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"$337 billion, two-year budget gets Texas House approval,” Texas Tribune's Jasper Scherer, Kayla Guo and Ayden Runnels — “The Texas House approved a roughly $337 billion two-year spending plan early Friday, putting billions toward teacher pay, border security and property tax cuts, after more than 13 hours of debate that saw hundreds of amendments — from Democrats and hardline conservatives alike — meet their demise.
The House budget largely aligns with a version the Senate passed in March [ [link removed] ], though lawmakers made several changes on the floor that will have to be ironed out behind closed doors with their Senate counterparts. The biggest amendment of the day, from Rep. Mary González, D-Clint, eliminated funding for the Texas Lottery Commission and for economic development and tourism in the governor’s office, to the tune of more than $1 billion. Both remain funded in the Senate’s latest budget draft [ [link removed] ].
The House’s proposal, approved on a 118 to 26 vote, would spend around $154 billion in general revenue, Texas’ main source of taxpayer funds used to pay for core services. The bulk of general revenue spending would go toward education, with large buckets of funding also dedicated to health and human services and public safety agencies.
Both chambers’ spending plans leave about $40 billion in general revenue on the table, coming in well under the $195 billion Comptroller Glenn Hegar projected [ [link removed] ] lawmakers will have at their disposal. But the Legislature cannot approach that number unless both chambers agree to bust a constitutional spending limit [ [link removed] ], a virtual nonstarter at the GOP-controlled Capitol.
Rep. Greg Bonnen, a Friendswood Republican who is the House’s lead budget writer, kicked off Thursday’s floor debate by emphasizing the budget’s spending restraint — informed by some 119 hours of public meetings and testimony before the House Appropriations Committee, which he chairs.
“I am confident that the amendments that we will consider today and the legislation that this chamber will debate in the coming weeks will produce a final budget that is fiscally conservative and represents the priorities of this state,” Bonnen said.
The dissenting votes included freshman Rep. Mike Olcott, R-Fort Worth, who said in a floor speech that he opposed the bill because it did not include enough money for property tax relief. Across the aisle, Democratic Reps. John Bryant and Gina Hinojosa voted against the bill over its funding for school vouchers, which Bryant called a ”dagger to the heart of our public school system” in a floor speech.
In all, 19 Republicans and seven Democrats opposed the budget.
House lawmakers filed close to 400 budget amendments, including proposals to zero out the Texas Lottery Commission and shift funding set for a school voucher program toward teacher pay and public schools.
More than 100 of those amendments were effectively killed en masse just before lawmakers began churning through the list, including many of the most contentious proposals. The casualties included efforts to place guardrails on school vouchers and a proposal to zero out funding for a film incentives package prioritized by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Also quashed was an amendment to pay Attorney General Ken Paxton the salary he missed out on while impeached and suspended from office.
Among the amendments that survived the purge was a proposal by Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress, to move $70 million of state Medicaid spending to Thriving Texas Families, the rebrand of the state’s Alternatives to Abortion program that funds anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers. The centers provide services like parenting classes and counseling.
The House approved Oliverson’s amendment, continuing the Legislature’s recent trend of ramping up funding for the program in the wake of the state’s near-total abortion ban. The lower chamber also approved an amendment in 2023 to reroute millions from Medicaid client services to the anti-abortion program.
Democrats, outnumbered 88 to 62 in the House, saw a number of their wish list items shot down throughout the day, and even before debate began. Those included perennial efforts to expand Medicaid [ [link removed] ] and boost public school funding, including by shifting over the entire budget for school vouchers. Also killed were proposals to track the impact of tariffs and federal funding freezes imposed by the Trump administration and an effort to expand access to broadband services in rural areas.
Rep. Jessica González of Dallas notched a rare Democratic win, securing approval, 100 to 42, for an amendment directing [ [link removed] ] the Department of Public Safety to conduct a study of religious leaders in Texas who have been “accused, investigated, charged or convicted of any offense involving the abuse of a child.” The House unanimously passed [ [link removed] ] legislation earlier this week to bar the use of nondisclosure agreements in child sexual abuse cases.
In the end, more than 300 amendments were withdrawn or swept into Article XI, the area where measures are often sent to die if they lack enough floor support.
Another eight were voted down by a majority vote. Just 25 were approved — 18 by Republicans and seven by Democrats.
None of those amendments are guaranteed to stay in the final budget plan, which will be hammered out in private negotiations between a conference committee of members from the House and Senate. After that, each full chamber will have to approve the final version before it can be sent to the governor’s desk — where items can also be struck down by the veto pen." Texas Tribune [ [link removed] ]
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"Bill aimed at Houston would upend how bail is set in much of Texas,” Houston Chronicle's Neena Satija — “Texas lawmakers are pushing for major changes in how cash bail is set, and they have a familiar target: Harris County.
At issue is who decides how much money someone must pay in order to get out of jail as their case winds through the courts. Today, a group of more than a dozen appointed officials, called “criminal law hearing officers [ [link removed] ],” or magistrates, make the vast majority of those decisions initially in Harris County.
