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="body"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Disclosure: The Texas Municipal League is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune.&amp;nbsp;A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/support-us/donors-and-members/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; </description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Jim Malewitz</dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 17 Mar 2015 06:00:00 -0500</pubDate><guid>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/17/local-control-and-fracking-debate/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</guid></item><item><title>Texas A&amp;M Preparing Bid for 2016 Presidential Debate </title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/16/texas-m-university-seek-2016-presidential-debate/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</link><description> &lt;div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"&gt; &lt;a href="/2015/03/16/texas-m-university-seek-2016-presidential-debate/"&gt; &lt;img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/AnM_Tower_AggieLand_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt="Texas A&amp;amp;M University"&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p&gt;Texas A&amp;amp;M University is putting the finishing touches on its bid to host a presidential debate in 2016, a move that could elevate Texas even more as a factor in the race for the White House.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Texas A&amp;amp;M and other interested sites across the country face a March 31 deadline to submit applications to the &lt;a href="http://www.debates.org/" target="_blank"&gt;Commission on Presidential Debates&lt;/a&gt;, the private firm that the Democratic and Republican parties have entrusted to organize the presidential and vice presidential debates during the general election.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Jos&amp;eacute; Luis Berm&amp;uacute;dez, Texas A&amp;amp;M's associate provost for strategic planning, said the school has been pulling out all the stops as it readies its application. For months, a university working group has been preparing the bid with the help of members of the faculty, facilities and transportation staffs,&amp;nbsp;athletics&amp;nbsp;department and&amp;nbsp;campus security.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;"A lot of people have been putting a lot of work into this," &lt;span&gt;Berm&amp;uacute;dez&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;said. "The plans have been laid, and a lot of people have been working on this for a long time."&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Berm&amp;uacute;dez&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;said a debate would be a much-needed exercise in civic engagement in a state where voter turnout consistently ranks among the worst in the country. He and other officials think that goal will appeal to a commission that tends to put a premium on sites that can offer some educational value to their communities.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;College Station Mayor Nancy Berry said her city and neighboring Bryan are fully behind the effort, with each of their city councils having passed resolutions in support of the application. The international attention the area stands to gain, she added, is "immeasurable and unquantifiable."&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;It is an opportunity only Texas A&amp;amp;M appears to be taking advantage of for now in the state. No other Texas site has similarly publicized its interest in a debate, and the commission does not disclose the applications it has received.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;At least two state lawmakers want to provide more of a reason for locations in Texas to apply for a debate. Sen. &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/van-taylor/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Van Taylor&lt;/a&gt;, R-Plano, and Rep. &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/angie-chen-button/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Angie Chen Button&lt;/a&gt;, R-Richardson, have authored legislation that would make general election debates eligible for the Major Events Trust Fund. Taylor's &lt;a href="http://txlege.texastribune.org/84/bills/SB541/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections" target="_blank"&gt;Senate Bill 541&lt;/a&gt; is the furthest along of the two, having been approved 9-1 last month by the&lt;a href="http://txlege.texastribune.org/84/committees/texas-senate/natural-resources-economic-development/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections" target="_blank"&gt; Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Economic Development&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;In January, the commission &lt;a href="http://www.debates.org/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&amp;amp;cntnt01articleid=53&amp;amp;cntnt01origid=15&amp;amp;cntnt01detailtemplate=newspage&amp;amp;cntnt01returnid=80" target="_blank"&gt;issued&lt;/a&gt; a request for proposals that laid out specific requirements for any potential site: a debate hall that measures at least 17,000 square feet, nearby hotels that can offer a total of 3,000 rooms and accommodations for hundreds, if not thousands, of journalists.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Alan Schroeder, a journalism professor at Northeastern University who studies presidential debates, said the criteria reflects one of the commission's top priorities.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;"The main considerations are&amp;nbsp;logistical," he said. "First of all, is it a site that can support the traveling circus that goes&amp;nbsp;with the presidential debates?"&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Schroeder said the commission is less likely to take into account the political significance of a state, including where it falls in the nominating process and how many candidates have ties to it. That's a relevant characteristic in Texas, which shares roots with several potential candidates including former Gov. &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/rick-perry/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Rick Perry&lt;/a&gt;, an Aggie himself.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;As a Division I school, Texas A&amp;amp;M is no stranger to hosting such large events, &lt;span&gt;Berm&amp;uacute;dez&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;said. Asked whether Texas A&amp;amp;M faces any disadvantages in its bid for a debate, he acknowledged recent debates have gone to smaller private schools, a fact Texas A&amp;amp;M officials are taking into account.