Sep 1, 2021 | Legislation
On a 5-2 vote, the Senate State Affairs Committee approved a bill that would create new “explanation” and “audit” processes to address “irregularities” in county election administration. Senate Bill 97 by Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) was filed yesterday...
Aug 31, 2021 | Legislation
The House and Senate adopted the conference committee report for Senate Bill 1 by Sen. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola), sending the session’s main elections bill to Gov. Greg Abbott (R). No Democrats voted to adopt the report, and Rep. Lyle Larson (R-San Antonio) was the...
Aug 7, 2021 | Legislation
The Second Called Session of the Texas Legislature convened today (Saturday) at noon. A quorum could not be established in the House, as 55 Democratic members remained absent, many of them still out of state, and around 10 Republican members were absent, many of whom...
May 30, 2021 | Legislation
This post has been updated since our Breaking News alert. The clock ran out on the session’s most significant election legislation, Senate Bill 7 by Sen. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola). The official cause of death is the House being forced to adjourn because it lacked...
May 29, 2021 | Legislation
The conference committee report (PDF) for the session’s most significant election bill was filed today (Saturday) and contains provisions that were not in any prior versions. The report was signed by all seven Republicans. None of the three Democrats agreed to it....
Apr 29, 2021 | Legislation
On a party-line, 5-4 vote, the House Elections Committee passed Senate Bill 7 by Sen. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) after a committee substitute replaced all of the bill’s provisions with the text of House Bill 6 by Rep. Briscoe Cain (R-Deer Park). The bill passed...
Apr 1, 2021 | Campaign News, Legislation
In the middle of the night, on a party-line vote, the Senate passed legislation that would restrict counties’ efforts to expand access to voting, place new requirements on volunteers assisting and transporting voters, permit the video recording of voting and vote...
Oct 24, 2017 | Legislation
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has established a seven-member Select Committee on Election Security and appointed Sen. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) as chair. Patrick named Sens. Brian Birdwell (R-Granbury), Bob Hall (R-Edgewood), Don Huffines (R-Dallas), Joan Huffman (R-Houston),...
Oct 23, 2017 | Legislation
Speaker Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) issued interim study charges to the standing and select committees of the House of Representatives. Many, including one election-related charge, direct committees to assess the impacts from Hurricane Harvey or the potential response...
Jul 10, 2017 | breaking-news, Legislation
Gov. Greg Abbott issued a proclamation calling a special session of the Legislature to convene at 10 a.m. on July 18 to extend the expiration dates of several healthcare occupational licensing agencies. He also published “an unsigned working draft” of a “supplemental...
Jun 17, 2017 | Legislation
Three election-related bills were among 50 vetoes issued by Gov. Greg Abbott. House Bill 2410 by Rep. Celia Israel (D-Austin) would have permitted a primary runoff to be conducted by mail if fewer than 100 votes were cast in the county’s primary election and no...
Jun 1, 2017 | Legislation
Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law bills that conform the state’s Voter ID law to recent judicial rulings and end the option to cast a single-punch, straight-party ballot after the 2018 general election. Senate Bill 5 by Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston) codifies a process...
