Texas Legislature

Other new laws include transparency for long-term care facilities and trademark protections for restaurants.

In Texas, marijuana is largely illegal. But Delta-8 THC, which is derived from the hemp plant, has become wildly popular in the Lone Star State.

Voting rights experts say the latest bill still would make it harder to vote in Texas, but it's less restrictive than what almost passed in May.

Members of the public arrived at the Texas Capitol as early as 6 a.m. to sign up to speak before lawmakers considering the legislation. In the House, public testimony wouldn't begin until early the next morning.

HB 1927, also known as permitless carry or constitutional carry, will allow eligible residents to carry weapons, openly or concealed, without a permit. But many Texas voters and law enforcement agencies oppose the measure.

Leading casualties of the regular session included the omnibus elections bill, bail reform, and the George Floyd Act. But Gov. Greg Abbott has promised special sessions that could revive some GOP priorities.

This weekend HB5, or “The Texas Broadband Bill”, was one of the few pieces of legislation that passed with strong bipartisan support during an especially contentious legislative session.

Midnight was the deadline for the House to approve the legislation that would alter nearly the entire voting process, create new limitations to early voting hours, ratchet up voting-by-mail restrictions and curb local voting options.

This week on Texas Matters: The Deep Freeze deaths were undercounted by Texas, AR-15 assault rifles are holy in a church setting up a massive compound in Central Texas, and what can we learn about the state of America’s democracy by looking at the rise of Hitler?

Senate Bill 7 includes provisions to limit early voting hours, curtail local voting options and further tighten voting-by-mail. The upper chamber suspended its own rules to approve it after debating it for hours overnight