&amp;nbsp;"But our attitude is we're going to put our best foot forward," Bermudez added.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Texas A&amp;amp;M did not apply to host presidential primary debates, which are organized by the national parties. The Republican National Committee in January announced nine debates it is sanctioning &amp;mdash; a list that does not include any Texas venues &amp;mdash; while the Democratic National Committee is expected to announce in the coming weeks the debates it is sponsoring.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Berm&amp;uacute;dez&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;said the school is determined to host a debate, regardless of whether its current application is successful.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;"If that doesn't work," he said, "we have a great application ready to go in 2020."&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Disclosure: Texas A&amp;amp;M University is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune.&amp;nbsp;A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/support-us/donors-and-members/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt; </description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Patrick Svitek</dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2015 17:57:33 -0500</pubDate><guid>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/16/texas-m-university-seek-2016-presidential-debate/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</guid></item><item><title>Perry and Cruz Deploy Differing Styles in New Hampshire </title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/16/perry-and-cruz-deploy-differing-styles-new-hampshi/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</link><description> &lt;div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"&gt; &lt;a href="/2015/03/16/perry-and-cruz-deploy-differing-styles-new-hampshi/"&gt; &lt;img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/2014/08/14/Perry-Cruz_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt="Rick Perry and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and 2014 RedState Gathering at the Worthington Renaissance Hotel in Fort Worth, Texas on August 8, 2014."&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p&gt;BARRINGTON, N.H. &amp;mdash; When it comes to the weather on the campaign trail here, it would be easy to compare Texans &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/rick-perry/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Rick Perry&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ted-cruz/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Ted Cruz&lt;/a&gt; to fish out of water. Except there is no water in New Hampshire these days &amp;mdash; only ice.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;On Thursday and Friday, the former governor took on subzero temperatures to work the state&amp;rsquo;s northern regions, while the U.S. senator&amp;rsquo;s team drove through a treacherous snowstorm in his Granite State travels on Sunday.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The message to Republican voters in New Hampshire: The likely presidential candidates are determined to brave the elements to win this state&amp;rsquo;s primary next year, though they are taking different paths. While Cruz&amp;rsquo;s aim is&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/15/cruz-campaigns-new-hampshire/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;to gin up Tea Party enthusiasm,&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;Perry has been &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/14/perry-flies-under-radar-new-hampshire/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;courting voters at small gatherings.&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Because serious Republican candidates aren&amp;rsquo;t expected to have a shortage of funds to keep a campaign afloat past the Iowa caucuses, it&amp;rsquo;s not altogether unreasonable to expect the New Hampshire field to have 10 well-funded candidates. As a result, neither Perry, Cruz nor any other contender would have to post a huge percentage to win the state.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;In appearances over the last week in New Hampshire, Cruz and Perry were on the charm offensive.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;On the stump, Cruz is developing a reputation as a humorist. It's a stark contrast to his image as a Senate floor provocateur.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;On Sunday afternoon in Barrington and Lincoln, Cruz told charming stories about his two young daughters, often quoting 6-year-old Caroline, a child he jokingly describes as a &amp;ldquo;rascal.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Tales of Caroline&amp;rsquo;s political commentary &amp;mdash;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/15/cruz-campaigns-new-hampshire/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;she says that if her dad were to win a presidential election&lt;/a&gt;, their dog would finally get a backyard to relieve itself in &amp;mdash; are juxtaposed with Scripture and Shakespeare.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;"The White House threw a temper tantrum," he said in Lincoln of the president's reaction to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent address to Congress. "The president refused to meet the prime minister. In fact, the president said he didn't even watch the speech."&lt;strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;"I've got to say, Heidi and I have a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old. I'm kind of familiar with the strategy of 'I can't hear you!'" he added.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;A minute later, he was quoting Hamlet. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;On the controversial letter he and 46 other Republican senators wrote to the leader of Iran, Cruz said in Lincoln that "the hysterical reaction from the president and Democrats invokes the words of Shakespeare &amp;mdash; 'Methinks she doth protest too much.'"&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Besides Obama, his jokes target a cast of federal government characters, including Attorney General Eric Holder, former IRS official Lois Lerner and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;"Ready for Hillary has now announced their new director of email security," Cruz said Sunday night in Lincoln. "Lois Lerner now has a job."