1/ Today is the first day Texas legislators can file bills for the 87th legislative session.

Most of these bills will die. Some could become law. Here’s what you need to know. bit.ly/2IeuxKh
2/ These bills can have a real impact on Texans’ lives. Last session, lawmakers filed and passed bills that...
—Raised the smoking age from 18 to 21
—Made clear that women can pump breast milk wherever they want
—Prevent surprise medical bills
#txlege bit.ly/3lfgF0T
3/ Each session, the state allows the filing of bills and resolutions on the first Monday after the general election.

Pre-filing frees up time to draft legislation during the session — which starts Jan. 12 — and gives leadership more time to review bills before advancing them.
4/ And this session, legislators need all the time they can get given the added task of redistricting on their plates. bit.ly/35eV96M
5/ Based on their wins last week, Republicans will start the session with control of both chambers and all the seats on the Legislative Redistricting Board.

They’ll control every phase of the process of drawing new political maps for the state. bit.ly/35eV96M
6/ Along with redistricting and setting the budget, the Legislature considers thousands of bills. In each of the last 10 sessions, lawmakers filed an average of 6,212 bills and passed 1,409. bit.ly/3eItleg
7/ Last session, more than 400 bills were filed by noon on the first day of pre-filing. The first came from one senator, @JudithZaffirini, who typically has her staff line up outside the clerk's office hours before pre-filing starts. bit.ly/35aRoPQ
8/ Filing early gets a bill a lower number and a chance at the public’s attention before thousands are filed.

But the lowest numbers are often saved by the House speaker and lieutenant governor, who hold those numbers for their top-priority legislation. bit.ly/35aRoPQ
9/ In a normal session, the Legislature can meet for 140 days to review the thousands of bills filed.

But there are no laws requiring them to work that long or consider that many bills. During a pandemic, they might want to do a lot less. bit.ly/3eItleg “Some of it can wait. And if the coronavirus is thriving i
10/ It remains unclear how the Capitol will function in January.

There are still questions about health precautions, like temperature checks and distancing 150 desks on the House floor, and whether the public will have access to the legislative process. bit.ly/3kfT9j7
11/11 That uncertainty so close to session could have ramifications for one of the toughest sessions in recent years — legislators will have to tackle billions of dollars in shortfalls to the state budget and pandemic issues like health care and education. bit.ly/3kfT9j7

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More from @TexasTribune

11 Nov
1/ You may have seen headlines in recent days that say Texas has surpassed 1 million coronavirus cases.

But our coronavirus case tracker has the state at 974,230 cases.

Here’s why there’s a discrepancy.

bit.ly/35f7OXA
2/ We are using state data, which is also reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It does not include "probable cases" in its total case count.

Probable cases come from antigen tests taken by nasal or throat swabs. bit.ly/35f7OXA
3/ Texas tracks antigen tests in a separate dashboard, which you can find here.

More than 35,000 positive antigen tests have been reported.

txdshs.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashbo…
Read 6 tweets
10 Nov
1/ As president, Joe Biden can immediately halt some of Trump’s policies, but that doesn’t mean in itself that border wall construction stops. bit.ly/3pib10D
2/ Upon taking office in January, President-elect Joe Biden can immediately end Trump’s 2019 emergency declaration that allowed him to transfer billions from the Department of Defense to finance the border wall. bit.ly/3pib10D
3/ But it’s unclear what would become of the funds that have already been transferred but haven’t been used.

“Ending the transfer of funds doesn’t mean in itself that wall construction stops.” Image
Read 5 tweets
10 Nov
1/ A battle to strike down the Affordable Care Act heads to the U.S. Supreme Court today.

Here’s what you need to know. bit.ly/2UfeZZo
2/ Texas is leading a coalition of Republican states that will argue before the U.S. Supreme Court today that the Affordable Care Act — known colloquially as Obamacare — is unconstitutional and should be struck down in its entirety. bit.ly/2UfeZZo
3/ About 1 million people in Texas have subsidized health insurance plans under the law.

The law ensures people with preexisting conditions can still get insurance.

And it allows young adults to stay on their parents’ insurance through the age of 26. bit.ly/2UfeZZo
Read 6 tweets
9 Nov
Texas GOP Chair Allen West said that the state party "will not support, nor accept" state Rep. Dade Phelan as the next speaker of the Texas House, after the Beaumont Republican said last week he has the votes to win.

#txlege bit.ly/3paKgLt
In an email to supporters, West took issue with the fact that Democrats had backed Phelan even though Republicans retained a majority in the 150-member lower chamber after Election Day.
Phelan said last week he had support from a "supermajority of the Republican caucus" and a "broad coalition of support" from Democrats.
Read 4 tweets
6 Nov
1/ Court documents have begun to shed light on the relationship between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Nate Paul, the political donor at the center of recent criminal allegations against Paxton. bit.ly/32mY7V5
2/ Little is known about how the two met and how closely they know each other.

But eight senior aides told law enforcement they believed that actions Paxton took at the agency, on Paul’s behalf, violated the law.
3/ A new deposition revealed that Paul testified that he hired a woman recommended to him by the attorney general.

Two sources have told The Texas Tribune that the woman was involved in an extramarital affair with Paxton.
Read 4 tweets
2 Nov
Breaking: A federal judge rejected a request by a conservative activist and three Republican candidates to toss out nearly 127,000 votes cast at drive-thru polling sites in Harris County, Texas’ most populous, and largely Democratic, county. bit.ly/2TJNmHI
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen, a George W. Bush appointee, follows two earlier decisions by the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court rejecting similar efforts by Republicans challenging the validity of drive-thru voting in the county.
Although Hanen's ruling is still expected to be appealed, it appears to clear the way for counting of the early voting drive-thru ballots on #ElectionDay.
Read 5 tweets

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