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By Nathan Thomas on April 9, 2013, 3:54pm
The Houston Chronicle is reporting that thanks to sustained opposition from Democrats and the public, "a House bill that would curtail the number of early voting days in Texas... is headed nowhere." The Republican sponsor of HB 2093, which would cut the number of early voting days nearly in half, "intends to pull the proposal from consideration in the House Elections Committee and have the idea turned into an interim study after it was confronted with staunch opposition at hearing Monday."
When it comes to Texas Republicans and voter suppression, Democrats have long learned to sleep with one eye open. This very bill, in fact, was originally proposed by GOP legislators eager to cater to "Conservative groups, such as True the Vote," who complained that "they have trouble recruiting poll observers for the full 12 days" of early voting. But it turns out, Texans don't want to limit their own rights just to give Tea Party groups more opportunities to use false information to deny those same rights.
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By Dan Roth on February 24, 2013, 9:32am
Last year Republicans in the Texas legislature cut $5.4 billion for the state's school system. This decision hurt the state's 4.9 million public school students; according to The New York Times the cuts resulted in "increasing class sizes, reducing services and supplies and thinning the ranks of teachers, custodians, librarians and others, school administrators.
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By Nathan Thomas on February 19, 2013, 11:06am
Legislators of both parties acknowledge that if conservative-leaning Texas moves ahead with Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, Democratic state Rep. Garnet Coleman will be "a key player" in that accomplishment.
It's a daunting task in a state with significant Republican legislative majorities and a GOP governor with lingering designs on national office, especially as other Republicans with past or future presidential ambitions have been all too willing to throw their citizens' best interests under the bus. But last week, Rep. Coleman sat down with Inside Texas Politics to explain his strategy for convincing Republican legislators to accept a deal that was designed to be too good to pass up:
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By Dan Roth on February 10, 2013, 2:13pm
In Texas, legislative Democrats are making sure that the state's schools receive the funding that they have been promised, making investing in the state’s students a top priority.