Under Senate Bill 9 [ [link removed] ], they would no longer be allowed to do so for people charged with a variety of violent offenses, as well as for those who pick up a new felony charge while on probation or parole.
Joan Huffman, a Republican state senator from Houston who wrote the legislation, said magistrates who don't answer directly to voters shouldn’t be setting bail in such cases; the locally elected judge who will ultimately preside over the person’s criminal court case should do it.
“This change ensures that the most important bail decisions are made by judges, who are elected officials and should be held accountable by their constituents,” said Huffman, herself a former felony judge, while presenting the bill during a Senate committee hearing in February.
The proposal from Huffman is the latest in a string of attempts [ [link removed] ] by Republican lawmakers and crime victim advocates to crack down on bail-setting [ [link removed] ] — especially in the Houston region, where they claim dangerous criminals are getting out of jail too easily while awaiting trial. The bill has already sailed through the state Senate along with a package of other bills [ [link removed] ] declared a priority by Gov. Greg Abbott, all of them designed to make it harder for the accused to be released on bail.
But critics say SB9 would further bog down Harris County’s courts, slowing the administration of justice for everyone and adding more people to an already-overcrowded jail, where five people have died this year [ [link removed] ].
“It is really going to wreak havoc on the system. It’s going to crowd jails; it’s going to cause dockets to balloon,” said Amanda Peters a former Harris County prosecutor who is now a professor at South Texas College of Law Houston. She added that it’s “ironic” for Huffman, who would have also relied on appointed magistrates to set bail when she served as a judge, to champion the bill.
Huffman’s office did not respond to requests for comment. A fiscal note attached to her legislation says that it could “increase detention­-related costs” [ [link removed] ] for local governments, but mentions no potential added costs to the courts.
If signed into law, its impact would extend far beyond Houston. For decades, state law has allowed judges in many other counties, including Bexar and Tarrant, to alleviate their growing workloads by relying on appointed officials — sometimes called “Chapter 54 magistrates” because their authority comes from that section of the state’s judicial code — to handle matters like setting bail.
Without that relief valve, judges would have to take on significantly more work. They are stretched especially thin in Houston, where their numbers have barely budged over the years as the population has grown significantly. The state recently added three new felony courts [ [link removed] ] in Harris County, but the years-long backlog of criminal cases is still a major issue [ [link removed] ].
SB9 would prohibit Chapter 54 magistrates from setting bail for people accused of capital murder, murder and aggravated assault, among other crimes.
Melissa Morris, who has been a felony judge in Harris County since 2022, noted that while aggravated assaults are serious offenses, they don’t have to involve a gun or serious bodily injury.
Morris says she’s seen cases involving bottles, Stanley cups and frying pans.
Just last month, nearly 400 felony aggravated assault cases were filed in Harris County, according to a search of the district clerk’s website.
“Those are the cases we see so many times that I know that will start to clog up the docket,” she said.
Morris also emphasized she periodically reviews the bail for everyone on her docket during the life of their court case, as do all other Harris County judges.
Andy Kahan, the director of victim services and advocacy for Crime Stoppers of Houston who has long been a leading advocate for restricting bail, told lawmakers that the stakes are too high to let unelected officials set the initial bail amount so often. At the Senate committee hearing, he mentioned the case of one man accused of murdering a mother [ [link removed] ] in front of her child while out on a cashless bond for felony marijuana possession.
A Chapter 54 magistrate set the bond for the man, who was on parole following an aggravated robbery conviction, court records show. The magistrate would not have that authority anymore under SB9.
“I can give you other examples of magistrates giving (cashless) bonds to felons,” Kahan told lawmakers, adding that the numbers are “astonishing” in Harris County." Texas Tribune [ [link removed] ] ($)
"Texas Senate to consider bill that could reshape how history and race are taught in universities,” AP's Jessica Priest — “Texas senators could vote this week on a bill that would drastically limit how the state’s public universities teach their students about history, race and inequality.
Senate Bill 37 [ [link removed] ] would also create a way to file complaints about universities that higher ed experts say could threaten their funding and create a profound chilling effect.
“I really hope people are paying attention because there’s some pretty high-stakes gambles we’re taking,” said Neal Hutchens, a professor at the University of Kentucky’s College of Education, about the proposed legislation.
Hutchens reviewed SB 37 when it was first filed last month and after its author, Sen. Brandon Creighton, filed an extensive rewrite of the legislation last week that included significant differences from the original version of the bill. The public was not invited to comment on the revamped legislation, which was quickly voted out of the Texas Senate’s K-16 Education Committee last week.
Here are some of the most notable changes to the bill and what they might look like in practice.
Control over curricula
An earlier version of the bill would have required each system’s board of regents to create committees to review curricula every year and ensure courses did “not endorse specific public policies, ideologies or legislation.” Texas professors criticized [ [link removed] ] that provision as being too vague.
“Could teaching about the existence of LGBTQ people in the American past be considered promoting an ‘ideology’ of gender and sexual non-discrimination? There is no end to the topics that could be censored because political leaders consider them to be ideological in nature,” said Lauren Gutterman, who teaches history at the University of Texas at Austin, in written testimony the American Association of University Professors submitted to the committee last month. Gutterman said she was writing in her capacity as a private citizen.