&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Lerner's&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/lois-lerner-irs-emails-113124.html"&gt;office emails were thought to be lost&lt;/a&gt; while the former IRS official was under fire from conservative groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;And the speeches were resonating with plenty in the audience.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;I thought he was so genuine and so inspirational and so brilliant.&amp;nbsp;Plus, he&amp;rsquo;s a bit of a comedian, which helps,&amp;rdquo; June Pinkham, a registered independent and accountant, said on Sunday after Cruz's Barrington event.&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Perry&amp;rsquo;s New Hampshire appearances have included less humor but a lot of one-on-one interaction. He often calls crowd members by the first names on their name tags, and he holds direct eye contact with someone in the crowd. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;In a Belmont&amp;nbsp;gun shop on Friday night, he excitedly used his iPhone to show off a new piece of firearms merchandise to a potential supporter. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Both Perry and Cruz frequently criticize President Obama and compare him to former President Jimmy Carter. But beyond that, the tone diverges.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt;Cruz goes for the jugular, repeatedly depicting Obama as "the most lawless president this country has ever seen."&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Perry&amp;rsquo;s just as critical of Obama, but his criticism hasn't been as harsh.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The Perry style here has been to describe an Obama policy he views as problematic and then offer his remedy. His harshest means of criticism of the president comes in the form of an&amp;nbsp;eye-roll.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt;Perry's method &amp;mdash; chasing down practically every voter in the state in small, personal settings &amp;mdash; is a proven method that launched Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to the 2008 GOP nomination. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt;There is no clear precedent for the Cruz grassroots strategy, but there is logic to it.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;In 2011, there was a strong enough band of Tea Party activists in the state that&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/us/politics/26kimball.html"&gt;they were able to take over the state party.&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;Their stay in power did not last long. But their rise showed that if Cruz could channel that energy against a crowded field, it might be enough to help him win or place well enough to push on to other primary states.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;But he&amp;rsquo;s not just speaking to the grassroots.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;On Monday morning, Cruz shelved the punches and delivered an economic policy lecture to Republican business leaders at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The speech was well-received by the audience &amp;ndash; which was not dominated by Tea Party activists who are regulars at other addresses.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;I thought he made some very good points,&amp;rdquo; said Joanne Casino, a health insurance company employee who identified herself as a Democrat. &amp;ldquo;I like his focus on domestic economics.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The fact that Cruz tailored his remarks to the audience indicated he learned a lesson last week from a speech to a firefighters union in Washington, &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/10/cruz-shot-clinton-greeted-grumbles/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;where a joke about Clinton drew grumbles&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;If there&amp;rsquo;s anyone who knows about learning from the past, it&amp;rsquo;s Perry.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;He is the first to concede he ran a terrible campaign in 2011, and he insists he is a better contender this time, relying on his strength of retail politics. Perry has been tireless on the stump, making at least nine campaign stops during his two days last week in New Hampshire.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Does one method work better than the other?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;New Hampshire political insiders say any candidate needs to maintain a healthy balance between the motivating speech and adept retail politicking.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Robert Jursik, a Republican voter who had attended recent Perry and Cruz events, saw distinct differences and advantages for each candidate.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;After the excitement of a Cruz rally in Barrington died down, Jursik offered his perspective on the contrast in energy and presentations.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;I think here what you&amp;rsquo;re seeing is a lot of Tea Party electricity,&amp;rdquo; he said of the people attending. &amp;ldquo;[These are] people who saw Ted on TV and feel a connection to him personally.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;They may not feel the same connection with Perry, but I think you have to respect the resume,&amp;rdquo; he said. &amp;ldquo;With Rick Perry, you&amp;rsquo;re talking resume.&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; </description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Abby Livingston</dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2015 17:00:34 -0500</pubDate><guid>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/16/perry-and-cruz-deploy-differing-styles-new-hampshi/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</guid></item><item><title>Texas Senate Approves Open Carry of Handguns </title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/16/texas-senate-considers-key-gun-bill/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</link><description> &lt;div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"&gt; &lt;a href="/2015/03/16/texas-senate-considers-key-gun-bill/"&gt; &lt;img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/2015/02/12/UP9A0917_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt="Jason Orsek with Come and Take it America wears a cloth gun holder with a photo of a gun imprinted on it at the Texas Capitol on Feb. 12, 2015, when the Senate Committee on State Affairs heard testimony on gun-related bills."&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout.&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;A bill lifting some of the state's restrictions on handguns cleared the Texas Senate along a party line vote of 20 to 11&amp;nbsp;Monday.