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May 21, 2025 11:33 PM
Patrick often stomps through the Capitol looking angry despite winning just about every battle; now that Republicans delivered Abbott’s priority of school vouchers, the governor is largely checked out and the leadership void is again filled by the Senate’s presiding officer
“No one is
standing up for us,” said a weary Texas House lawmaker late Wednesday
evening after an intense pressure campaign waged by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick
culminated in initial lower chamber passage of his signature legislation at the moment: A full ban on products containing THC.
In a rare
clash of the liquor stores, which sell those THC drinks, and beer distributors,
who don’t distribute THC while the stuff ends up on shelves “where beer ought
to be,” the distributors won the day as Rep. Tom Oliverson’s amendment banning
THC was approved 86 to 53.
After
that, the bill moved forward with a near supermajority even though the Senate
has yet to debate the school finance package that Patrick rewrote and Speaker Dustin
Burrows endorsed. Patrick has made it clear to members in recent days that
the school funding package along with their summer plans are at risk if the THC
ban isn’t finally passed by the House. The Senate is expected to debate school
finance Thursday.
Now, let’s
get real. Horse-trading and dealmaking are the name of the game at the end of a
regular session of the Texas Legislature. So, the threat of Patrick instructing
senators to sit on the House’s school finance package until his THC ban got the
green light is not unusual.
But here’s
what is.
House leadership
acquiescing on every big-ticket item of the session.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright May 21, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 21, 2025 4:00 PM
There were 10 PNVs including Alders, Cain, Holt, Money, Swanson, Tinderholt, Toth, Virdell, and Vasut
The House of Representatives gave initial approval to Senate Bill 31, the Life of the Mother Act, by an overwhelming 126-6 with 10 Republicans registering present not voting.
But not before some of the back microphone’s best friends lined up to grill Administration Chair Charlie Geren, the sponsor of the bill, about its intentions.
“We don't want women's lives to be destroyed because their bodies have been seriously impaired by medical emergencies during their pregnancies. We know women have died after care was delayed or denied. We know women have left Texas for life-saving care. We know women's bodies have been horribly injured because doctors and hospitals are afraid to provide abortions that could save their bodies. Doctors and hospitals need the clarity,” Geren said. “SB 31 will put into the law to be able to save women's lives and protect them from substantial impairments of their bodily functions.”
Careful of the circular firing squad waiting to shoot, he noted the bill “makes clear that doctors are not required to withhold or alter lifesaving treatment for cancer or other conditions if doing so will jeopardize the life or major bodily functions, including future fertility of a pregnant woman.”
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By James Russell
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Copyright May 21, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 21, 2025 3:57 PM
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Copyright May 21, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 21, 2025 2:18 PM
Meantime Chairman Ken King has again postponed the THC legislation, seen by many House Republicans as the chamber’s last significant point of leverage. Also: “Why vote on Dan’s stuff and give him a list of members to target for retribution on their bills?” said one House Republican
After the Texas
House voted nearly unanimously to approve an $8 billion school finance package
praised by educators, that plan’s been taken apart by Texas Senate
leadership seemingly hellbent on writing the budgets of ISDs for them.
“Dan just
doesn’t trust the superintendents,” said one person familiar with the private discussions.
While this
may be one of the Texas Legislature’s least transparent
negotiations ever between the House and Senate – taking place before a
conference committee can even be appointed – various people with knowledge of
the talks are now starting to see some hard numbers on items in the proposal.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright May 21, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 20, 2025 1:18 PM
Meanwhile, apparently negotiations on House Bill 2 on school finance are happening under the radar
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Copyright May 20, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 20, 2025 11:10 AM
The Austin area Democrat says it would be a "Good Win for Texas"
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Copyright May 20, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 19, 2025 3:19 PM
But SJR1 dealing with undocumented people fell far short of 100 votes on second reading
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Copyright May 19, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 19, 2025 1:51 PM
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Copyright May 19, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 19, 2025 1:50 PM
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Copyright May 19, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 19, 2025 12:48 PM
Paxton says he found no criminal wrongdoing after a seven-week investigation
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Copyright May 19, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 19, 2025 9:37 AM
Over the weekend, the Democratic Caucus posted on social media that the number one thing left to do this session is "reform bail, keep our communities safe"
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Copyright May 19, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 16, 2025 3:34 PM
Heavy hitters, leadership changes, new ventures, and more
That’s
certainly enough of this week. That Sine Die countdown clock is looking better
every minute, ain’t it?
Now that second reading deadline has passed in the House and the Lt. Gov. says
this has been a “boring session” – because he’s getting his way on almost
everything – it’s time to restart People on the Move. There are a few weeks during
session where we don’t hear from many of you making
any moves because you’re locked into what you’re doing. But as session draws to a close, many of you across the Texas
Capitol community will start looking for your next adventure if you haven’t
lined it up already.
For the uninitiated:
People on the Move is the most efficient way to let folks across the political
scene in Austin know about your career news. You can also brag on a friend or
tattle on an adversary. Send the info to ksbraddock@gmail.com
and use POTM in the subject line. Please and thank you.
Here’s the
latest edition.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright May 16, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 16, 2025 1:00 PM
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Copyright May 16, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 15, 2025 5:06 PM
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Copyright May 15, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 15, 2025 4:57 PM
Show Mr. Harrison voting aye
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Copyright May 15, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 15, 2025 4:05 PM
The Senate
hearing on House Bill 2, the overdue school finance bill lauded
yesterday by Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick
and Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows, got underway this morning with packed
room.
The 220-plus
page bill injects eight billion dollars into public education, but there’s consternation
over how it would be spent and how much latitude ISDs have in writing their own
budgets.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By James Russell
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Copyright May 15, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 15, 2025 3:00 PM
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Copyright May 15, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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