If the current version of SB 37 passes both the Senate and House, the boards would instead screen courses every five years to ensure they “do not distort significant historical events”; they do not teach that one race is superior or bears personal or collective responsibility for the actions committed by other individuals of the same race; and they are not based “on a theory that racism, sexism, oppression, or privilege is inherent in the institutions of the United States or this state or was created to maintain social, political or economic inequalities.”
Hutchens said this language could have been inspired by Florida’s Stop the Woke Act [ [link removed] ] or model legislation provided by conservative nonprofit policy groups that focus on higher education, like the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal in North Carolina.
“I certainly didn’t see this as necessarily addressing the concerns that faculty had raised regarding the original bill,” Hutchens said.
SB 37 would also create a statewide committee that would evaluate which core curricula at public universities are “foundational” and which could be cut. The committee would be formed by three appointees from the governor, two from the lieutenant governor and two from the speaker of the House of Representatives. The bill doesn’t require that any members be students, faculty or university administrators. The commissioner of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board would serve as an ex-officio member.
This committee would share its findings with the universities’ boards of regents by Dec. 1, 2026, and the boards would have to adopt and implement rules based on those findings by 2027.
Tools to report
The original bill would have created a nine-person office to investigate claims that universities have broken state law.
The new version gives that responsibility to an ombudsman within the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. They would investigate compliance with SB 37 as well as laws that put restrictions on free speech activities on campuses and that prohibit university police departments from limiting the enforcement of immigration laws, among others. Notably, it adds that any person can file a report as long as they provide sufficient information to follow up on the claim.
Hutchens worried this could lead to a “tsunami of meritless complaints” or the targeting of individual faculty members.
“It could undercut academic freedom and it could be another reason that you see Texas colleges, universities, the public ones, become not as desirable for people, for that really, really top talent to pursue positions,” he said.
If the ombudsman determines a university is not complying with the law and it does not resolve the issue within 30 days, they could refer it to the Attorney General’s Office, which could sue the university to compel it to comply with the law or recommend to the Legislature that the institution’s state funds be withheld.
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board does not currently have an ombudsman position. Right now, the agency is responsible for reviewing complaints from students [ [link removed] ] related to tuition and fees.
Faculty, hiring limitations
Creighton and other Republicans have previously criticized what they see as faculty’s excessive influence in university decisions that they say should rest with the board of regents.
SB 37 initially proposed only allowing tenured professors to join the faculty bodies that advise university administrators on some curricular and academic issues — known as faculty councils and senates [ [link removed] ]. Creighton struck out that requirement, but added that members who use their position for “personal political advocacy” could be immediately removed.
This comes after Angie Hill Price, the speaker of the faculty senate at Texas A&M University, testified in opposition to SB 37 last month.
“I am very concerned how this bill will impact us because we’re not broken,” she said during her testimony last month.
She added that there is a lot of evidence to show that the faculty senate at the flagship university has contributed to its successes, including being one of the first institutions to top more than $1 billion in research expenditures.
“All this has happened with the faculty senate directly involved with enhancing the curriculum and working with our students to improve their experience both inside and outside the classroom,” Hill Price said.
SB 37 also initially proposed the board of regents should be responsible for hiring anyone in a leadership position. The new version of the bill would allow presidents to hire these individuals, but they must not delegate the responsibility to anyone else and the board can overrule their decisions.
Typically, leadership positions like deans are hired by their universities’ presidents after a search committee composed of faculty, staff and students vets the candidates.
Emphasis on job readiness
The new version of SB 37 also borrows ideas from other pending legislation that aims to phase out degree programs that don’t clearly provide a return on investment for students, who sometimes take on large amounts of debt to complete them.
It would give the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board the power to review and rate programs every five years, and universities would not be able to continue using state money in programs that receive unfavorable ratings or enroll students in them.
The value of a degree has been under renewed scrutiny in recent years as loan debts increase and enrollment decreases at universities across the nation.
Although Texas is not experiencing the latter, lawmakers are right to criticize colleges for not doing more to connect students to careers after graduation, said Josh Wyner, vice president of the Aspen Institute.
But Wyner said Texas should be cautious when making decisions about what programs to target. Students who are pursuing philosophy undergraduate degrees don’t typically become philosophers — they become lawyers and social workers after getting advanced degrees, he said.
“We have to be careful that we don’t legislate out credentials that actually will have labor market value or value to society,” he said." AP [ [link removed] ]
"Texas House panel wants to ban first responders from using drones built in China,” AP's Jessica Priest — “A legislative proposal that would give government entities in Texas five years to phase out drones made in China would "kneecap" first responders and be "a full-blown operational disaster for public safety," several law enforcement and emergency service offices are warning state lawmakers.
Still, a House panel unanimously voted Wednesday to advance House Bill 41 [ [link removed] ] to the full chamber for consideration, but with the promise from the author that fixes are in the works to address critics' concerns.
"I will be working with law enforcement to work on some kinks," Rep. Cole Hefner, R-Mount Pleasant, told the House Homeland Security, Public Safety and Veterans Affairs Committee.