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=84R&amp;amp;Bill=SB17"&gt;Senate Bill 17&lt;/a&gt;, from state Sen.&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/craig-estes/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Craig Estes&lt;/a&gt;, R-Wichita Falls, would allow concealed weapons permit holders to carry holstered handguns openly. It is the first&amp;nbsp;measure to come to the Senate floor not related to Gov.&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/greg-abbott/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Greg Abbott&lt;/a&gt;'s emergency items&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;ldquo;In other states that have taken this step &amp;hellip; it&amp;rsquo;s been deemed pretty much a non-event,&amp;rdquo; Estes told his colleagues as he introduced the legislation. &amp;ldquo;We have searched really hard far and wide for problems, and we haven&amp;rsquo;t found any.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;After the upper chamber takes a final vote on the measure, it will head to the House.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;State law currently allows the open carrying of long guns like rifles and shotguns. Handguns may only be carried in a concealed fashion by those who obtain a license.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;During a four-hour debate, lawmakers in the upper chamber considered almost two-dozen amendments to the bill. Most were offered by Democrats &amp;mdash;&amp;nbsp;who made various attempts to soften the bill including calling for increasing training, background checks, and other licensing requirements to obtain a handgun &amp;mdash;&amp;nbsp;and almost all failed along straight party lines.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;State Sen.&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/john-whitmire/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;John Whitmire&lt;/a&gt;, D-Houston, came close to shouting as he argued in favor of an amendment exempting the Capitol complex from open carry if it passes.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Relating his experiences dealing with angry or mentally ill individuals before his committee, Whitmire said it would now be easy for such a person to grab handgun out of a holster to use it to attack bystanders.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;It&amp;rsquo;s dead wrong&amp;hellip;to say there&amp;rsquo;s not disturbed people in this building,&amp;rdquo; said Whitmire, who chairs the Criminal Justice committee. &amp;ldquo;It&amp;rsquo;s not if it&amp;rsquo;s going to happen it&amp;rsquo;s when it&amp;rsquo;s going to happen, and you know it and I know it.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Estes called such a circumstance &amp;ldquo;far-fetched.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Democrats also argued that the change would increase risk to police officers responding to the scene of the crime, who might now be faced with several people with firearms and have no way to determine the bad actors.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;Have you thought about what dangers you&amp;rsquo;re fixing to expose on law enforcement?&amp;rdquo; asked Whitmire during the debate, noting the widespread opposition to such a law from the state&amp;rsquo;s police associations.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;SB 17 is among a slate of high-profile gun bills up for consideration this session. So far it is one of two that&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/02/12/gun-hearing/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;have made it out of committee&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;The other is&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.texastribune.org/admin/stories/story/83575/pitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=84R&amp;amp;Bill=SB11&amp;amp;utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Senate Bill 11&lt;/a&gt;, which would allow handgun license holders to carry their firearms on college campuses.&amp;nbsp;Both bills passed along party lines 7 to 2, only opposed by the panel's Democrats.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Though all 20 Senate Republicans supported Estes&amp;rsquo; proposal, at least one did so with reservations.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;State Sen. Don Huffines, R-Dallas, rose before the chamber took a vote to say Estes' bill did not go far enough in restoring Second Amendment rights.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;I will vote for SB 17 but I do so with a very heavy heart,&amp;rdquo; said Huffines, who described the merits of&amp;nbsp;so-called &amp;ldquo;constitutional carry&amp;rdquo; legislation.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/01/28/texas-open-carry-legislation-not-quite-dead/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Favored by&amp;nbsp;vocal factions&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;within the gun rights movement, constitutional carry bills would repeal handgun permitting rules altogether. It has yet to receive committee hearings in either chamber.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;A House panel is set to consider two gun bills &amp;mdash; one permitting open carry with a license and another allowing concealed carry on college campuses &amp;mdash;&amp;nbsp;Tuesday&amp;nbsp;morning.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; </description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Morgan Smith</dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2015 14:43:47 -0500</pubDate><guid>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/16/texas-senate-considers-key-gun-bill/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</guid></item><item><title>Sanctuary Cities Bill Back in Play in Senate </title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/16/sanctuary-cities-bill-back-play-capitol/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</link><description> &lt;div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"&gt; &lt;a href="/2015/03/16/sanctuary-cities-bill-back-play-capitol/"&gt; &lt;img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/2015/03/16/UP9A3775_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt="Sen. Charles Perry during a March 16th, 2015 Senate Subcommittee on border security"&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;sub&gt;Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect further testimony.&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Tragic stories of lives lost shared billing Monday with concerns about racial profiling and damage to the state&amp;rsquo;s economy when a Texas Senate subcommittee heard testimony on so-called sanctuary cities legislation.