Voters in nearly 100 counties — mostly rural — can vote at any polling site in their county. The sponsor, without offering evidence, said the practice was not secure despite years of successful elections in Texas with the system.
Bob Hall
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Texas Legislature 2023
Texas lawmakers take first steps to reverse course on costly requirement for election technology that doesn’t exist
The original provision was part of the state’s major overhaul to election laws in 2021.
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Uvalde school shooting
“He has a battle rifle”: Police feared Uvalde gunman’s AR-15
In previously unreleased interviews, police who responded to the Robb Elementary shooting told investigators they were cowed by the shooter’s military-style rifle. This drove their decision to wait for a Border Patrol SWAT team to engage him, which took more than an hour.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Texas GOP lawmakers warming to opioid harm-reduction policies they once opposed
Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republicans have expressed support for legalizing fentanyl test strips, which help users identify whether the drugs they are planning on taking contain the deadly synthetic opioid.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texas GOP’s bills targeting transgender children have exacted a mental health toll, even if they don’t become law
GOP bills that sought to restrict or punish transition-related health care, like puberty blockers, missed key deadlines. But LGBTQ advocates say the mere specter that such measures could become law does mental health damage to transgender people.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texas GOP state senator urged use of unproven hydroxychloroquine treatment for COVID-19. Now he’s spreading doubt about vaccines.
In a period of sagging vaccination rates — particularly among staunch conservatives — state Sen. Bob Hall used his platform to promulgate debunked anti-vaccine conspiracies and push claims that have largely been eschewed by the medical community.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texas lawmakers advance bills blocking access to gender-affirming health care despite opposition from LGBTQ Texans, medical associations
Equality Texas CEO Ricardo Martinez said Texas has filed more anti-LGBTQ bills this session than any other state legislature.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Slate of Texas legislation limiting abortion, including so-called “heartbeat bill,” heads to Senate
The legislative session that began in January has been driven by the coronavirus pandemic and the response to last month’s power crisis. But abortion-related measures dominated a Senate State Affairs committee hearing Monday, and lawmakers advanced all of the proposals.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Red-light cameras could be removed from Texas intersections after House vote
But an amendment to the bill could keep the devices in place until cities’ contracts with vendors expire. Camera proponents say they make intersections safer, but critics say they undermine due process.
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Texas Legislature 2019
This Texas program lands poor people in jail. Getting rid of it has been too complicated — but that might be changing.
Lawmakers in both chambers and parties want to fix the controversial Driver Responsibility Program, but the program funds state trauma centers. Where will they find $144 million to fill the gap?