Hefner said he filed the bill because the Chinese-made pilotless aircraft used for search and rescue, aerial photography and package delivery have the ability to collect and transmit data that could pose serious security threats to Texas and the nation.
Several witnesses, however, said the drones made by China-based firm DJI [ [link removed] ] are far superior to any made in the United States and that five years would be too short a window for their existing fleets to be phased out and replaced by U.S.-made products of inferior quality. Additionally, multiple witnesses said, U.S.-made software is added to the drones to prevent data transmission back to China.
The bill "sounds tough on security, but ends up kneecapping those who keep us safe — our first responders," police officer Anthony Chelette of the Dallas suburb of Irving told the panel at a hearing in early April. "The real risk is stripping firefighters, police and search-and-rescue teams of the tools they rely on every day."
Hefner, who chairs the Homeland Security Committee, did not give a timetable for when he thinks his bill will be ready for a House floor vote, but he told the American-Statesman that he believes the finished version will address the concerns aired during the hearing.
Austin police Sgt. Rafael Rosales, who didn't attend the committee hearing but is monitoring HB 41, told the Statesman that his department uses DJI drones and that they have become vital to day-to-day operations.
This month, Rosales said, a low-flying drone was used to resolve what might have been a violent incident at a hotel near downtown involving a barricaded suspect while officers tried to serve a search warrant.
"We were able to utilize our drones — one, to help identify where the suspect was at in the room. Two, to clear the area of any potential other hazards. And three, to provide the officers the ability to use distance, cover and shielding to peacefully negotiate that situation," Rosales said.
The U.S. National Defense Authorization Act [ [link removed] ], which won congressional approval in December, calls for a risk assessment on drones manufactured in China. The act “mandates that within one year of enactment, a designated national security agency must evaluate whether communications and video surveillance equipment from these manufacturers pose an 'unacceptable risk'" to national security.
Adam Welsh, DJI’s head of global policy, in a letter to last month to several high-ranking federal officials — including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — said the company's products pose no danger to U.S. interests.
“DJI is confident that its products can withstand your strictest scrutiny," Welsh said in his March 3 letter [ [link removed] ]. "We are confident not only because we have nothing to hide, but because independent firms and other U.S. government agencies have repeatedly validated and confirmed that DJI’s products are secure.”
DJI has about 80% of the U.S. drone market [ [link removed] ], according to industry analysts. Dallas police Lt. Jonathan Blanchard told the Homeland Security panel that his agency has 140 drones valued collectively at more than $1 million. The city looks for opportunities to support U.S. companies, but it has not found a company that can meet all its needs, he said.
State Rep. AJ Louderback, R-Victoria, said more should be done to promote domestic drone production, given that their use is widespread and growing.
"American manufacturing has deferred to China," Louderback said during the committee hearing. "We're going to get away from China — that should be obvious. So they're going away. We need time built in for American manufacturing, American ingenuity, to produce and manufacture in the quantities that you need to be functional."" AAS [ [link removed] ] ($)
"Texas House resoundingly rejects effort to remove Speaker Dustin Burrows,” KVUE's Daniel Perrault — “In a rare move on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives Wednesday morning, a Republican state lawmaker tried to remove the Republican House Speaker.
House members delivered a smackdown by roundly rejecting Rep. Brian Harrison's (R-Midlothian) motion. Some even cheered as the vote total was read out.
The moment was the culmination of weeks of frustration by Harrison.
Harrison filed the motion to vacate after a tense exchange with Speaker Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) in the chamber last week.
After Harrison moved to vacate the chair, Burrows told him he was "not recognized, even on April Fools Day."
Burrows told Harrison a "question of privilege must be raised by resolution" and directed him to file a resolution.
"I would invite every member who opposes corruption to sign the motion to vacate you," Harrison responded.
Harrison formally filed that motion on Tuesday night.
In recent weeks, Harrison has been vocal, both in the chamber and online, about the House's slow passage of bills and the speaker's "tyrannical" actions.
"We have a well-deserved reputation for a lot of our history, for leading the nation in the world, in freedom and in individual liberty, but for far too long, we have been simply coasting on that reputation," Harrison said.
Harrison's motion was not met with much support on the House floor.
At one point, as he made the case for why lawmakers should remove Burrows as Speaker, Harrison said he is "not here to fight for Brian Harrison's interests" and "you're not here to fight for your own interests." That was met by laughter from Harrison's fellow lawmakers.
"Y'all can laugh, you can scoff," Harrison said. "Let them laugh, let them hiss, let them scoff."
Amid the jeers and hisses, Harrison acknowledged he is "well aware" that he is in "the minority in this body."
Harrison said Burrows has "betrayed the voters of Texas" and is pushing policies he doesn't believe are conservative enough.
"They want us to cut spending. They want to take power away from the unelected bureaucrats who are regulating our economy into the dirt. They want us to cut their taxes, but they understand we can't cut them until we cut government," Harrison said. "Not one bill that this speaker has prioritized cuts government in any way, shape or form. And if we do not change trajectory right now with what little time we have left, ladies and gentlemen, when we gavel out, 30 million Texans will be less free than when we gaveled in."