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Senate Bill 185, by state Sen. &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/charles-perry/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Charles Perry&lt;/a&gt;, R-Lubbock, places back in the spotlight 2011&amp;rsquo;s controversial proposal that seeks to stop municipalities or other local governments from adopting policies that forbid local peace officers from enforcing federal immigration laws.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;This is not an anti-immigration bill &amp;mdash; it&amp;rsquo;s a rule-of-law bill,&amp;rdquo; Perry said to members of the Veteran Affairs and Military Installations Subcommittee on Border Security.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The legislation would cut off state funding for governments that adopt the policies. Under the proposal, an officer would be able to ask the immigration status of any person arrested or detained.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;After hearing testimony until late evening, the subcommittee left Perry&amp;rsquo;s bill pending for further discussion.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;As the matter moves to the full committee and the full chamber, the debate will likely continue to focus, in part, on which cities will be affected the greatest if the legislation passes. That&amp;rsquo;s due to the difficulty in defining exactly what a &amp;ldquo;sanctuary city&amp;rdquo; is.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;When asked how many cities in Texas have sanctuary policies, Perry spokesman Travis McCormack said in an email that because &amp;ldquo;there is no legal definition of a sanctuary city, a formal list is unavailable.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;But he pointed to the Bexar County Democratic Party&amp;rsquo;s recent newsletter stating that San Antonio is not a sanctuary city.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;It may surprise you, but San Antonio is the largest city in America that is not a Sanctuary City,&amp;rdquo; the letter reads. &amp;ldquo;Major cities in Texas (Austin, Dallas, El Paso, and Houston) have already adopted sanctuary city policies. And the reasoning is the same: immigration enforcement is the responsibility of the federal government.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;There is no House companion bill to Perry's Senate effort.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Opponents of the measure, including Senate Democrats, immediately asked Perry if the bill&amp;rsquo;s broad language would open the door to racial profiling. Those concerns come despite language in &lt;a href="http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/84R/billtext/html/SB00185I.htm"&gt;SB 185 &lt;/a&gt;that specifically prohibits an officer from using race or ethnicity as a factor when he or she detains someone for a possible crime.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Perry said the legislation would require that a peace officer have a reason to question someone. While he conceded that racial profiling exists, he said safety takes precedence.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;We can&amp;rsquo;t let that be a paralyzing agent to move forward on the bigger picture. And that&amp;rsquo;s public safety,&amp;rdquo; he said.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Like they did four years ago, opponents said the policy would cripple what they call &amp;ldquo;community policing&amp;rdquo; &amp;mdash; where witnesses to crimes who are key to solving those cases won&amp;rsquo;t come forward for fear they will be harassed, arrested or even deported.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;We talk about unintended consequences all the time,&amp;rdquo; said state Sen. &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/jose-rodriguez/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Jos&amp;eacute; Rodr&amp;iacute;guez&lt;/a&gt;, D-El Paso. &amp;ldquo;There will be less safety because immigrants won&amp;rsquo;t come forward to report crimes. Domestic violence [crimes] comes to mind.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles added, &amp;ldquo;It&amp;rsquo;s going to impact our relationship with our communities that we spent millions in state and federal grants to accomplish.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Wiles added that allowing his deputies to have broad control over immigration enforcement when they are more strictly regulated on other policing duties could erode the command structure of his department.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;But some law officers want the policy change, and argue it will help keep would-be fugitives from fleeing the country.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Chambers County Sheriff &lt;a href="http://www.co.chambers.tx.us/default.aspx?name=sheriff"&gt;Brian Hawthorne&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;said a Mexican national who is wanted in connection with an alleged double-homicide is now on the run in Mexico. The person had been in and out of trouble in Harris County several times and currently faces a capital murder charge.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;We may have two teenage boys who are still alive,&amp;rdquo; he said. &amp;ldquo;The fellow that has fled at the time was a person of interest. After [the police] interviewed him, they fled.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;His testimony was followed by Laura Wilkerson, who said she was representing herself and her son Joshua Wilkerson. He was murdered by an undocumented man from Belize when he was 18.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;I sent my son to school one day and he didn&amp;rsquo;t come home,&amp;rdquo; she said tearfully. &amp;ldquo;My family is broken forever. I&amp;rsquo;ve heard so much talk today about the economy, but my family has suffered.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The man who was arrested and convicted of the murder was in court six months before the homicide on a harassment charge. Had SB 185 been in place, she said, her son would still be alive.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;State Sen. &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/eddie-lucio-jr/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Eddie Lucio Jr.