Politics

Lawmakers left a vote on the toughest and most important bill to the week's end. At the start of today, Democrats remained unhappy with funding for public education.

"They did an increase in the budget for the [Texas School for the Blind and Texas School for the Deaf]. Well you can’t count that as new money in the budget towards public education. So it’s just a sham of a proposal in my judgment."

There is nothing quite like the end of a Texas Legislative session. There’s drama, suspense, violence! OK - maybe just a little yelling. It’s almost like the end of an action movie.

All hope is lost, disaster is just a moment away,but then…a miracle saves the day.

The Ever Changing Session

Political powerhouse Texas Right to Life is working overtime to try to defeat a compromise measure aimed at improving state laws governing “end of life” medical decisions. But with time running out to getSenate Bill 303 passed, the fight over the legislation has shifted from political to personal.

Today, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board bypassed a potential legislative sunset, meaning state legislators will not shutter the group’s doors under the Sunset Act.

That bill, however, also contains a contentious little provision in the form of an amendment – a provision that some say would allow college groups to discriminate on the basis of sexual preference and religion.

The amendment from Rep. Matt Krause, R- Fort Worth, would allow officially recognized, religious college organizations the right to ban those who “demonstrate opposition to the organization’s stated beliefs and purposes,” according to language in the amendment.

Governor Rick Perry signed the Michael Morton Act this afternoon,  a law that will require prosecutors in criminal cases to share evidence with defense attorneys.

The Governor characterized Texas as a “law and order” state and that the new law will allow judicial process to be as transparent and as open as humanly possible when it goes into effect in September of this year.

Today was supposed to be the day. In the morning, House and Senate budget negotiators announced there would be a meeting at 2 pm, which many interpreted as the meeting that would unveil the budget agreement.

Yeah, that didn't happen.

At 2:15, the meeting was delayed until 3. At about 3:30, the meeting was delayed until 5.