Rep. Cody Harris (R-Palestine) spoke against Harrison's resolution and in favor of keeping Burrows as House Speaker. He was given ten minutes, but it only took exactly 13 seconds.
"What we're doing with this resolution is wasting the time of the people of the State of Texas," Harris said. "This is a terrible idea."" KVUE [ [link removed] ]
2026
“In the Texas GOP Senate primary, Paxton and Cornyn trade early attacks,” AP's Nadia Lathan and Thomas Beaumont — "A supercharged U.S. Senate GOP primary in Texas between Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton is kicking off with personal attacks and expectations of a high-spending race in a year when Senate Republicans will be defending key seats and targeting others in 2026.
“We’re going to end up spending hundreds of millions of dollars potentially on this race in Texas because we can’t lose the seat in Texas, and that is money that can’t be used in places like Michigan, New Hampshire and Georgia,” Cornyn told reporters Wednesday.
He went on to call Paxton a “conman and a fraud” in remarks that set the stage for a bitter campaign in the months ahead. The feud is not new: Cornyn, who lost a bid for Senate majority leader [ [link removed] ] last year, is among the few prominent Republicans who has criticized Paxton over legal troubles [ [link removed] ] that once threatened the career of Texas’ top law enforcement official.
Paxton, a close ally of President Donald Trump who was first elected to the Texas statehouse in 2002, is starting his campaign by framing himself an outsider and telling voters on his website that he will take on “career politicians” in Washington. Among Paxton’s recurring criticisms of Cornyn — who has served in Congress since 2002 — was the senator’s support of a bipartisan gun control bill after the 2022 elementary school shooting [ [link removed] ] in Uvalde, Texas, in which a teenage gunman killed 19 students and two teachers.
Looming over the race is if Trump will make an endorsement. Paxton said Wednesday he doesn’t expect the president to weigh in until closer to election day.
“I would certainly love to have President Trump’s endorsement. I think I would be the death knell to John Cornyn,” he said in an interview on The Mark Davis Show.
Paxton has built a loyal following within the Texas GOP’s hard right that supported him during a historic Republican-led impeachment in 2023 over accusations of corruption and bribery. Trump at the time slammed the proceedings and Paxton was later acquitted in the Texas Senate [ [link removed] ].
Statewide campaigns in Texas are already among the most expensive in the country. Last year, Republicans spent $87 million helping defend Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in his race against Democrat Colin Allred, including $75 million from a super PAC supporting Cruz, according to Federal Elections Commission filings.
Allred, who lost by more than 8 percentage points [ [link removed] ], has not ruled out another Senate run after Democrats spent more than $130 million last year trying to elect him. Among Cornyn allies, there is concern that Paxton would be vulnerable and require millions more dollars in advertising that GOP donors otherwise could apply to those other races, instead of to defend a seat in a Republican-leaning state like Texas.
Nationally, Republicans see an opportunity next year to expand their 53-47 majority in the Senate. They see pickup opportunities in three swing states where Democrats have announced retirements: New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Michigan Sen. Gary Peters and Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith. The GOP is also optimistic about the party’s chances in Georgia, where Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff is up for reelection.
No Democrat has yet entered the Senate race in Texas.
Paxton’s entry into the race underscores his political resiliency after being shadowed by his impeachment, an FBI corruption investigation and securities fraud charges in recent years. He reached a deal [ [link removed] ] to end the securities fraud case last year and the Biden administration declined to prosecute [ [link removed] ] Paxton.
During Paxton’s last campaign run for attorney general in 2022, George P. Bush, the son of former presidential candidate Jeb Bush, also drew attention to Paxton’s legal troubles. Paxton wound up defeating Bush by nearly 40 points in a runoff." AP [ [link removed] ]
“Former U.S. Attorney John Bash announced bid for Texas Attorney General,” Fox 7 Austin's Elizabeth Evans — "Former U.S. Attorney John Bash has announced his candidacy for Texas Attorney General.
This comes one day after current AG Ken Paxton announced his intentions to run for U.S. Senate against John Cornyn.
Bash served as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas during President Trump's first term.
According to his announcement, Bash made aggressive efforts to combat drug trafficking, human smuggling, corruption, child abuse, murder, and terrorism during his tenure.
Bash says he secured life sentences for a top Los Zetas cartel member and a human smuggler responsible for the deaths of 10 people, as well as convictions against national leaders of a notorious motorcycle gang. He says he also prosecuted a married couple suspected of abusing at least 25 children, who received life sentences.
He states he was also part of the federal response to the 2018 Austin bombings and indicted the suspect in the 2019 El Paso Walmart shooting on 90 federal counts, including 23 capital charges.
Bash is also a former law clerk to Supreme Court justices Antonin Scalia and Brett Kavanaugh.
He is a native of El Paso and currently lives in Austin with his wife and three children.