&lt;/a&gt;, D-Brownsville, stressed the bill's potential impact on the state&amp;rsquo;s economy. He cited a 2006 report by the state comptroller&amp;rsquo;s office that estimated deporting the state&amp;rsquo;s undocumented population in 2005 would have meant about $17.7 billion in lost gross domestic product in 2006. He added that if the measure passed, it would be an affront to Mexico, Texas&amp;rsquo; leading trade partner, which could add to a decline in commerce between the two.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Perry wasn&amp;rsquo;t swayed.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;I can find statistics that counter everything that was said,&amp;rdquo; he said. &amp;ldquo;I am not really interested in economic data. It&amp;rsquo;s about the rule of law. There is a process for those that choose to come [legally], and that&amp;rsquo;s been utilized.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Concerns were also raised about whether the bill could be considered unconstitutional because immigration enforcement usually falls under the purview of the federal government. But Perry said the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on that matter in 2012. That year the high court struck down three provisions of Arizona&amp;rsquo;s controversial SB 1070. But it upheld a part of the bill that requires&amp;nbsp;police officers to verify the legal status of people they stop or arrest.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;If it &amp;lsquo;only requires state officers to conduct a status check during the course of an authorized, lawful detention or after a detainee has been released," the opinion states, then "the provision likely would survive.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; </description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Juli谩n Aguilar</dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2015 14:39:50 -0500</pubDate><guid>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/16/sanctuary-cities-bill-back-play-capitol/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</guid></item><item><title>Going "Where the Talent Is," Paul Opens Austin Outpost </title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/16/rand-paul-opens-austin-office-ahead-likely-2016-ru/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</link><description> &lt;div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"&gt; &lt;a href="/2015/03/16/rand-paul-opens-austin-office-ahead-likely-2016-ru/"&gt; &lt;img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/2015/03/16/UP9A3618_mHpSfCb_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt="U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks at the opening of his Austin office at downtown startup incubator incubator Capital Factory on March 16, 2015."&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;Laying down a marker in a state with a burgeoning tech community &amp;mdash; and no shortage of political ambition &amp;mdash; U.S. Sen. Rand Paul on Monday opened an Austin outpost of his likely 2016 presidential campaign, hailing it as proof of his forward-thinking appeal to nontraditional Republican voters.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="p1"&gt;"People keep asking, 'Why are you in Texas and not in New Hampshire?'" the Kentucky Republican said, nodding to the influx of his potential presidential rivals this past weekend into the Granite State. "Well, because I think if you want talent, you've got to go where the talent is."&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="p1"&gt;Housed in downtown startup incubator Capital Factory, the outpost for now will be staffed by Vincent Harris, Paul's chief digital strategist, and Rachel Kania, senior field and technology strategist. Both are working for RANDPAC, the political action committee that has been laying the groundwork for Paul's 2016 run, which he is expected to announce within the next few weeks.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="p1"&gt;Paul, who was raised in Texas and attended Baylor University, touted the office as an early investment in an area where his party lagged during the last presidential race. He said the GOP did "too little too late" to counter President Obama's tech-friendly campaign, and the office sends the signal "we plan on getting organized at an early date, having an office here and collecting the best minds."&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="p1"&gt;However, Paul was quick to caution technology is "no magic cure" for a winning campaign. To be effective, he stressed it has to be paired with a message that resonates, namely the limited-government gospel he's been spreading across Austin amid its South by Southwest festival.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="p1"&gt;"Technology can help us find the people who might consider voting if they actually had something to believe in," Paul said.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="p1"&gt;The office opening also was an opportunity for Paul to show off his ability to assemble top-flight political talent in a state where allegiances are mixed among several potential candidates. Harris and Kania both worked for U.S. Sen.&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ted-cruz/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Ted Cruz&lt;/a&gt;'s underdog bid for the U.S. Senate, and their hires bookended another notable get by Paul, former Texas GOP chief Steve Munisteri.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="p1"&gt;Asked Sunday why he thought Harris and Kania joined his nascent campaign &amp;mdash; as opposed to, say, that of Cruz &amp;mdash; Paul told&amp;nbsp;The Texas Tribune&amp;nbsp;his staffers can speak for themselves, but his team has "shown that we really are tech-friendly, we're one of the leading proponents of [National Security Agency]&amp;nbsp;reform and of privacy, and I think maybe people gravitate to us for that reason."&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;Capital Factory officials have emphasized the outpost is not a campaign headquarters but a working space for Paul's Austin-based tech team. Eugene Sepulveda, Capital Factory's director of government affairs, said Monday the venture is "about civic entrepreneurship, not about campaigning."&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;"I've gotten a lot of questions from our community about it," Joshua Baer, executive director of Capital Factory, told reporters Saturday after a reception for tech executives at the Governor's Mansion. "What's really significant for me and for the community is they're making the effort to outreach to the tech community. ... We want to be a part of that, we want to be involved, we want to do it in a way that's open and that's nonpartisan and that is inclusive."