"The Texas Attorney General’s office is charged with protecting the well-being and constitutional rights of Texans – the first and last line of defense to preserve our safety, security, and prosperity, at the local and national levels. The leader of that office must be ready—on Day 1—to confront the full range of threats to our communities: organized cartels trafficking drugs and human beings; violent gangs terrorizing our neighborhoods; mega-corporations suppressing conservative voices; unscrupulous businesses cheating our consumers and stifling free markets; and activist judges trampling individual rights and allowing lawfare to run rampant in their courtrooms. I am that leader," Bash said.
Bash continued, "The stakes have never been higher. The Trump Administration faces daily challenges from activist judges and nationwide injunctions, and it needs legal allies who know how to fight these high-stakes battles. As we look ahead to 2028, there is no guarantee that the Republican Party will hold the presidency. Should a far-left figure rise to power, Texas will need the toughest, most experienced legal representation to defend our way of life."
Candidate filing for the 2026 primary and general election has not yet opened in Texas." Fox 7 Austin [ [link removed] ]
TEXANS IN DC
“Ted Cruz breaks ranks with Trump to advance his own agenda,” Politico's Ben Leonard — "Sen. Ted Cruz stuck out his neck to critique Donald Trump’s actions on tariffs, warning they could have resulted in a political “bloodbath” for the party had the president not partially reversed course Wednesday. But it’s not the first time since Trump’s return to office that the Texas Republican has broken ranks to advance his own agenda.
Since becoming chair in January of the Senate Commerce Committee, Cruz — who has signaled abiding presidential ambitions — has found ways to assert his own priorities, even if it involves breaking with Trump and other Republicans in the process.
Four months in, Cruz has already angered the White House by promising to go after Big Tech CEOs with whom the administration is cozy, and irked Commerce Committee Republicans who refused to give Cruz unilateral subpoena power to haul in those CEOs and other high-profile witnesses.
He has pledged to pursue bipartisan priorities on the traditionally cooperative panel, like aviation safety legislation, reauthorization of the U.S. Coast Guard and standardizing rules for how college athletes are paid. But Cruz has also presided over cross-the-aisle shouting matches, prompting the panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, to bemoan, “I don’t want to turn into the House.”
His decision to venture some criticism of Trump’s trade war — despite the president’s efforts to clamp down on public opposition from within the party — was another sign of Cruz’s swashbuckling pursuit of his agenda, however uncomfortable.
“I am doing everything I can to urge the president to listen to the voices of the angels and not the devils,” said Cruz, adding that he engaged with the White House on the matter and was in frequent contact with Trump.
It all adds up to the conclusion that Cruz could be preparing to make another go for the White House in 2028 after finishing as runner-up to Trump in 2016. And while he’s tied himself closely to Trump since then, he is now using the committee gavel to set himself apart with aggressive oversight of tech companies, skepticism about tariffs and even a record of working across the aisle.
This strategy might not change many opinions about Cruz. He has a history of being widely reviled and mocked on the left and rubbing his Republican colleagues the wrong way, too, with his showboating style. He’s the man who read “Green Eggs and Ham” during a filibuster on the Senate floor in 2013 to protest funding the government without defunding Obamacare and who spends significant time most weekdays recording a podcast that builds his personal brand.
In an interview Wednesday, Cruz demurred on whether he’s looking at a future presidential bid that could pit him against a former colleague, Vice President JD Vance, saying he’s now focused on his work in the Senate.
“We have an enormous amount of work in front of us right now,” Cruz said. “We just had a presidential election in which President Trump won an incredible mandate from the American people. … And my focus right now is 100 percent on rolling up my sleeves and doing the hard work to deliver on the promises he made and to deliver on the mandate for voters.”
If Cruz is indeed looking to carve out his own political lane, it’s clear his tariff message resonated positively with some Republican committee members: Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, who signed onto legislation to limit presidential tariff authority, said in an interview that Cruz’s comments were “very helpful.”
Commerce is not a “perfect platform for president because it’s not high-profile” and grapples with “nerdy policy issues,” said Texas-based GOP political strategist Matt Mackowiak. Tariffs, furthermore, don’t fall under the committee’s authority.
“But given his keen sense of policy and politics, he will find ways to raise the profile of the committee and get into some things that they haven’t done before,” Mackowiak said. “He doesn’t shy away from being a partisan figure.”
Cruz, in an interview, touted his committee as a center of activity: “I am focused like a laser on jobs, jobs, jobs. The Senate Commerce Committee has jurisdiction over roughly 40 percent of the US economy. … There are very few positions in all of government that can have a greater impact than chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee.”
He said he plans to do that, in part, by developing policies to help “America to lead in the development of [artificial intelligence] and to reap the productivity and job creation benefits that will come from that.”
To get those things done, though, Cruz will need cooperation from committee members — and he has frequently pursued a go-it-alone approach that hasn’t always gone smoothly.
Cruz’s efforts to get his colleagues to give him unchecked subpoena power earlier this year backfired when Republicans chafed at the suggestion they break with longstanding precedent and give their chair the ability to compel witness testimony and documents without first securing a full committee vote.
The White House also didn’t want committee Republicans to give Cruz more power, fearing he planned to use his blanket privileges to haul in major tech companies with which the administration has had a rapport.
In interviews with multiple GOP committee members at the time of the conflict, none sided with Cruz over Trump, either saying they would be open to hearing the White House out or declining to comment. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) would only say “we’ll see” when asked if she supported Cruz in his quest.
Cruz defended himself in an interview, saying he still plans to crack down on Big Tech with all the tools at his disposal: “I view big tech censorship as the single greatest threat to free speech in America, and the single greatest threat to free and fair elections in America. We’re going to engage in vigorous oversight, and if there is resistance, the committee will use compulsory processes to enforce compliance.”
When asked to explain the breakdown earlier this year, Cruz deferred to the White House, which did not respond to a request for comment.
Another flashpoint on the committee could be over allowing the federal government to auction off wireless airwaves for commercial use. Cruz argues it will create jobs and keep America competitive with China, while Pentagon officials and some GOP lawmakers call it a national security risk.
But Cruz is calibrating where he breaks with Trump and where he works to endear himself to the president. Early Commerce hearings this year were designed to bolster Trump’s arguments for taking control of Greenland and the Panama Canal. He also presided over the panel’s advancement of legislation championed by first lady Melania Trump that would crack down on AI-generated revenge porn, which has since passed the Senate and could soon clear the House.
And many Republicans are happy with Cruz’s leadership. Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), a new member of the panel, pointed to his “snappy” sense of humor, while Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) called him “a breath of fresh air.”
Some Democratic committee members are eager to find common ground with Cruz, too.
“Ted and I get along well,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). “His move on the subpoenas was an unforced error. But other than that … there are always opportunities in Commerce to work in a bipartisan way.”" Politico [ [link removed] ]
“Chip Roy backs down on budget opposition after assurances from Trump,” SanAntonio Express-News' James Osborne — "U.S. Rep. Chip Roy backed down on Thursday [ [link removed] ] from his promise to vote against a Senate budget resolution, saying he had gotten assurances from President Donald Trump and other Republican leaders that the final budget would include trillions of dollars in spending cuts.
The turnaround came a day after Roy, R-Austin, criticized the Senate budget bill [ [link removed] ] as failing to reduce spending to match proposed tax cuts, likely resulting in a $3 trillion increase in the federal deficit.
In a post of X Thursday, Roy said Trump had assured him on $1 trillion in cuts to mandatory spending programs included in former President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act and to Medicaid. He also said House Speaker Mike Johnson guaranteed him that the tax cuts central to Trump's budget plan would be tied to a reduction in spending and that Senate Majority Leader John Thune had committed to a minimum of $1.5 trillion in spending cuts.
"I would have preferred we amended the Senate bill to reflect these commitments. But, in the interest of comity, I will take them at their word," Roy wrote. "But, to be clear, failure to achieve these baselines including deficit neutrality will make it impossible for me to support a final reconciliation product."
After delaying a vote Wednesday, House Republicans passed the Senate budget resolution 216-214, with just two Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Victoria Spartz, R-Ind. — voting against it. Now the Senate and House Republicans must do the hard work of deciding what's in and what's out of the federal budget, which they can pass without any Democrats' support through the reconciliation process.
The budget's future still remains unclear, with Roy and other members of the conservative Freedom Caucus insisting they reduce spending in line with extending the tax cuts passed in 2018. Republicans are also looking to expand immigration enforcement and detention along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump has pledged not to cut Social Security and Medicare, and with many Republicans opposed to cutting Medicaid, avenues to achieving significant reductions in federal spending cuts are limited." SAEN [ [link removed] ] ($)
NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE
> TPR: "Texas left more children in dangerous homes while cutting services. Tragedy followed." TPR [ [link removed] ]
> THE TEXAN: "Texas House Approves $70 Million Biennium Funding Amendment for Abortion Alternatives Program" THE TEXAN [ [link removed] ]
> COMMUNITY IMPACT: "Texas House committee considers consumable hemp bans, tightened regulations" COMMUNITY IMPACT [ [link removed] ]
> COMMUNITY IMPACT: "Several municipal utility districts on ballot in Hays County area" COMMUNITY IMPACT [ [link removed] ]