&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt;After meeting Paul on Monday, Jeff Cardenas and Joseph Santori &amp;mdash; co-founders of voter engagement app ThinkVoting &amp;mdash; said they had no problem with Paul's team setting up shop at Capital Factory, welcoming any effort to meld politics and technology, Democratic or Republican.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;"Everyone is wanting to use technology to push the democratic process forward, and it's a sign of the times," Cardenas said, explaining that technology seems to have revolutionized every area of life except the act of getting elected.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;"Politics," Santori added, "is the final frontier for technology."&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;It was a mantra Paul sought to embrace as he toured Capital Factory, patiently listening to workers explain their startups and posing for photos with members of the audience. Two of them asked if he could star in a selfie with them for Snapchat,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;a photo-sharing app Paul has embraced and used to document his trip to Austin. The senator happily obliged.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;Disclosure: Eugene Sepulveda is a donor to The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/support-us/donors-and-members/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt; </description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Patrick Svitek</dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2015 12:36:25 -0500</pubDate><guid>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/16/rand-paul-opens-austin-office-ahead-likely-2016-ru/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</guid></item><item><title>Analysis: When a Disclosure Report Doesn't Do Much Disclosing </title><link>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/16/analysis-when-disclosure-no-disclosure-all/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</link><description> &lt;div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"&gt; &lt;a href="/2015/03/16/analysis-when-disclosure-no-disclosure-all/"&gt; &lt;img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/2015/02/10/IMG_9756_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt=""&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 1.35;"&gt;Lobbyists say you can&amp;rsquo;t expect a legislator to change a vote based on a nice meal or even a good seat at a concert or a ball game.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;That&amp;rsquo;s probably true most of the time.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;But lobbyists are salespeople hired to persuade decision-makers in the Legislature and in the agencies of the executive branch. They are not necessarily interested in feeding and watering those officials, but in having enough time together to make a case for whatever notion they&amp;rsquo;re pushing.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The dinners, drinks and entertainment make the face time a little more pleasant, but it is the face time &amp;mdash; not the steaks and bourbon &amp;mdash; that make the spending worthwhile from the lobbyists&amp;rsquo; standpoint.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;You&amp;rsquo;re building a relationship that 26 million people don&amp;rsquo;t have,&amp;rdquo; says Jim Clancy, an attorney and a member of the Texas Ethics Commission.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Which is why it is relatively meaningless to have a lobby reporting law that does not attach the name of the beneficiaries to the benefits.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;If it&amp;rsquo;s disclosure, then disclose,&amp;rdquo; Clancy says.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;State law requires disclosure, but with loopholes that almost always protect officeholders and their employees from accountability and transparency.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Lobbyists don&amp;rsquo;t have to report the names of the legislators they are entertaining unless the expenditures go over $114 per day. Austin can be an expensive venue for fine diners, but $114 is plenty. If it&amp;rsquo;s not, multiple lobbyists can split the tab, and as long as no single lobbyist spends more than $114 on a particular lawmaker, the freeloader&amp;rsquo;s name doesn&amp;rsquo;t go in the reports.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Clancy cites an analysis prepared for commissioners that shows how often the lobby&amp;rsquo;s food and beverage reports named the legislators and employees being entertained. Over the last decade, the detailed reports never accounted for even 5 percent of total spending.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Once again, for emphasis: More than 95 percent of the money spent by lobbyists during the last decade on food and beverages for state officials and their employees was reported &amp;mdash; legally &amp;mdash; without naming the recipients of those repasts.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;And the amounts spent are significant, according to the commission&amp;rsquo;s online database of lobby reports. Over the last two years, lobbyists reporting spending $4.7 million on food and beverage for state officials and employees and their relatives and another $846,000 on entertainment such as concerts and games. Interestingly, they spent $2.5 million on legislative branch employees. By comparison, lobbyists spent less than $400,000 on state senators, $1.5 million on state representatives, and $1.6 million at events where all legislators were invited.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Lawmakers have filed several bills to change the reporting requirements, if not the spending. Some would cut to $50 the amount that can be spent before the beneficiaries have to be named. At least one bill, by Sen. &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/kirk-watson/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Kirk Watson&lt;/a&gt;, D-Austin, would make that an absolute limit &amp;mdash;&amp;nbsp;one that would apply whether the money came from one lobbyist or several. Gov. &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/greg-abbott/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;Greg Abbott&lt;/a&gt; said during his &lt;a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/02/17/abbott-lists-5-emergency-items-session/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"&gt;State of the State&lt;/a&gt; speech last month that lawmakers should dedicate this legislative session to ethics reform. Several lawmakers have proposed legislation in answer to his call.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Lobbyists say the things they buy are not favors to be returned &amp;mdash; that Texas legislators won&amp;rsquo;t change their votes for a meal or a drink. That doesn&amp;rsquo;t mean it is an empty gesture.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;What does it get the lobbyist? A return phone call,&amp;rdquo; Clancy says.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;That&amp;rsquo;s the part that never gets disclosed. It&amp;rsquo;s one thing to know that a particular lobbyist paid for entertainment or a meal at a particular place at a particular time, but none of that reveals anything about whether the spending did the lobbyists or their clients any good. To know that, you have to know whom they were entertaining and then watch that beneficiary&amp;rsquo;s votes, debates and other actions.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The only thing that matters goes undisclosed more than 95 percent of the time.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Lawmakers are barred from taking campaign contributions during legislative sessions, for fear that those transactions might influence votes. Clancy shakes his head about that.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;Texas law prevents them from taking money during a session from the people who elected them,&amp;rdquo; he says, &amp;ldquo;But we allow them to take benefits during a session from people who are paid to influence them.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;!--&lt;!-- Begin table embed --&gt;--&gt; &lt;div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-size: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"&gt;Lobby Spending&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; font-size: 13px; color: #666666;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;table class="data basic"&gt; &lt;thead&gt; &lt;tr&gt;&lt;th&gt;Who did they spend it on?&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th style="text-align: right;"&gt;Total&lt;/th&gt;&lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/thead&gt; &lt;tbody&gt; &lt;tr class="odd"&gt; &lt;td&gt;Senators&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="text-align: right;"&gt;$396,314.34&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr class="even"&gt; &lt;td&gt;Representatives&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="text-align: right;"&gt;$1,531,748.08&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr class="odd"&gt; &lt;td&gt;Other elected/appointed state officers&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="text-align: right;"&gt;$83,144.16&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr class="even"&gt; &lt;td&gt;Legislative branch employees&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="text-align: right;"&gt;$2,476,216.08&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr class="odd"&gt; &lt;td&gt;Executive agency employees&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="text-align: right;"&gt;$475,318.33&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr class="even"&gt; &lt;td&gt;Immediate family of legislative and executive branch members&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="text-align: right;"&gt;$441,781.75&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr class="odd"&gt; &lt;td&gt;All legislators invited&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="text-align: right;"&gt;$1,602,818.50&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr class="even"&gt; &lt;td&gt;Guests&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="text-align: right;"&gt;$446,508.45&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr class="odd"&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Total&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="text-align: right;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;$7,453,849.69&lt;/strong&gt;*&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr class="even"&gt; &lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="text-align: right;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr class="odd"&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What did they spend it on?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="text-align: right;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Total&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr class="even"&gt; &lt;td&gt;Transportation and lodging&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="text-align: right;"&gt;$264,115.21&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr class="odd"&gt; &lt;td&gt;Food and Beverage&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="text-align: right;"&gt;$4,703,298.96&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr class="even"&gt; &lt;td&gt;Entertainment&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="text-align: right;"&gt;$846,001.04&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr class="odd"&gt; &lt;td&gt;Gifts&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="text-align: right;"&gt;$564,508.92&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr class="even"&gt; &lt;td&gt;Awards &amp;amp; Mementos&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="text-align: right;"&gt;$38,964.92&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr class="odd"&gt; &lt;td&gt;Political chairities &amp;amp; fundraisers&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="text-align: right;"&gt;$136,864.75&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr class="even"&gt; &lt;td&gt;Mass media communications&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="text-align: right;"&gt;$477,689.86&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;tr class="odd"&gt; &lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td style="text-align: right;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;$7,031,443.66&lt;/strong&gt;*&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/tbody&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;!--&lt;!-- End table embed --&gt;--&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;small&gt;* Difference in totals reflects different queries of the &lt;a href="http://webdev.ethics.state.tx.us/search/activity_search.cfm"&gt;online TEC database&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="text-align: right;"&gt;&lt;small&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.ethics.state.tx.us"&gt;Texas Ethics Commission&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/p&gt; </description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Ross Ramsey</dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2015 06:00:00 -0500</pubDate><guid>http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/16/analysis-when-disclosure-no-disclosure-all/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections</guid></item></channel></rss>