> THE TEXAN: "Texas House Passes $337 Billion Budget After Fitful Floor Debate" THE TEXAN [ [link removed] ]
> AAS: "Ken Paxton v. John Cornyn is shaping up to be a bare-knuckle primary battle for US Senate" AAS [ [link removed] ]
> THE TEXAN: "Keller ISD Candidates Answer School Finance, Teacher Retention Questions at Forum" THE TEXAN [ [link removed] ]
> THE TEXAN: "Texas Senate Has Passed Majority of 89th Session Legislative Priorities" THE TEXAN [ [link removed] ]
> KXAN: "Texas Senate passes bill to speed up evictions, cite ‘squatter horror stories’" KXAN [ [link removed] ]
> AAS: "Trump administration revokes 15 TAMU student visas, UT students protest new crackdown" AAS [ [link removed] ]
> AAS: "A look inside as Texas House of Representatives debate 2026-27 budget bill, see the photos" AAS [ [link removed] ]
> KXAN: "Elon Musk’s attorney running to succeed Paxton as Texas attorney general" KXAN [ [link removed] ]
> THE TEXAN: "U.S. House Passes Rep. Chip Roy's Election Integrity 'SAVE Act'" THE TEXAN [ [link removed] ]
> THE TEXAN: "The 40: Paxton Makes it Official, Special Election Set, and Fencing Off" THE TEXAN [ [link removed] ]
> SAEN: "Tanzania arrests prominent opposition leader after calling for electoral reforms at rally" SAEN [ [link removed] ]
> MRT: "House approves budget framework for Trump's 'big' bill after intense wrangling sways GOP holdouts" MRT [ [link removed] ]
> THE TEXAN: "Texas House Committee Considers Changes to Harris County Flood Control District" THE TEXAN [ [link removed] ]
> SAEN: "Judge halts Trump administration from ending humanitarian parole for people from four countries" SAEN [ [link removed] ]
> MRT: "Wall Street poised to give back some of the historic gains following Trump's latest tariff pause" MRT [ [link removed] ]
> TX TRIB: "To avoid a water crisis, Texas may bet big on desalination. Here’s how it works in El Paso." TX TRIB [ [link removed] ]
> MY RGV: "Nine UTRGV students’ visas revoked, university says" MY RGV [ [link removed] ]
> DMN: "Dallas’ Kyle Bass says U.S. may need a recession to rebuild foundation" DMN [ [link removed] ]
> KXAN: "NTSB releases more details in preliminary report on I-35 crash that killed five" KXAN [ [link removed] ]
> TPR: "Amidst measles outbreak, federal funding cuts may reduce vaccinations from San Antonio Metro Health" TPR [ [link removed] ]
> AAS: "Dell Medical School clinic joins global bipolar study for treatments" AAS [ [link removed] ]
> KXAN: "Some Texas families impacted by SNAP cuts; food banks brace for direct hit" KXAN [ [link removed] ]
> DMN: "3 suggestions for the Mavericks’ top brass after Luka Doncic’s 45-point reality check" DMN [ [link removed] ]
> DMN: "Colossal Biosciences says it made the dire wolf. Some scientists aren’t sure" DMN [ [link removed] ]
> AAS: "3 Texas cities among 25 'Best Places to Live' in 2025, study shows. Can you guess which?" AAS [ [link removed] ]
EXTRA POINTS
Recent Texas sports scores:
Wed
> MLB: Texas 6, Chicago 2
> MLB: Seattle 7, Houston 6
> NBA: LA Lakers 112, Dallas 97
> NBA: San Antonio 114, Golden State 111
> NBA: LA Clippers 134, Houston 117
Thurs
> NHL: Winnipeg 4, Dallas 0
This weekend's Texas sports schedule:
Fri
> 6:10pm: MLB: LA Angels at Houston
> 7:30pm: NBA: Toronto at Dallas
> 8:40pm: MLB: Texas at Seattle
> 9pm: NBA: San Antonio at Phoenix
> 9:30pm: NBA: Houston at LA Lakers
Sat
> 6:10pm: MLB: LA Angels at Houston
> 6:30pm: MLS: Austin at Vancouver (Apple TV)
> 7pm: NHL: Utah at Dallas (ESPN+)
> 7:30pm: MLS: Seattle at Dallas (Apple TV)
> 8:40pm: MLB: Texas at Seattle
> 9:30pm: MLS: Houston at LA FC (Apple TV)
Sun
> 1:10pm: MLB: LA Angels at Houston
> 3:10pm: MLB: Texas at Seattle
> 2:30pm: NBA: Denver at Houston
> 2:30pm: NBA: Toronto at San Antonio
> 2:30pm: NBA: Dallas at Memphis
DALLAS MAVERICKS: "3 suggestions for the Mavs’ top brass after Luka Doncic’s return" DMN [ [link removed] ] ($)
DALLAS MAVERICKS: "What Luka Doncic had to say after his return to Dallas" DMN [ [link removed] ] ($)
HOUSTON ROCKETS: "Houston Rockets playoff opponent: Awaiting winner of No. 7 vs. No. 8" Houston Chronicle [ [link removed] ]
HOUSTON ROCKETS: "Houston Rockets fall to L.A. Clippers as they rest six regulars" Houston Chronicle [ [link removed] ] ($)
TEXAS FOOTBALL: "Texas Longhorns starting QB Arch Manning has learned a lot as backup" Houston Chronicle [ [link removed] ]($)
TEXAS FOOTBALL: Golden: "Tre Wisner is Texas' bell cow and may be needed even more this season" AAS [ [link removed] ] ($)
HOUSTON MEN'S BASKETBALL: "UH basketball: Terrance Arceneaux enters transfer portal" Houston Chronicl [ [link removed] ]e ($)
TEXAS WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: "Texas point guard Rori Harmon to return next season in bid to get Longhorns back to the Final Four" AP [ [link removed] ]
DALLAS STARS: "Stars’ playoff picture likely settled as Winnipeg outclasses Dallas" DMN ($)
DALLAS WINGS: "Before WNBA draft, meet the Dallas Wings’ notable first-round picks" DMN [ [link removed] ] ($)

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